The Twins Turn One

Are they really related?

W takes his first bite of a cupcake.

M tries to eat the entire cupcake in one bite.

One year ago today, the second of the twin boys scared me by emerging motionless and blue. Now he is a healthy and round one year old though still often motionless. Sometimes we are shocked by how different the two of them are. My fears of not being able to tell them apart are long past.


Here is who they are at one year old:

W (the first born)
Dark complexion, dark hair
One wild curl behind his right ear
Eats anything
Strong and wiry
Climbs everything
An escape artist
Blue-eyed
Throws himself into everything
Goes over things instead of around them
Has begun to put a toy to his ear as though it is a phone
Has taken a few tentative steps
Has started to get his leg stuck in his crib
Loves TV
Enjoys making noise
Impresses the family with pull ups on the pack & play
Prefers to hop
Laughs easily and quickly
Ticklish all over




M (the second born)
Light, pale complexion
Very light brown, thin hair
Picky, demanding, and voracious eater
A gentle giant
Sees no reason to escape
Blue-eyed
Studies things before deciding to touch
Goes around things
Has learned to wave this week
Has taken a few tentative steps
Makes some really entertaining attempts at clapping
Loves his momma
Prefers to sway
Only ticklish in the right places at the right time

VIDEO and my wife's commentary here.

Peace

..._

Monday Miscellany: A Little Bit Taller

My eldest son turned six last week. He hopped out of bed on his birthday and asked, "Am I any taller today?"


His party went well. The temperature was in the low seventies so we strung up a Superman piñata in the back yard. Superman got pummeled, and no one got hurt. The bigger kids wanted to whack his head off, but his head was still attached even after he had given up his sugarcoated entrails (who knew that the source of his power was not the yellow light of Sol but Whoppers, Twizzlers, and Bottlecaps?). I must admit that it felt a little odd stringing up a human figure (or Kryptonian figure) from a tree in my back yard. Next year I shall insist on an inanimate object.





One can never predict what present will be a six-year-old's new favorite. He has certainly enjoyed his new light saber (Mace Windu's purple light-up one). It joins his red, spring loaded, light-up one and his battery-less blue and green ones. It is becoming quite the armory over here. But his favorite toy seems to be a single Lego brick. It is a red light-up brick that projects a beam of red light that has spent the past twenty-four hours vaporizing all manner of bad guys.


My wife already wrote a nice appreciation of our now six-year-old boy at her blog here. I will just add a few of my own thoughts to hers. I appreciate any boy that can create an Episode 7 of Star Wars in which the evil Dark Robot's head explodes at the end. I have seen it recreated in Lego numerous times; it is quite dramatic.

He had to go for his six-year-old check-up on his birthday. The last time he was there he had gotten a painful flushot and was not looking forward to the event. As soon as he entered the exam room, he saw the finger prick kit causing his anxiety level to rise appreciably. One can tell he is nervous when he starts playing with his fingers in his lap (the proverbial wringing of the hands). The anticipation was much worse than the actual pinprick. He is not fearless, but he is growing brave.

He is also having to learn discernment. He came home and showed us the birdie. He said a kid at school said that it meant that you didn't love Jesus. About the same time he started saying sarcastically, "Oh my God!" He has not repeated either since (at least in our view). He got in trouble on the bus for the first time last week.

He measured in at the doctors at 46 pounds and 46 inches. Both are average for his age. By objective standards he is just your average six-year-old kid, and I am just a typical parent who wants to freeze the passage of time so that an imaginative, bright, mystical boy won't grow up too fast.



Peace