On creating babies...

As many of you know, I am the mother of 27 month old twin boys... going through the terrible twos... or as I would call them "the horrible two's".
It's not that my boys are not pure joy, on their good days... or that I love them any less when they are being impossibly naughty or tantrum-y. Or even when they say "no no" to putting shoes on before we go out after an exasperated twenty minute struggle to slide tiny pants on tiny legs that won't stop moving... but there are days, most days in fact, that I feel simply drained by all the struggle. Sometimes I think "I just want them older... cooperative for the most part... I want them to play alone for 30 minutes while I do dishes ... " and it's true. I do want all of these things... but I do enjoy the here and now of raising them too.

A few weeks ago the bigger of the two, Cody, who at 27 months is nearly the size of a 5 year old (wears a 9 1/2 size shoe and is over 40" tall!!), dislocated my left wrist while at the dentist's. My wrist which was always "strained" then got a recurrent case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome... and today, after my sons dutifully removed my splint calling it "boo boo gone bye bye" (as if the SPLINT is the actual boo boo) because I didn't want my little ones being afraid by it... and I couldn't wear a sweater to hide most of it because it was too darn hot... I somehow misplaced it.
So I spent the day not wearing my splint... I then very cleverly (Not) tried to lift my 35 lbs son and swing him over to his bed after his bath... unfortunately somewhere in the middle of this motion, I felt an incredible shooting pain from, un-splinted, wrist and I almost dropped my baby... however in a feat of motherly super-human-ness, I bit my lip, tightened my grip, and landed my baby safely on his bed.

I then proceeded to jump around the room, holding my wrist, yelping in pain.
After a vigorous application of some analgesic ointment, I sat down (still without having located my "boo boo" aka splint) as my angels sucked on their bottles of milk and tried to fall asleep. This is a new one... all their lives they had been put in bed wide awake and slept through the night. Then they turned two.. and now I have to sit in the room with them until the fall asleep. If I leave, chances are the will demolish their room, remove their diapers, jump on each other multiple times and generally take about two hours until they are asleep... in a havoc wrecked room.
So instead I sacrifice an hour of my time each night, sitting out of sight in the room, with the occasional "go to sleep NOW" gentle nudging to a too feisty but exhausted pre-schooler and then I back out, very slowly, very quietly all the while praying I don't make a sound and wake up a preciously sleeping angel...

So today, I was thinking of my "inspiration" baby lying on my work table waiting for an ear and arms... the newborn little girl with the disgruntled expression that has so captured my heart and on which I work on, on my breaks from ordered sculptures.
By the end of my probation, errr, time with the boys, I had decided she would be called Alyssa, that I would add a magnet to her skull for a magnetic bow and that I will indeed give her jointed arms for dressing because I had remembered I have a lovely dress just her size, stuffed in one of my clothes drawers.
So... an hour not entirely wasted ;)
Next step: order a Tina replica to sit quietly and intimidate the kids into falling to sleep with her "I kid you not mister go to bed NOW" look ;)
Hopefully I will finish Alyssa this week... along with all my other projects... sigh.

T.