Post Nap Buggy

SHE is at her best right after rest.

Update: Gordon the Gourd

THE New Family Parents found the lost Veggie-Tales character that some claimed never existed.

Invited to dinner one day, he soon became a squash (one internet contributor claims the difference between the two names is intent, gourds are meant to be looked at while squash is meant to be eaten.)

Sadly, if he was the lost character, he is no longer. Mom ate him!

Update: Mom did not eat him, and now he has been in the refridgerator for a few days. So now Dad has to figure out what to do with him.

Gordon is now Butternut Squash soup.

Gordon got blended in the food processor and Dad added chicken broth and heavy whipping cream. Mmm, um!

Now, how to get the Twins to eat it? Dad has no patience with spoon feeding them. Ah ha!

So with that, the Twins took their lunch to to couch to eat and take in some children's programming.

Update: Broccoli!

BROCCOLI has recently become one of Dad's favorite vegetables. And he has mastered his preparation technique.

What other hated vege from his childhood would he like now he wonders? Brussels sprouts? No, don't push it that far that fast.

Anyway, he now uses an 8 quart pressure cooker to make it. He puts in a minimum of water to cover the bottom, crowds in as much broccoli as possible standing them upright, and gives it the gas. He run the flame on high until the pressure cooker reaches its maximum pressure and begins to let off the excess. Then he immediately soaks the cooker in cold water and evacuates the veg to a cold water rinse in a bowl.

It is amazing!

Update: Curious about other vegetables he hated as a kid, Dad decided to try the same blanch technique on Brussels sprouts. While they were not as bitter as he remembers (and the cores were slightly sweet), he overcooked them and they were mush. Next time he will follow the exact same process described above. He should get better results. 

Babble

THINGS are getting pretty exciting around the New Family home. The Twins are beginning to babble with the intent to convey a message. Their nonsense words are not always just random repetitions of syllables, but rather they sometimes have meaning.

To them at least. Dad has no idea what they are saying.

But clearly they understand the purpose of vocalizing is to communicate.

That is pretty cool.

Now Dad really needs to work with them to learn the names of stuff.

Buggy the Picky Eater

AUNT Heather graciously claims that Buggy is a "very organized eater." No one gets away with euphemisms describing the Twins. Buggy has strong likes and dislikes. And that which she dislikes is tossed onto the floor. Buddy, by contrast, just ignores what he doesn't want to eat, which is very little anyway.

 Buggy likes to seperate her food and eat serially, one thing at a time. Above she attacked the peas first, decided she doesn't like them and began to drop them on the floor one by one. The naked broccoli was next and received the same treatment. Carrots are almost never refused, as is potato, but she didn't care for the plain boiled cubes above.

She does like broccoli mixed in with mac n' cheese. She'll pick the brocolli out first, then eat the macaroni.

Girls and Their Hats

LIESEL likes her hats.

 She picks this and the pink pail up whenever they are within reach and puts it on her head. She doesn't need to wear it anylonger, but she will occasionally put the ThudGuard on her head too. And sometimes she just decides that EJ is not fully dressed without a hat, so she will try to put one on his head!

Now that the weather has become consistently cool, they are spending more time in their footed pajamas. These do not provide much traction on the hardwood floor. So they both slip and slide a lot thereby increasing the chance of a bad fall. The shoes help as does being barefoot. Dad now thinks part of Buggy's problem with falling was a traction problem. The ThudGuard helped, but ultimately she needed better traction to stay up right. Her desire to walk on her toes contributes to it too.

Fatigue contributes too. When she is tired she falls more frequently.

Still, when she falls she does not protect her head like Buddy does. He tucks and roles. She just goes splat on her head, face, whatever.

Update: The Twin's New Shoes

RECENTLY New Family friend Missi H. visited Chicago for an all too brief time. While here everyone went to the mall where Missi bought the Twins new shoes.

OK, time to admit it. Dad loves Buggy's shoes (silver and pink above). Before the Twins were born (perhaps even before Dad met Mom) Dad LOVED to see toddlers walking around in shoes with flashing LEDs. And guess what?

Yup! They light up! Time to go to the drive in movie and walk around!

Today the Parents went back to the mall to exchange Buggy's shoes. They fit well enough now but after additional thought they came to the conclusion the next size up would be preferable. While there, Dad asked the clerk if they had any LED shoes for Buddy. They did and the Parents exchanged those too.

These have the same five LED pattern that light up in sequence as Buggy's shoes. Dad tried to catch the sequence in frame, but gave up after a minute because the Family was demanding his attention.


Thank you again Missi! Now the twins can go styling around in awesome shoes!