Three Feet Tall Club

TWO years old means a trip to see Dr. Pedia for a check up.

The Twins are the exact same height at nearly three feet tall (2' 11.75"). While this puts EJ in 75th percentile for boys, it puts Liesel in the 90th percentile. Dad takes credit for this by constantly lifting her up by her arms to help stretch her out.

Okay, that is completely ridiculous.

EJ was weighed. Dad saw the balance scale clearly indicate 27 lbs. The nurse saw 29 lbs. and recorded it as such. Since Dr. Pedia didn't make any mention of this being out of range for BMI, Dad didn't pursue a correction to the record. EJ cannot be all of 10% body fat. His shape is copious amounts of dense muscle and bone. Buggy weighed in at 25 lbs. She is well in the normal range at about 50%.

Dr. Pedia was concerned that they were not conversing in full sentences and had a narrow vocabulary. Dad is unconcerned now. They progress in step wise fashion in their development and when progress comes it comes in big steps. One day they will just start talking in sentences using words. To some degree they do this now, they just have their own invented vocabulary.

She recommended trying to start potty training Buggy. Sorry EJ, you are a boy and a lost cause for at least a year. Dad had begun to train Buggy, but has been inconsistent. He will take that up again.

On this subject, Dad notes that children seem to learn best through example. If he wants them to learn something, he has little success directing them to do it. He is much more successful in doing it himself and watching them emulate his behavior.

So, um, yeah, the same thing applies to potty training. Dad always wondered how to address such a topic in polite company. Dr. Pedia had a great term for it. She called it having an "open" house. So Dad welcomes them in to observe him to, well you know, use the potty. Later he watched a video pertinent to the subject. The advice given was to emphasize and exaggerate the important steps. Pull down your pants (lift your skirt as the case may be though Dad will not be wearing a skirt to demonstrate for Buggy). Pull down your underwear, relieve yourself, wipe as necessary, pull up your underwear, pull up your pants, wash your hands. About the only thing the video didn't address was how to teach girls to pee while standing up. An egregious oversight he is sure.

While there they demonstrated excellent climbing skills, as well as hurling-themselves-off-of-the-exam-table skills. Buggy demonstrated to her brother how to turn off the over head light, the computer, and the exam light. He, in turn, demonstrated to her how to pull open the supplies drawer and throw the contents about, how to hurl magazines off of the table, and how to pull the exam room privacy curtain down off of its hangers.

Some have the ethic to leave a place in better condition than what they encountered while there. The New Family Parents have the aspiration to leave a place in 85% of the original condition they found it.

For those of you with toddler twins; you know Dad is bragging.