More Updates: Happy Birthday!

ON June 11th, the Twins turned two years old. Their growth and development is amazing. They are now fully sentient of their world. They see themselves as separate and unique individuals from each other and their Parents. They are using words, and some phrases. EJ, for example, surprised Dad recently by playing peekaboo with Buggy and saying as clear as you would, "I see you!" when he popped around the barrier separating him from Buggy. They follow directions (when they want to) and commands, even new ones they have not heard before. 

This last deserves further exposition. Dad was accustomed to carrying EJ kicking and screaming to bed and it was an uncomfortable struggle. EJ is really, really strong. His muscle fiber is incredibly dense, so when he resists Dad, Dad has to fight hard to get him to comply with his wishes. So one day Dad was tired, it was bedtime, Dad didn't want the impending struggle, and Boy was not ready for bed. So after the bedtime routine, instead of Dad carrying Boy to bed, he put him down and said, "Let's go to bed." He expected the worst but amazed when EJ toddled on into in his bedroom. Once there Dad said, "Lay down." Amazingly, he did. Dad said, "I love you" and "goodnight." Then closed the door. And that has been part of the routine ever since.

Okay, so enough with the narrative. Look at some pictures!

Ready to see some video?

No, there was no ice cream this time. But there was whip cream in a can! That is even more fun!

Update: Birthday cards came a day late but still appreciated!

This year was exciting because they could open them themselves.  Yes the cards get a little wrinkled. Their fine motor skills are still developing.

"Say thank you Aunt Shirley."

"Thank you Aunt Shirley"

Grandma and Grandpa were in Hawaii during the Twin's birthday. So their gifts arrived late. But they are none-the-less appreciated.

"What's this?" Dad thinks.

"May Daddy?" "Yes you may."

It is amusing, they know by color which one is for which whenever they encounter something new. She knows pink and purple are for her, and he knows blue and green is for him. And she strictly enforces the Law should EJ step out of line.

"We'll open the cards later son."

"Here Mommy."

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa! They really like their toys and clothes. More pictures to come when the clothes are washed and ready for wear.

Pasta Sauce

DAD, hoping that a relocation is imminent, decided to mess up his clean kitchen to use up the food he has in the pantry and freezer.

Typically, he would place the raw hamburger into the skillet and break it up with the silicone turner. But this is labor intensive. This time he decided to break it up with his hands while still raw. That made it much easier to brown and crumble.He was careful to wash and sanitize his hands and all contaminated surfaces before proceeding.

This is a lot of sauce but it is intended to be shared with friends that have recently helped the family out.

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.

Sir-kul

MOM bought these Magna Doodles for the Twins some time ago and Dad has patiently tried to teach Buggy to draw a circle to too little success. Though she has been deliberate in her attempts, nothing has come close to this.

Last Saturday night, up late because of the late setting sun, she was allowed some additional play time outside her bedroom. She settled herself on the couch between Mom and Dad with the tablet and began repeating "sir-kul" over and over. She would draw and then erase her product. Curious, Mom looked at the screen and excitedly alerted Dad.

The extraneous squiggles were added while Dad tried to photograph her with her accomplishment.  

Her normal use of the doodle board is to scribble in an uncontrolled manner. This occasion was remarkable because of the intensity of the effort she put into the task, and her unhappiness with the result causing her to erase previous iterations and try again.

Dad is pretty excited that she has taken it upon herself to work hard at perfecting her sir-kul.


Her next shape should be something more challenging. Dad is thinking double helix.

Happiest Father's Day

BUGGY sat in Dad's lap for selfies. What could make for a better Father's Day gift?

EJ's New 'do

MOM took EJ to the barber and the barber won.

"We Need a House"

THE New Family needs a house. Both Mom and Dad have said as much. The condo unit is too small with two little but growing quickly kids. Recently they took a road trip to Grand Rapids Michigan to look at homes. The drive was three hours one way, which is significant because hitherto Buggy has not been able to travel in the car for extended periods. Her inability to tolerate being restrained in a car seat caused Dad to cancel Christmas travel plans in 2013. 

She did well for the trip there, but she was not tired. Being out of her element, she was excited by all of the new stuff and never napped. So on the way home she became cranky making the last hour of the trip miserable for everybody.

I-80/94 in Indiana

I - 196 in Michigan

Rest stop

Back on the road, this one fell asleep.

The first home the Family saw had lots of privacy trees and shrubs.

Its back yard had an elevated deck. The trees are nice.

Mature trees are an important consideration for the family since they quiet noise and obstruct lines of sight allowing them to enjoy their property.

After having seen that home they moved onto others.

This newly built home lacked mature trees and landscaping.

This model home was nice but the lack of flora meant they were not interested in this location. The real estate agent explained that she wanted to see this home from this builder. It planned to build future home similar to it on future lots.

Above, while many of these homes are right on top of each other, this particular one is adjacent to an emergency services access road, so the nearest neighbor will be a narrow roadwidths distance away.

But on the other side the neighboring home will be twice the equidistance of the home side to the property line (where the sod ends).

Inside EJ plays.

The selling point of the home, the real estate agent explained, was the builder's choice of designer colors and use of 6" baseboards and full trim throughout. Dad can trim out an entire home this size in a day or two with stained red oak. The existing trim appeared to be MDF, an undesirable material in his opinion, though he did not confirm that. Also the color choices above, while nice, were the same choices he made when he repainted his kitchen back in 2002. He doesn't consider his tastes designer and was less than awed.

Don't worry, Dad did not let EJ bang the closet doors shut like he likes to do at home.

This home was architecturally interesting. That is a plus.

The final home they looked at was in a conventional neighborhood, not in a planned development.

Architecturally it is very interesting with wrap around porch. That is a plus for Dad that hates plain or cute but the same as every fifth home in a planned development.

Nice big back yard.

Awesome deck.

Inside has a nice storage bench on each floor.

The New Family has additional areas to explore in other states before settling on where to begin serious home shopping. Grand Rapids has its pluses and minuses. Next they will evaluate southern Indiana.