25 days of cadnis + twins

day 8: christmas crafts

"We're gonna make a special present for Mommy," Cady says, pulling out a large jar. "We're going to decorate this and then fill it with notes and pictures from you two. So whenever Mommy feels sad she can pick one and remember how much we love her."

Both girls smile at her and nod eagerly. Cady smiles back and grabs some paint.

"Okay, Ladybug, give me your left hand." Layla pokes up her right hand. "No, that's right."

"I wight?"

"No, that's right. You're not right."

"What's wight?"

"This is right," Cady says, tapping her hand. "I need left."

"What?"

"Just... this hand, I need this hand," Cady sighs, taking the one she needs. Layla giggles at the tickly paintbrush bristles as Cady paints her little hand red.

"Tickles."

"It tickles?" Cady chuckles. "There we go. Okay, ready?" Layla nods. Cady positions her fingers so her thumb and index finger form half a heart, and then carefully presses her hand against the jar. "Perfect!"

Layla grins at her and gives a happy wiggle. Cady carries her to the kitchen to wash the paint off before it winds up anywhere it's not meant to be. Leo is pouting slightly when she returns.

"Okay, Bumblebee, your turn!"

Leo brightens and sticks out her left hand. Cady switches it for her right hand and paints it the same shade. Her fingers form the other half of the heart, and Cady grins when she sees it complete.

"Good job, pumpkins!" she congratulates as she carries Leo to clean her hand off. "Okay, now for your super special job."

They both look rather serious at the mention of a super special job. This is clearly a large responsibility.

Cady puts their plastic placemats down on the table, and gives each of them a stack of paper. She's cut it to be just large enough to fit their unpracticed handwriting and drawings, but just small enough to still fit into their jar. Cady wrote some cute phrases for them to copy and rests that paper in front of them, then each girl gets a box of colorful markers and free reign.

"Mommy loves your drawings, so you can color whatever you want on these cards," Cady explains. "And then this has some words you can copy on other ones, so Mommy can read them and remember how much we love her. And then I'll put them in the jar when you're done, okay?"

"Okay Mama!" they both cheer, eagerly pulling out some markers to draw masterpieces for their mommy. Cady smiles and takes the jar itself to work on.

-

"Mama?" Leo asks as Cady finishes pasting a family photo on the back of the jar and surrounding it with little hearts.

"Yes, Bee?" Cady replies, taking a paint marker to label each handprint.

"What does dis says?"

"That says 'I love you'," Cady says. "Are you gonna write it?"

Leo nods and focuses in, poking her tongue out in her concentration as she grips her purple marker in her fist. It's slow going, but she does miraculously manage to fit all the letters in. Cady takes it when she pulls away with a proud smile to read it. The L is backwards and the lines are wobbly, but it's readable.

"Good job, munchkin! You're getting better at copying," she congratulates. Leo gives a proud little wiggle and reaches to write some more.

"Das a I," Layla says when she decides to start writing messages too. Cady looks up as she points to the paper with her messages on it.