James and Matthew are twin 3 and a half year old boys. Despite being identical twins, they are incredibly different. Physically, the only way to really differentiate them is that Matthew has a scar above his left eyebrow, but it's not even very obvious. The differences are all in their personality.
Matthew is outwardly sweeter and more affectionate, and is 90% of the time a better listener than his brother. He prefers red, and at least one article of clothing he wears every day is likely to be red. He has a vast collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles that he prefers to play with, and is pretty good at riding his training bike. Side-note: I first saw these bikes back home when I was babysitting for my Wednesday family (I don't know if you're following or not, Steele family, but hi if you are!). They basically look like a normal two wheeled bike, except they don't have pedals. So kids learn how to practice their balance on these two wheels before adding pedals...seems pretty smart to me. These must be a relatively new invention. Anyway, that's what my boys have too.
Matthew is also a bit more hesitant and cautious than his partner in crime. Apparently at school as well, he is always a bit more skeptical of new things and situations. While he likes to play and goof off, he is just more calm.
James, on the other hand, dives right into most things. He is always getting into something, not as likely as Matthew is to sit and read on his own. I have more difficulty getting him to listen to me, and have to dole out much more sternness with James then with Matthew. James likes blue and green, and loves animals. His favorite collection of toys includes every type of jungle and forest animal figurine, and he knows the name of each of them in both french and english! He is quick to be affectionate also though, especially when I am dropping them off at school and picking them up in the afternoons.
Even with regards to food, they are different. James is a much better meat eater than Matthew, but Matthew loves vegetables. They have their fruit preferences, cookie preferences, etc, but I typically try to feed them each the same thing so they learn that they don't always get their favorite things and need to learn to try everything.
They are both adorable, but have already taught me a lot about patience...Being 3 and a 1/2, they can quickly go from play fighting to real fighting in approximately 3 seconds, and it seems like each day someone has a new scrape or mark on his face. So we definitely have our highs and lows every day, but I guess that keeps things interesting, right?
Hopefully this video works too...from when we made some cookies last week:
More notable things about this week:
I have made some friends! Other au pairs in the area that seem great. I had lunch with a few in Annecy on Tuesday, most from England. Two of them will be in my french classes as well, which finally begin this coming Tuesday, the 23rd. Thursday, one girl who lives pretty close, just 15 minutes away, had me over for lunch (and pumpkin pie for dessert!) This girl was Canadian, and so nice, felt like we clicked right away! Unfortunately, she is only here until the end of November :( She has already been here since January. Regardless, it has felt really great to make some connections with people my age.
I'm not sure when I discovered this, might have been over a week ago, but the IHeartRadio App works abroad! Basically this just means that I can listen to my DC/Baltimore radio stations through my phone, which makes me feel a little more connected to home! I had missed my dose of the Kane Show every morning, and my Commercial Free Tuesdays on WMZQ. Need to stay up to date with all the music that comes out so i'm not too behind the curve when I come home! However, there are so many American songs that play on the radio here. I probably hear "Shake it Off" at least once a day, so this Taylor Swift fan in France is pretty happy.
I also downloaded one of those programs so that I can watch my shows abroad! Just in time, since Grey's Anatomy, Parenthood, and the Voice all start next week! Already caught up on the Biggest Loser, too. It's a little blurry, but I can deal. I like watching TV here at night sometimes, (and there are even some American shows) but most of them I don't understand much of yet, so I'm happy to have my American shows accessible.
It doesn't look like we'll be going to Munich this weekend. Too expensive, and it would logistically be difficult. No worries though, because I will find somewhere else to go closer! Now that I have mastered the manual driving and figured out the train system, the possibilities are endless. Stay tuned. :)
xoxo, J
The Boys are adorable!
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