Dirty Laundry Blog by Jennifer Hynes

Babies don’t understand private property or the concept of strangers;our mini vacation

March 7th, 2016
Monday morning. 6:41AM, house still quiet. Babies sleeping, husband back from trip, still sleeping. I feel like the babies and I just returned from a trip too. We had a weekend getaway at home. Just the three of us. We had so much fun. Jack and Fiona behaved perfectly, no tantrums, no problems taking naps or going to bed at night. I did keep a tight schedule, morning breakfast, then long walks, outdoor play until lunchtime, even in the rain, then lunch, nap, afternoon snack, creative activities, cartoons, dinner, bath time, bedtime. The key is to make sure they are tired enough physically and mentally, but not “wound up”. You have to keep it mellow, especially in the house. Also I’ve become a master at recognizing cues, for example; Jack will start throwing things he’s not supposed to, like food, Legos, and books, when he starts this behavior I know he’s tired. He needs a change, it’s usually time for reading books and going to bed. Fiona starts whining, a horrible annoying whine. At first when they would start these undesirable behaviors I would try to tell them to stop, try to teach them it’s bad behavior. Then I realized that just feeds the fire. They want attention, they are tired. Scolding them sends us in the wrong direction, into negativity. The only problem with this method is when I have to finish something, like cooking dinner for my husband! He eats later, when he gets home from work. The babies and I eat early, around 4:30 or 5:00. I need to figure out a solution. Crock Pot?

Yesterday morning the babies, Billy, and I went for a big adventure. We walk to the coffee shop. I brought the stroller but let the babies walk as far as they could. On the way down the hill, Gasp, “Mama Mama” Jack says; on the ground there is a potato bug. I try to get the bug to curl up, I want to show Jack this trick, but the potato bug won’t curl. As a little girl I loved finding potato bugs and watching them curl up. I use a wet piece of bark to let the bug climb on, I move the bug off the road. The bug tips over and we count his legs. Six. As I set the bug down I see little bugs with wings in the wet mulch. The babies investigate too. It’s wonderful, nature right outside our door. Then we say “Good bye potato bug” and continue on our journey. The babies stop at each neighbors’ yard, examining pin wheels blowing in the wind, turtle sculptures, people working in their yards, people on their way out or in. Each person, each thing we stop to examine. We say “Hi” to the people and “Bye” We say “Bye” kitty cats when we see two cats curled up in a garage. I keep saying, “Come on Jack and Fiona” or “That’s private property, you need to be invited to their house to go in” But they don’t understand that concept. They don’t understand private property or strangers. They don’t understand hurrying or not stopping and investigating interesting things, they can’t walk by a rock and not climb on it. I tell myself to enjoy it, not expect them to walk in a straight line, or not to jump in puddles. Rain comes and goes, sun too. Cars drive by, white blossoms cover the ground blown down from the storm. When we get to the coffee shop Jack and Fiona are hungry, they split an egg sandwich, drink chocolate milk, eat fruit and a butterfly cookie. They stay seated on their stools, watch people, wave hi. Billy waits outside guarding the stroller, she doesn’t bark. She’s a good dog. We head back, but this time I keep the babies in the stroller. We stop at the park to swing and play on the slide. By the time we get home it’s already 12:40! I offer the babies more food, but they aren’t hungry. I take them to the nursery, change diapers and say “goodnight, time for your nap” They play together for a while but take a good nap, I take a shower and work in my studio. Perfection.

I hear them waking now. Time to start the day. Lindsay’s working today and Alan’s home because of the rain. I told Alan I need to do laundry and work in my studio for part of the day! But then we are going to the movies. I want to paint bad! Back to real life.
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Art Day, Stormy Saturday, Sunny Sunday

March 6th, 2016
7:16 AM, Sunday morning. It’s the type of morning that has Hallelujah written all over it, and if I was a church going woman I’d be there this morning singing loud and free. The storm has made everything sparkly clean, I hear a red finch singing, they’re back from migration. A Blue jay sits on top of the tree outside my window. The babies are still sleeping and the house is quiet. Hallelujah. My only complaint, I just drank the last sip of my coffee. I need another cup. It will take me away from writing for a minute. I don’t have much time to write, babies will be up soon. Fuck it, let me put on the kettle. O.K.

We went wild with art yesterday, just like I wanted to. I had time to work in my studio while Jack and Fiona took their nap. I worked on some pieces I had started on Friday, ruined most of them.

I also started working on one of the smaller linen canvases. I couldn’t believe how smooth it was and how everything I did showed up so beautifully. I kept saying “leave it” but kept working, until the linen was all covered up. Today I’ll work more and see what happens. The other thing I kept saying was “Oh Shit, I love linen” scary. Around 2:30PM, just like clockwork I hear the babies waking from their nap. I clean up my studio and set up the kitchen for our afternoon activity. Plastic, white paper, cover the kitchen table. I set up the babies little table with crayons and playdough and the big table with stamps and paints. I set my stuff up on one side and the babies on the other side. We have so much fun.

Fiona stays painting much longer than Jack, he wants to watch T.V.! And since it’s a stormy Saturday afternoon and we are partying like there’s no tomorrow I let Jack watch T.V. to his heart’s content. When Fiona is done painting I move the little table over by the T.V. with playdough and crayons and coloring books.

I continue working on art, it’s brilliant, I can watch the babies and work on art. If it was up to me this whole house would turn into an art studio. I let the babies get messy, eat in the living room, be totally free. I order pizza and drink a glass of wine. When the day is finally coming to an end the house looks like that story, The Cat in the Hat, the rainy day one when they make a huge mess. I try to get the babies to help me pick up blocks and Legos, but they are too distracted and I want to get it done, so I do it myself. I pick up cheese fish, animal crackers, pizza crust, bits of playdough. I put everything back in its spot, vacuum, take the babies downstairs. “I’ll be right back to read you a book” come back up, finish putting away all the art supplies, do the dishes, clean the counters, put away the vacuum cleaner, and go back down to read Jack and Fiona their bedtime story.

I wake up this morning to a clean house. The babies are still pretty quiet, but must be awake by now. What should we do today? Something to do with nature.
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25th Street, Oakland has changed; Staying home vrs going out with twins

March 5th, 2016
Saturday morning, 7:40AM. Babies still quiet, house quiet but light. Coffee good, toast sweet and chewy. Sky grey and rainy. Husband on weekend get-away to Vegas to see fight. It’s just me, Jack, and Fiona for the weekend. Oh and Billy the dog. Jack and Fiona are probably tired; we went out last night. This is a piece of advice I can give to moms of two-year-old twins, when the children wake up from their afternoon nap grab some snacks, go out for dinner or bring sandwiches, and go for an adventure. Do this two or three times a week, you will love your babies more because you will be skipping the part of the night when you’re trying to make dinner for your husband, while the babies climb on things they aren’t supposed to falling down and busting their lips, crying for your attention, getting into anything and everything they’re not supposed to, basically driving you crazy. Then the dinners finally done, husband eats, babies push dinner away, you say, “Listen to mama, this is your last meal of the night. If you don’t eat your dinner, you’ll go to bed hungry.” Then after that sinks in they eat several bites, maybe the whole meal. You say. “I told you it was good.” Now it’s time to clean the kitchen. You try, husband sits with babies, plays with them, winds them up. They start getting wild or crying. You are at your wits end, “OK, time for bed, that’s it” You give the hint to husband, you’re done, you just want to give babies their bath, put on their PJ’s, read a book and come back upstairs. At which point the dishes need to be finished, because you hate waking up to a messy kitchen. You finally sit down to watch a show at 9:30pm. Spent.

OR, take yesterday for example. Babies wake up, it’s around 2:45. I heard them around 2:30 but I was in my studio painting and decided to give myself the full two-hour break, 12:40pm to 2:45PM. I know they are together, safe in their nursery with tons of soft toys and cups of water. I get snacks ready, cheese, yogurt smoothies, and crackers, change diapers, get myself dressed, get babies in car. I tell them they can watch the Wiggles in the car and it works, they jump in without much of a hitch. Just a few pit stops in my room, getting into drawers, grabbing stuff in the garage, parts in little plastic bags for machines. We hit the road right on schedule, 4:00PM. First stop, ART Store! Luckily my brother is able to meet us. I grab supplies, including some linen canvases, etching plates, and for the babies some really cool stamps we can play with today. (I feel like setting up a makeshift art studio upstairs for the weekend, so I can work and the babies can get wild with art.) After the art store we headed to Oakland to check out the Fourth Wall Gallery. We parked right in front of an Ethiopian restaurant. I’ve been wanting to take Jack and Fiona for Ethiopian food for a while now. We went in, found a spot to sit. The restaurant was small, but bright and clean, a basketball game was playing on the TV. The man, possibly owner of the place was really nice and has a three-year-old so I knew he understood kids. The babies loved the appetizer, crepes, one stuffed with beef, one with lentils. Both were amazing. Jack and Fiona behaved amazing until our dinner was almost done, we had been there awhile and they were ready to go. We walked down Telegraph avenue, a part of Telegraph that when I lived in Oakland no one hung out there. Boy has this part of Oakland changed. A few blocks of the street are blocked off, there are food trucks, with amazing food, and a few local artisans selling jewelry and paintings. We turn down 25^th street and there’s an art gallery complex. I really can’t believe it. Inside the galleries, Carl put it best, it’s like we’re in Tribeca or SOHO. Much of the art was surprisingly conservative though. But then a lot of the patrons looked somewhat conservative. I think when Carl and I have our show people will be pleasantly surprised. Our work is definitely not mainstream.

As we walked in the Galleries Jack pointed to the paintings on the walls. He really seems to enjoy looking at the art. Fiona seems overwhelmed. Jack says hi to everyone, Fiona just looks at them. I didn’t see anyone else with little kids out, only a few strollers. But Jack and Fiona were really good, and after we came home, had bath time, story time, they went right to bed! Now for today! It’s raining outside, what shall we do? The babies are playing nice now. (In between climbing on tables and annoying me) I’ve fed them breakfast and let them watch cartoons as I’ve written this. Now it’s time to get them tired enough to take a nap!
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