Making my day.

As I'm lying on the lower bunk singing song with B and E tonight before bedtime, E loudly squawks, 'Ooouch. Ouchouchouchouch.'

'E' I ask alarmed, 'what happened?'

'Ohhhhhh. My finnger. My poor, poor finger,' he wails.

I hold my breath waiting to see if this will escalate.

He continues groaning dramatically, 'Oh man!' [I stifle laughter as this phrase always sounds funny coming from him], 'I hurt my finger.'

'Well, does it need a kiss, E?'

'Yes,' [whimpering] 'it does'.

I start to haul myself up, untangling from the comforter when I hear,

[Smmmmmmmoooooooccccchhhhh]

I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

speaking another language

The other day, E jabs his finger in the direction of A's neck.

E: What's that called?
A: My neck?
E: No that. ::Pressing on A's thyroid cartilage::
A: Oh, that's my Adam's apple. Behind it is my voice box.
E: Huh. What's it called in German?
A: [??] I don't know E.
E: [authoritatively] I think it's a who-who.
A: Really? A who-who?
E: Yes! A who-who.

Who knew?

Instigator

Shortly after putting H and E to bed the other night, I came back upstairs to start some laundry when I overheard:

H: No, E! No, we can't poop on the bed. Momma and Daddy make the rules and they say, 'You need to stay in bed. And no pooping or peeing on the bed.'
E: But why?
H: I don't know why they make the rules. But they do. And they said 'No pooping.' We don't get a star for getting out of bed and we don't get a star for pooping on the bed.

Has one reached a new low when one's heart swells with pride over the fact that after countless episodes of preschool humor, the message 'No pooping on the bed' has gotten through? Well at least to one of them...

Bird Conductor

This picture strikes me as a cross between an orchestral maestro and Harry Potter. Given that the birds didn't respond to repeated attempts to pet them, I'm thinking we may need to find a better wand... this twig of driftwood may have lost its magic.

E-isms

E and B are picking up language at an impressive rate. They are also honing their senses of humor.

E and B on the way to Mimi's house with Dad driving while I visit friends with H and M. E and B are in their seats, when
B [casually mentions apropos of nothing] 'E! E bite cow'
subsequent laughter
Dad [nonplussed]: 'E, did you bite a cow?
E: 'YES!'
Dad [in all seriousness]: 'What did it taste like?'
E [pausing for dramatic effect]: 'Fluffy'
Then bursts into great belly laughs
E: 'That's funny!'

People often ask us if the twins have a shared, special language- a twin dialect, if you will. And while they both (mis)pronounce words in the same fashion, I would not call it their own language because we can understand most of it, usually....

Last weekend as we were driving home from the Cost-cow, in a post shopping trip hot dog induced calm, E bellows from the back seat, 'Hey! Dumb Fuck!!'
Huh? I briefly wondered if he was talking to me. I glanced back to see E pointing enthusiastically at a dump truck merging into the lane next to ours. Ah, good to see that E is carrying on the family tradition.

The No No Game

Sometime in the last few months, E became two. While he still has another month before we can celebrate his birthday, E has embraced the two with fervor. His favorite words, though he knows many, are simply: 'No.' and 'MINE!' H never encountered this stage. In fact, he still uses the word 'mine' incorrectly as he thinks it should be 'mys' following the logic of 'yours' and 'hers'. Thus, such stereotypical behavior rarely has described our boys but E is breaking the mold.

Lately, he answers all question initially with a 'No' if he likes the sound of it, or if he feels that perhaps we didn't hear him, he'll repeat it a few times for good measure. 'No! No nonono' with some vigorous head shaking thrown in for emphasis.

And he also has developed a new game for himself. As he is winding down after a long day, trying to fall asleep, you can hear him talking to himself in his crib (the soliloquy goes something like this):

E [looking up at the pictures on the wall, querying the room]: Wass that?

[long pause for sucking on fingers]: Is it a doggie?

[lightning fast response to himself]: No! Nonono! Is it a duck? No! No! NO.

Is it a bird? [when clearly it is a hummingbird that he's pointing at]: No! [chortle chortle]

Somehow, A and I find this mightily amusing. Though I suppose it will start to become irritating soon enough. Hopefully, he'll have moved on to something else by that point.

Duty Calls

Little E-- at the children's museum--- it's a tough job pretending to be a fireman, but someone's gotta do it.

Pane pain

The boys love planes. If you are outside with them for any period of time, undoubtedly you'll witness them gazing skyward.

'Go to the airport to see panes?!' H inquires hopefully every few hours. We rarely get a break in the inquires, even if we have just returned from a trip to the airport.

Take this morning. We arrive home from a morning spent watching planes from the beautiful observation lobby and H casually suggests to Dad that 'Affer nap, we go airport to see panes!!'

While at the airport, we do fun things like

1) speculate which parked airplanes will go high? 'Dat one go high! And that pane, that one go high, too!' And after dramatic pause, H (the voice of aeronautical authority) nods sagely, points to yet another parked plane and declares 'That pane get gas and then it goes HIGH!'

2) like to reminisce fondly of all the airplane rides H has taken and can remember (well that's basically one but it was a great one)

3) arguing as to when we go home. Mom: 'H, we're going to watch one more plane take off and then we're going home' Seemingly, a plane takes off every 40 minutes around that place... much waiting.... finally, I glimpse a plane coming down the runway, my scream for H to come look almost rivals that of Little E (who has an eagle eye when it comes to planes and a bullhorn cry of glee when he sees one). H: 'Where? Huh?' Catches glimpse of plane exhaust and speck of plane as it is hundreds of feet in the air. Mom: 'Okay H, that was the plane taking off let's go.' H: 'Nooooo. I want to see one more.'

Biker Boy

The E likes to ride. He and B got little trikes for their birthdays. B is content to explore the world on his own hands and legs, but E has taken to riding. He and H play a game which is a close cousin to 'GO' whereby H follows E around the circle... destruction in their path. E occasionally takes a detour to chuck books off the shelves, creating a little obstacle course for them. E also likes to place objects in the little basket on the front of the bike-- the TV remote, magnets from the fridge, a couple of goldfish (in case he gets hungry on the road and needs to stop for a quick bite).

And man is he fast. Scoot scoot. The only problem that we've encountered is that E seems to think he's invincible on his bike. He spent the first couple of days pissed that his bike couldn't drive up stairs, bellowing at the bottom of the steps... but since then, he's also driven his bike out into the garage, face planting at the bottom of the steps. Poor baby, road rage and road rash all hardships of being a biker.

Leaving... on an airplane

Actually, we aren't going on an airplane any time soon much to H's chagrin. Every time he hears the one pass over, the campaign starts:

'Eh, eh,' he eloquently suggests.

'Oh, H. You'd like to go on a plane?'

'I DO. I DO.' H screeches, as if finally you've comprehended his most fervent desire.

'Well H, we'll be visiting Lala and Grandpa in Minnesota this Christmas and we'll take an airplane.'

H listens thoughtfully and then suggests, 'Wake?'

'Yep, you'll have to wake 57 more times before we go.' This satisfies him.

H is developing a sense of time but it's focused on the future.

High on the Hog

Little E has recently expanded the climbing campaign. He's all over the place: on H's new toddler bed, on the shapes truck (see above), up the stairs, on to the step stool... he's a maniac. And look how pleased with himself he is.

Uh Oh, E

E has said his first word, 'Uh Oh' this morning. He was crawling around with a little plastic widgety gear (one of Henry's toys) and he dropped it. 'Uh Oh, E' I said and retrieved the toy for him. He looked at me as I handed it back to him and broke out in a big smile. 'Uuh oooh' he mimicked and chucked the gear down laughing uproariously. uh oh is right...

a mover and a shaker

E is en motion- he has cleverly developed a distinct way to make it from here to wherever. Before the forward motion starts, his right foot begins to bang and knock against the ground. Perhaps a little warning signal to get out of his way because E is on the go. Once the engine is up to speed, he lets loose: his left foot scootching him along the ground while he pulls forward with bent elbows to the ground, and of course, the right foot maintaining its steady beat the whole while. It's hilarious but once again.. it works. Moreover, he is SO proud of himself once he's accomplished the trip.

Yeah E!

MIA

Sorry. It truly has been a long couple of weeks. The babies are teething, H is having some sort of anxiety which involves waking up in the middle of the night and taking complete advantage of his sleep deprived parents by weaseling his way into our bed, and we have been juggling the selling and buying of cars, getting the fence/irrigation installed, applying to an au pair program, getting ready to go on vacation and moreover day-to-day life. Things have been chaotic.

But I should be able to find a few things to say about the boys. H is a sponge for words. Dad was looking at a framed construction drawing that neighbors recently gave us for the boys' room. H was able to point to not only the dump truck, the excavator and the backhoe but he also knew the scraper, front end loader and of course the 'dozer. Amazing. I'd like to say who knew all those things even existed... but I know the answer to that: H did.

As for babies, B and E are doing well. The continue to be stuck in the all fours position- crawling has not commenced. This is extremely frustrating for B who bellows with desire to go places! to do things! E is somewhat more philosophical about it, but he still manages to scooch around the floor.

Play Ball

Decisions, decisions....

get back here you slippery little bugger

i give up. i'll just work on what i'm good at: being cute.

Isn't E such a little Ham. He's really a pro at sitting up, though when he does fall-- it's hard. He also likes playing with these nubby balls that he got for Christmas (back when he was a wee little guy). Now he spends significant amount of time (oh say three minutes at least) whacking at the balls and trying to get them to come closer. What a cutie pie.

Hey Good Lookin'

E is enamored of people. He particularly enjoys smiling at his brothers. When he has the chance to admire his cute self, he lets loose infectious gaping grins. He's quite a content, happy fellow. Presently, he's playing in his exersaucer. He's quite adept at rolling over and scooching around on the floor, a bit like a prehistoric crab.

The Missing Link Part 1

H 5/05

B & E 12/06

People often ask how we tell the twins apart. To us, they look quite different. Most people think so too after spending some time with them. However, H appears to be the missing link who shares features of both babies. In looking through H's baby album there are many poses that we realize that B or E have unwittingly mimicked. I thought I'd see if anyone agrees... Tomorrow I'll try to find a picture match for H and B.