SesameStreet

A New Bunny

2012-05-14T20:27:31Z

We love our animals out here in the country; the domestic and the wild, as long as the deer don't eat too many of the plants and the coyotes keep away from the cats. Our system seems to be "keep an open mind, and the pets will come." Our little Cavalier Spaniel, Nell, came to us after Annie's Mom passed away (a formerly un-housetrained pain in the neck who is now most dear to us), the cat was my oldest daughter Lauren's when she was 12 (she is 28 now and the cat is still here), the turtle Bob (Evans) was a castoff of our goddaughter in NYC who had grown too sophisticated to own a reptile, my dear rooster, Larry, was a fertilized egg left by a house sitter, and people keep gifting us with bunnies. Our Bernese Mountain dog, Beary, is the only pet we actively sought out. During the October freak snowstorm (link here to "Freak Snowstorm" video) a branch fell on our bunny corral, “Feckless" hopped out, and was taken by (most likely) an owl. Recently we were gifted with a new bunny; "Loolee the Princess Bunny", as named by the girls. The following film is a short chronicle of her first day with us.

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Mother's Day

2012-05-14T20:27:31Z

I have been a mother for three years. My mother has been gone for almost four years. Like many daughters, I always imagined how I would do a better job raising my kids. Then I had them and I find myself doing and saying the same things I swore I wouldn't. "I'm going to count to three!” "At least three more pieces of broccoli or no dessert." "Please stop the whining!"

It is by far the hardest job I do; much harder than writing scripts for Sesame Street. What I find the most challenging is having the patience required to do the best job you can. Trying to get the bath done, pajamas on, teeth brushed, and into bed when all they want to do is run in circles and play mermaid. They're so easy to love, play with, cuddle, squeeze. They make us laugh with the crazy things they say; the connections they make. Even when they say things like, "If you stop talking I will feel better." make me smile. It's when things get tough, and both are throwing mini-tantrums in different directions, that I have to work hard to stay reasonable and not lose it. Sometimes I fail; sometimes I think I deserve a medal. Sometimes we all just end up in the calm down chair. To all mothers this week: I wish you some down time in your own private calm down chair, some great hugs from your kids, and perhaps a massage and reflexology.

Counting the Number Zero

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Number of the Day: Zero

Counting is very big in our house. It started with counting for “Hide-n-Seek” (where they started saying “eleventeen” which tickled us to no end.) Then came counting Snow White’s Dwarfs, and mermaids, and horses, and, and, and... Basically, any moment in the day can be a counting opportunity, as you will see in Marty’s video of the girls at the Aquarium:

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I started the girls with counting backwards recently and was astonished when I went down from 10-1 and then Lyra said, “What about zero?”

“Zero?”

I have no recollection of ever teaching her zero. How she knows it is a wondrous surprise. She really gets the concept, too. Just the other morning, they were looking in the mirror at who had little sticker gems on their foreheads. Ripley had two. Lyra had zero and her doll had zero. She came running in to tell me the results and I was bursting with pride.

Sister Chanel

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Word of the Day: Sister

Marty’s daughter, Chanel, is living with us for the moment. She’s a brilliant artist, bathing suit designer, as well as an excellent big sister. She has been an incredible addition to our little “happily family” as Ripley calls us.

I’m really not “crafty.” My parents never broke out the paints, glitter, and hot glue and got the kitchen table covered in material and paper to make projects. Chanel is constantly doing art with them, for which I am eternally grateful. I want it to be instinctual for them to create art just as it is for her. I’m afraid it’s too late for me, but I am happy to read books all day long, or dance and sing to princess songs! In keeping with today’s topic of butterflies, Chanel helped the girls make winged creatures to fly around wearing their fairy wings.

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Egg Sorting

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Curriculum: Executive Functioning

As I mentioned in a previous post, this year's curriculum is Executive Functioning. I'm always on the lookout for examples of it, in our day to day life, to help me get a better understanding of how to use the curriculum for a potential show idea. Our recent Easter egg hunt gave us a grand opportunity to practice sorting. This is one of the many "school readiness" activities that can be done easily at home. The girls helped me sort the real eggs which were heavy and cold from the plastic eggs that were light and made music when we shook them - the candy inside! You'll see them helping me with this activity in Marty's video of their egg hunt adventure.

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Growing and Changing Girls

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Word of the Day: Inevitable

Recently, I pulled Lyra and Ripley’s passport pictures out of my wallet to show a friend. They were so small, wearing identical fur-lined coats but still looking very unique with their slight wisps of blonde and brown hair. How much has changed! How much they’ve grown! I had to prop them up on the passport photo chair, poised to catch them if they teetered over. Now, they feed the dog, water the plants, clean up their dishes (when they haven’t rushed off to play and I don’t want the hassle of calling them back!) People say to enjoy all the moments, good and hard, because before you know it they’ll be off to college. At times, I can’t wait to start those tuition payments, but mostly I do try to appreciate every second of these growing, changing girls.

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Executive Functioning

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Curriculum of the day: See above

Executive Functioning. Sounds like something that needs to be applied on Wall Street. Actually, it’s a very academic title to a curriculum that we are focusing on this year. In more layman’s terms, it’s about school readiness and learning such skills as patience, emotional understanding and control, sharing, planning and all those traits that help a child more successfully navigate the changing social aspects of their lives. One way we try to help our girls is talking about what a feeling can look like on someone’s face. If they see a sibling, parent or friend looking like that emotion, they can deal with it better. We’ll post more about this curriculum as the year goes on, but here’s a film about our attempts to make emotions fun and funny.

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Things That Go!

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Word of the Day: Go!

I was surprised when Lyra and Ripley were able to answer questions from Telly so specifically. Child development continues to astonish me. Where a year ago, they’d have been very shy of Telly asking them questions. Even if they knew answers, they’d have probably just hooked an arm around my leg and looked up at me for a response. Now – well, take a look.

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Tales From the Potty - Mail

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Dear Annie and Marty,

Like your family, we have twins, boy/girl, that turned three last month. I saw your blog entry for January and it looks like we have something in common, potty training twins. Lke one of your girls, my son WILL NOT pee in the potty but his sister was doing well until she caught on to "Bubbie" not trying. I was just letting things run their course but our local pre-schools/mommy day out programs require the children be potty trained and this mommy needs a day out. Bribery isn't working. Have you had any success?

Sommer

Dear Sommer:

Thanks for writing about your potty training journey. Yes, we have had some success. For the past month, Lyra has been in underwear and is almost primarily using the potty (the occasional bathtub or shower will bring on a pee). She sometimes asks for a pull-up at night, which she doesn’t need since she has bladder control we can all envy. Still, we give her one whenever she wants. Occasionally, she’ll want a pull-up in the day, but rarely uses it. She loves to choose her own underpants out and I promised to try and find her “horsey” underwear online.

On the other hand, Ripley still needs a pull-up in general. Although she pees on the pot every morning and will go if she needs to on pots around town (their favorite is the mall since it’s tiny sized for them), she still doesn’t tell us if she needs to go and will have accidents anywhere. She also is still unwilling to poo on the pot. We’ve got bribery set-up (a Rapunzel doll), which she knows she gets when she finally does a poo in the toilet. She has at times let on that she’s scared to do it, and I also think that physically it’s something that still comes on her very suddenly and just wants to be safe with her pull-up. Since she only just turned 3, we aren’t pushing her at all yet. If she’s going number 2, she really gets upset if you suggest moving her to the pot and will say she wants “privacy.” She’s usually the leader in most things, so the fact that Lyra wears underwear all day long doesn’t seem to make her want to copy her.

Yes, many pre-schools want the kids potty trained before they attend. We’re very lucky that the “play school” we send them to once a week doesn’t require it, nor does their pre-school in the fall, although I hope Ripley has made the transition by then!

I know some people discourage the bribes, but I see it as a way of life for a while yet. In fact, we have a pee-prize box, and a poo-poo prize box. The pee prizes are stickers and M&M’s, the poo-prizes are a little bit more substantial, plastic toys and dolls and dolly clothes. The Rapunzel doll is a bigger carrot that I hope will eventually prompt Ripley to be brave. She asks about it all the time so I know she’s thinking about the whole process.

Good luck! It’s really something that I have found very stressful, although I’m TRYING my best to keep cheery and positive about it in front of the girls and I’m relieved we’re more than halfway there!

Exercising

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

There are things we do in our family that are specifically exercise related. Ballet, karate, the gym... Then there are all the other daily activities that an enthusiastic child naturally does in the world. Why walk when you can run? A few extra times up and down the stairway is fun! We are going to keep pushing this. There is time for TV and computers, and then there is lots of time for running around, flapping your wings, and screaming.

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Gotta Dance

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Curriculum of the Day: Healthy Habits for Life

In my younger days, I was a dancer – ballet, tap and jazz. Lyra and Ripley have already been introduced to dance class and they appear to love it. They began in the fall and now our ballerinas know terms like passé, plié and arabesque. When they aren’t doing these moves around the living room, their dolls are being danced about instead. Marty and I are often grabbed to do more formal “princess” dancing where they daintily hold their gowns as we waltz about to various classic tunes. Of course, I hope they remain interested since it was one of my passions. But meanwhile, it’s unbearably cute to watch:

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The Great, Cold Outdoors

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Curriculum of the Day: Healthy Habits in Winter

Getting outside in the winter is always a challenge for me. I really do not like being cold. In the warmer months, we are constantly outside with the girls. We are blessed to have a nearby lake and trails, which we try to use as much as we can (this also gets Marty and I plenty of exercise because never fail the end of the adventure ends with “Carry me!”). We have play parks they visit, with us or their nanny, to use the slides and swings all the time. However, taking a walk in winter is not as easy an endeavor. Luckily, this year we didn’t have four months of ice and snow piled high on the driveway. Still, we try to get them outside, even for a short time every day, weather permitting. Our adventures these past months have been more about quick journeys around the yard until someone complains about being cold. And then, there’s the joy of a fresh snowfall. Lyra and Ripley discovered sledding this year and they love it, as you’ll see:

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Terrible Tantrums!

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Curriculum of the Day: EMOTIONS

I would be lying if I said my recently turned three year olds did not throw tantrums. Dealing with Lyra and Ripley’s uncontrolled emotions is the hardest part of parenthood. Sometimes if I just put food on Lyra’s plate the wrong way, it will trigger her to shake her hands in frustration and shriek, “Not that way!” If it’s bedtime, but she wants to keep playing with the water in the sink, she will start to stamp her feet and wail, “I want to keep playing with water!” Ripley will run away to another room and cry if she’s not getting her way or feels she has been slighted in some way by one of us. Sound familiar?

Yes, these angels throw tantrums.

How do we deal with them? We deal in a variety of ways, depending on the severity and the time of day. One rule is that any kind of tantrum large or small in a store or restaurant means immediate evacuation, period. That is what I threaten if something is bubbling and we have yet to have to leave anywhere because of an emotional upheaval. At home, we first try to find out what is wrong, asking how can we help, use your words, and is there a compromise available. If it’s a rule or a definitive “no” that has started the reaction, I find myself saying “I understand if you need to cry” or just plain ignore her for a while until she realizes I’m not backing down. This is the HARDEST because of the ear piercing noise involved. The only thing that’s harder is if they’re both crying or having uncontrollable emotions–which, thank goodness, are rare. They tend to trade-off who is in peril.

The calm before the tantrum...

Recently, we started something called the “calm down chair.” If one of them just can’t get control, or needs a time-out and has a tantrum about it, they go to the calm down chair with a parent. It really works. They grab a dolly and their blankie and we lie down in this very big “couch chair.” The problem then arises when they both want to be with Mommy in the calm down chair!

There is no denying the girls are in the prime years of learning how to handle their volcanic emotions. Every day is just navigating their tumultuous lives as best we can. Some days I just want to quit. Some days the joy is overwhelming.

How do you deal with tantrums?

Happy Birthday!

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Number of the Day: Three!

Happy Birthday!!!

Lyra and Ripley turned three on February 12^th. It was the first party that they were really aware was just for them. For weeks we did party prep, talking about turning “3,” pointing out the number 3 when we were out places. We decided on a theme – Princess – and bought napkins, plates, cups together at the party store. That morning, they were amazed to come downstairs to see streamers hanging from the chandeliers and balloons covered with Princesses. They were very generous to the few “friends” we had invited, letting them play with their toys and sharing their home. It’s new to them since they are just grasping the concept of friends. They call each other “best friends.” When they play with dolls, Ripley will often say “come on, my friend.” Still, they don’t really know everyone’s name and they treat them as separate from their “happy family” sphere of parents, sisters and baby sitter. But now that they really are playing together and not just side-by-side, we are going to start to plan play dates with the children they’re getting to know at their various classes. This party marked the beginning of a new era of being three and all that it brings.

Lyra enjoying a birthday strawberry.

Marty brought Telly out to socialize with the kids.

Handyman Meets Cameraman

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Frankie Biondo has been the lead cameraman on Sesame Street since the day one. He is the quintessential NewYorker; gruff on the outside, and the sweetest guy you can imagine. The term "fuggedaboudit" was probably invented by him. Over the years I have become very fond of Frankie...at the twin's godparenting ceremony, I asked him to be their godgrandfather. Here is a little film I did on the set with Frankie attempting to explain to HandyMan how a camera operated.

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Joey and Grampy Bear

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

It was a really fun day on Sesame Street. Baby Bear was introducing his Grandfather to Elmo and I was shooting the basic “what-happens-below-the-frame” film for your interest in how we actually produce this crazy show. Everything was cruising along just fine until Joey Mazzarino, one of our main puppeteers, show director and Sesame head writer, picked the wrong apple off a tree, in a flashback scene, with nearly disastrous results...

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The “Love” of Love

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Word of the Day: Love

Nothing warms a parent’s heart more than when your child says I love you. It’s particularly helpful when only hours before she was throwing a tantrum about you washing her hair. Lyra and Ripley say they love us often. Lyra even does a sweet move of taking your hand and holding it to her cheek as she says it. She is equally as good at saying “Mommy I don’t love you” when she’s feeling precocious. My response is always “But I love you.” (I can happily say I am mature enough at my age to not take it personally.) They can also say they love Snow White and jumping with the same amount of passion they bring to loving us. It’s the fact that they understand how much they love their pets and toys and the weather that makes me proud. Marty and I have never been big players in the “Valentine’s Day” racket. I think since I was single so much in my life, I still hold a deep resentment of the holiday. However, showing our girls the abundance the world has to offer for them to love continues to be a privilege.

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Telly Revisits the ABC's

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Before the girls were born, I shot some nutty films of Telly attempting to interact with them through Annie's pregnant belly...then again shortly after they were born (Annie and the girls have been VERY patient with me). It's amazing what a difference a few years will make. I may do another cut of this film sometime down the road...

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More Tales from the Potty

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Word of the day: Perseverance

We are in the thick of it. The potty trenches. Every day. We have potty breaks every two hours depending on how much fluid has gone in, guessing when it should be making its way out. Our girls may be twins, but they’re on the opposite ends of the potty spectrum. Lyra knows when she has to go, but doesn’t want to use the potty, insisting she have a diaper. We oblige, backing off as the experts say, but are encouraging her slowly to sit on the potty to try and go with the diaper on. She is happy to be diaper free for practice sessions, but when it comes to the immediate need she wants that diaper.

Ripley, on the other hand, uses the pot often when we have placed her there. She’ll sit a long time with a book, playing with a doll or my cellphone. However, she still seems clueless about when she has to go and will have accidents willy-nilly, coming up to us saying, “my underpants are wet.” As far as telling us she actually has to go, well she just hasn’t the time yet, playing is too encompassing. We’ve introduced “training underpants” which can help them know they’re wet but makes accidents a little less wet for us on the floor. Still, we’re hoping for a breakthrough before we have to every rug in the house steam cleaned. So, it’s not easy with one girl actually withholding more than we’d like and the other being rather laissez-faire about it all. Our goal is to stay open and healthy, but it’s been the most difficult milestone so far, and it ain’t over.

Any helpful stories you have to share?

Puppets and Puppeteers

2012-05-14T20:27:32Z

Martin & Annie,

I have enjoyed reading your family blog from the beginning to the end over the past week or so, during nap time. Thank you for sharing your family with the world and because of this blog I feel like I know you personally...don't worry I won't be showing up for Thanksgiving anytime soon:) My daughter is 18 months old so I have really enjoyed seeing your beautiful girls grow and seeing what milestones we have to look forward too!

I have learned so much about Sesame Street from the blog, which just makes me love it that much more! However, I do have a question. Since one puppeteer is several different Muppets (Telly & Snuffy, Bird Bird & Oscar) what happens if they are in the same scene together?

As parent and teacher, thank you for all that you do to help educate children. I look forward to future blog posts!

Dear Kristy,

When two of a puppeteer's characters are in a script at the same time, we pre-record the voice of one of the characters, usually the one that is featured less, and have another puppeteer perform that character while lip-synching the voice. In my case, if the two characters in question are Snuffy and Telly, then we pre-record whichever character is not Snuffy. I will not lightly ask another performer to strap on the Snuffleupagus...he is a beast, and must be approached with respect and safety. That all being said, my sweet wife wrote a show several years back that featured Snuff, Telly and Slimey all together in the same scenes. It served her lovely story idea, but set up some performance challenges for me.

--Marty