Little Miss Acrobat

BUGGY discovered she can kneel today.

She pulled herself up to the kneeling position pictured above and was able maintain this position without falling over. She was like this for a good 10 ~ 12 seconds. She swayed a bit but did not lose her balance.

She smiled, but oh yeah, it faded as soon as the auto focus laser came on. 

She is also not thumping her head on the hard wood floor as often anymore, which is good because the Parents need her brain intact and all of that.

How's Buddy's crawling progress? Well, he has been up on all fours and rocked back and forth a time or two. But mostly he still rolls to where he wants to go.

He might be counting on his good looks to get him through the tough stuff in life. "Buddy," counsels Dad, "looks might might open a door, but skills and experience are necessary to get the job."

Kid Corral

RECENTLY, Dad had to corral the kids in another part of the house so Mom could could use the space they normally play in.

With none of their usual toys available, and not wanting to make multiple trips back and forth dragging stuff to and fro, Dad decided to let them freely explore the master bedroom. That was good for about ten minutes. There are lots of dangers in there.

And they want to find all of them.

Dad claims they have an innate radar that leads them directly to the worst danger. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, just find the uncovered electrical outlet and stick your moistened finger right into that slot.

Mom eventually checked in and let Dad have a chance to visit the washroom. While minding them, she got creative. Why not put a baby in a basket? Good idea, was Dad's first thought.

A Buggy in a basket.

Liesel thought it was great fun. She used the edge to pull herself to a standing upright position, and then promptly learned that her center of gravity was higher than the top of the basket, and began to tumble forward. Fixed upright, Buggy with basket rotated in unison toward the floor where her face and the carpet were about to have an unwelcome meeting. Dad, nonchalant as ever, sitting nearby in a mid morning's post caffeinated lethargy, anticipated the fall. He reached out to grab the upright edge and act as counter balance. Buggy and basket were both saved from eminent doom. Dad barely mustered a "Hmm" and thought, "Not safe."

The less active of the two, Buddy was content to play with his cloth book without testing the dangers of gravity. Good. Buddy knows G, i.e. objects near Earth's surface accelerate toward it's center at 9.8 m/s² and so he chooses to stay low. Or he may just be lazy, but Dad likes to think the former.

The dangers posed to kids are many. Life is a hazard. A sharp Parent anticipates and then mitigates them. And a physics class taught nearly 20 years ago by Adenuga Atewologun helps foresee them.

Liesel Stories

EJ and Liesel were in the crib together temporarily while Dad prepared the other one for the Twins much needed afternoon nap. She was fine but he was crying and she was concerned. Liesel, having become proficient in removing and reinserting her binky, removed it from her mouth, reached over and above him, took careful aim, and plunged it straight into his mouth.

If only that was all it took to comfort Buddy.

...

She now crawls forward. She is not ordinarily allowed in the kitchen. But the baby gate has yet to be installed (why the passive construction? because it is the author's responsibility to install it. Notice that as of this writing it is still not installed). While Dad was in there unloading and reloading the dishwasher, she came chugging around the corner at full steam, and right over to Dad where she stopped and sat down to play.

She just wanted to be by Daddy.

How Long is the New Family New?

DAD selected this blog's name as a descriptor of the family's status way back, about 9 months ago. Now he wonders how long he can describe his family as new.

The family is not, in fact, new. He and Mom were married in 2003. The addition of the Twins were actually just that, an addition, not a creation of a new family.

So, is it still New Family ?

He'll keep the name for now, but is open to suggestions for a new one.

Any thoughts?

Double Update: Another Food Post

THIS time Dad is making baby food.

Mom and Dad have decided to make their own baby food. Pre-made baby food gets expensive quickly and homemade food doesn't take too much effort and time. Pictured above is pureed edamame. After a ten minute boil in four cups of water, the soy beans went into the blender with about half of the remaining liquid and blended until smooth.

Dad, who taste-tests almost all of the solid food the Twins have, thought it was going to be bland, a little pungent, and mushy. He was pleasantly surprised. Though mild in flavor it was definitely not the restaurant-salad-bar-tasteless soybeans he has had before. The texture was anything but bean like, and not too unlike mashed cauliflower.

So far Mom and Dad have made sweet potatoes (a hit), butternut squash (a miss the first time, and one in which Dad was overheard saying, "Yep. Don't need a paternity test to know they're mine," while rolling his eyes. Update: Mom adds, "Although they loved it in pre-made variety."), and broccoli-flower (a well received combination of broccoli and cauliflower). Mom adds: "Mashed bananas and mashed avocados are enjoyed as well as long as they are mashed to appropriate consistency to avoid choking."

The New Family Parents intend to try peas, string beans, legumes, and various fruits and animal proteins (Mom again: the pre-made jarred meat... YUCK!). Mom also wants to try tofu but Dad is not so sure yet. Update: Dad has a serious bias against tofu. Tofu was invented to emasculate men.

Double Update: Dad made and fed them quinoa. It was not well received even when mixed with veg or fruit. They also did not like the plain chicken breast. They ate the stinky jarred stuff, but they both rejected his chicken. Their favorite homemade dish so far is apple cinnamon and oats. And why not? It smells and tastes like apple pie.

Dad can gauge how well something is liked by how wide and how readily they open their mouths. Fruits (to no one's surprise) are the most favored, followed by veg. EJ in will "attack" the incoming spoon when he is fed something he likes and he gets impatient when Liesel takes too long for her bite (Dad feeds them simultaneously). Liesel will not open her mouth without smelling a new item first. And if she doesn't like the way it smells, she refuses to open.

Update: Theme Redux

RESEMBLANCE?

Update: below is the photo Mom wants to use for comparison.

This was the photo previously posted in the first position:

The New Family Mom believes EJ and the above pictured fabric softener brand icon resemble each other.

Dad ponders the similarities and differences. The eyes? Yes. The smile? Yes. The ears? No. Skin tone? Yes. Shoulders? Maybe. The fragrance? Well...

Bah, bah, bah

BUDDY and Buggy are both now repeating single syllables over and over, most often the one that sounds like "bah." The New Family Mom will not be happy if either of their first words is Dada. "Bah" better morph into "Ma" before it becomes "Da."

"Bah, bah"

"Bah, bah, bah!"

Both have had "conversations" with both Mom and Dad and each other. These are vocalizations usually originate from a child prompting a response from a Parent similar to, "Is that right? Fascinating!" And as soon as the Parent has finished, the child will vocalize again. It makes Dad wonder if they have learned the rules of conversation, you talk, Dad listens, Dad talks, you listen. They seem to follow these rules with each other too.

If so then they are more mature than the talking heads on the Sunday morning talk shows.


They have changed in other ways too.

They are sleeping less during the day taking fewer naps and staying up longer (without crabbiness) between them. Any single nap session still lasts little as 30 minutes, or as long as 2 plus hours. Afternoon naps seem to be the longer ones while morning naps are short. Once awake from a short nap, EJ is not always ready to get up and is not good at soothing himself back to sleep. He indicates then when Mom or Dad will change, feed, and try to soothe him, but to no success. They seem to sleep well at night, going to bed as early as 6:30 or as late as 8:30. They wake as early as 4:30 and sleep as late as 8:30. Their down time is a poor predictor of their up time. Early down times are met with early up times and late up times with about the same frequency. Late down times are the same. 

Buddy has been up on all fours, but only very briefly. As strong as he is in most of his body, he seems weak in that position. His primary means of locomotion is still rolling over. And, he is fast. Move him several feet away from his object of desire, and he is on top of it again within seconds. This makes changing a diaper on the floor a real challenge. Let go of him for a moment and he will be three rollovers away before you can nab him. And he squeals with delight when Dad rolls him back to the original place. Dad doesn't exactly delight in it.

Buggy now crawls forward as much as she crawls backward. Just today she figured out that she can get out from underneath the Exer-Saucer as well as get in there. Though she'll still cry for Dad if she doesn't egress quickly enough.

She is more determined to reach a self set goal than he. Just now Dad observed him contemplating entry under the Exer-saucer. The lip is a four inch high barrier to entry. He quickly gave up when the effort required exceeded his interest in getting in. She, comparatively, will not quit until her goal is met.

They no longer favor their left hands. They currently seem ambidextrous. Dad'll see how that goes. He thinks they might yet be right handed.

Solid food is such a large portion of their diet that the Parents may have only five bottles to wash on any given day. They have begun to make baby food for the Twins. That is labor intensive, and Dad can see the value in buying the stuff from Gerber. When you have more money than time, you buy convenience. When the opposite is true, you make your own.

Most of their diet is pureed veg, fruit, oats, and, still, formula. They have had some pureed meat, but that has not been popular. From the way it smells, Dad is highly sympathetic.

He has offered them a few flavored rice puffs. They will keenly observe Dad putting food into his mouth and imitate him. They will pick the puffs up, move them to their mouths, but neither has actually gotten one in there. Dad tends to interfere by inserting it for them. Their reaction to it, at first, was comic. "What's this? Something I cannot immediately swallow? I have to gum it into bits and then swallow?" Their old pros at it now, though she choked on one on two different occasions.

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