Aaron & Isaac

Passover

This weekend was the beginning of Passover, so we had a Passover Seder at Mom-mom and Pop's house. Usually Isaac is the little Rabbi of the two, but this night was different from all other nights, as Aaron took the lead and read much of his Sammy Spider Haggadah to the group.

We flipped things around a bit this year and let the boys each hide half of the Afikoman. Aaron hid his under a couch cushion, and Isaac hid his under a table in the office. I think the boys had fun watching all the grownups searching around the house.

When Aaron opened the door for Elijah he said "I see Elijah's car!" While the boys were at the front door, we secretly drank some wine out of Elijah's cup and tried to convince the boys that it was Elijah who drank it, but they were too smart for that.

Everyone's Learning

I always knew there'd be a time where the boys got smart enough that the things they learned would also be new to me.

I didn't realize it would be now. Each boy got a science book from Mom-mom and Pop for Chanukah, and they've been so much fun to read together.

I've learned about the purpose of the colon and what the Strong Force is.

Hope everyone is having a great Holiday Season!

E-Mail to Mindy

Aaron dictated this email for Aunt Mindy, who's coming back to Seattle for a few months, starting next week

Dear Mindy,
I love you. I wish you come back to our house on Saturday. And then I want you to play with me and Isaac and the whole family. And I like you to come to the grocery store to get Popsicles. I slept in the bunk bed and you can't go in it because it is only ours now. I'll let you sleep in it when you come to visit.
We are going to the JCC and I want to go outside first. Do you want to come to the ferry and tee-pee?
I love you one hundred days. And you can come to my house one day or not.
Bye.
Aaron

"Why does it say...?"

It's worth noting that Aaron can fully read now. It happened very fast. First he read simple words and his name, and then words he recognized, now he can pretty much sound out any word (with help breaking it up into smaller parts). Isaac isn't very far behind (he's more interested in drawing than reading/writing).

It's so strange to be driving and have Aaron ask, e.g. "Why does it say Super Car Wash on that elephant?"

4 year checkup

It was time once again for the yearly checkup. As always, the doctor was impressed at their good behavior, and curiosity about the medical tools. Aaron weighs 34 pounds (up from 30 last year), and is 40 inches tall (up from 37). Isaac weighs 31 pounds (up from 27 last year), and is 39 inches tall (up from 37).

They each got 3 shots, but they were quite brave during the ordeal.

Mushrooms

Another anecdote from my mom:

Yesterday the boys were helping me make the stew for dinner last night. As they helped me put in each ingredient, they each wanted to taste four pieces of each thing [nb: oh by the way, Isaac and Aaron are 4 years old now!]. When I got to the mushrooms and put four slices in front of each boy, Aaron tasted his and took the piece out of his mouth and said he didn't like it. Then he asked me for a little bag for the mushrooms. He put the mushrooms in the bag and said "Maybe they will taste better later", and put them aside. They both enjoyed the onions, green peppers, corn, peas and tomatoes.

Just pretend

My mom sent me this touching story about her and Isaac looking at family photos:

Isaac had asked me earlier in the week to see the pictures of my Mom-Moms again. We went into the living room and sat on the floor in front of all of the photos and we talked about each one of the photos and the names of the people in the photos, even the photos of you and Mindy when you were younger. Isaac was beginning to notice that some of the people were in more than one photo. When I showed him another photo, he began naming some of the people. When I heard his cute little voice saying the names as I pointed to the people, the people who are no longer living, the people who will never get to see and know these precious little boys, it made me sad to think of that reality. I started to cry. Isaac looked at me and said "Why are you crying, Mom-Mom?" I said I was sad. He asked "Why are you sad?" I told him I was sad because I missed these people. He looked at me and he said "Just pretend." He said it so innocently and casually and naturally as if there was a simple answer for my sadness. It was so cute and so touching. Then he got up and ran back into the dining room.

Ask God

Tonight at bedtime, Isaac asked me "What does Hamotzi mean?" I was stumped, so before I could come up with an answer, Aaron suggested "Let's ask God". I ran with this idea, and added that they can each ask God tonight in their dreams. Aaron suggested that I do the same, and I agreed.

A few minutes later as the boys were drifting off, I hear Isaac mumble, "God, what does Hamotzi mean?"

Cars

Isaac and Aaron are really into cars right now. They ask me what's the make/model for every car on the road. It's especially frustrating while I'm driving and one boy will ask "what's that one?" without pointing or describing it. "Um, it's a Kia."

They really like Mom-mom's Acura, and all other Acura's for that matter ("It's just like Mom-mom's!").

One day, a car alarm went off at about 6:30, waking us all up. On the way out the door, we looked at the car whose alarm went off, and it was a black Mercedes. Later that day, Aaron said to Mom-mom "That black Mercedes woke us up!"

Aaron's first email?

I was working from home early one morning, when Aaron came in. "I want to type words to Auntie Mindy", he said. So I set him up with an email addressed to her and he went to work. Here's the text of his first email. He typed this all himself:

aaron

apple

aaron

I had to help him find the "p" key but everything else was all him. After that, he wrote one to Mommom.

How to get your kids to do the dishes

One day, Isaac wanted to play "You be Isaac, I'll be daddy". He put me to sleep, sang me a good-night song and then said "Now I'll go do the dishes", which is always the first thing I do after lights out.

I wanted to see how this would go, so I stayed "asleep" until I heard the kitchen sink running. Sure enough, Isaac and Aaron were washing the dishes. I helped them get the crusty food off, and load dishes into the dishwasher. It was really slow and messy, and I don't know how no dishes were broken. But 10 minutes later, I had an empty sink and a full dishwasher!

Stumped

Apparently, humans spend their entire 4th year asking questions nonstop. Two 3 year olds ask more questions then could possibly be answered by one person. Usually I can field the majority of them, by either actually knowing the answer, or by making something up and turning off the reflex to add an upwards inflection to the end of an answer that you're unsure of.

Yesterday, we were stopped at a light across from a gas station. "Why's that part of the sign green?" asked Aaron, pointing to the price for diesel fuel*. That one's easy, "It means that the gas station sells diesel fuel."

Then I get hit with the follow-up bomb from Isaac: "Why do trucks need diesel fuel?"

I knew that "because they have diesel engines" would be an unacceptable answer, so I had to resort to a new tactic: "Uh...let's ask pop next time we see him." I guess "go ask your grandfather" is the new "go ask your father"

* I assumed he was pointing, I couldn't actually see him, so I had to look around for something green and assume we were talking about the same thing

Future Detectives

Isaac and Aaron are very perceptive. Over the weekend I replaced many of the incandescent bulbs in the house with compact fluorescents. When the twins got here on Tuesday, it took about 30 seconds before they come running to me. The light fixture in one of the bathrooms has no cover, so you can see the new bulb.

Excitedly, Aaron says: "Daddy, there's a new..." (here you could see the gears turning, trying to find the phrase "light bulb". Failing that, he continues... "It goes round and round and round!"

Arnold died, and Aaron is reading

Our fish Arnold died last night. I did the cleanup and rehearsed what to say to the twins in the morning when they noticed his bowl was gone. They're both super observant, so it only took about 30 seconds in the kitchen before Aaron asked "Where's Arnold?"

I said "Guys, Arnold died last night," and got ready to launch into my Socratic lesson on death, but after fielding only one follow-up question, "Where'd he go?", they seemed more interested in going outside to play in the snow than discussing our mortality. BTW, I don't remember the answer to "Where'd he go", but it wasn't "heaven" or "the toilet"...both of which might be true depending on how you look at it.

Also, Aaron is alllllmost reading these days. He can look at a few common words and recognize them (family names, road signs), and on most short words he can recite the letters. I'll help him with sounding out the word in a Sesame Street sort of way...."SSS TTT AAWWWW PPPP" "SSSTTOOOPP" "STOP!"

The Timer

I've been using the kitchen timer a lot more recently, to keep things moving around the house.

Before bedtime, the twins clean up the playroom. It used to be a battle every night to get them to stop playing and start putting things away. So I started setting the timer for 5 minutes or so (depending on how many toys are out), and say "Put 'em away, or I'll take 'em away".

The first few times, they didn't believe me, and went on playing until the timer went off. I got an empty cardboard box and picked up everything on the floor, letting them know they can play with them again in a day. That got the message across, and prompted this quote from Aaron.

This morning, Isaac wanted me to read Caps For Sale, so I told him we can read it if he gets dressed before the timer rings.

I've never seen him get dressed so quickly! Aaron, however, wasn't interested and not only didn't get dressed quickly, he almost went to school without pants on. He changed his mind at the last minute. Perhaps it was Isaac saying, "Aaron, they're all going to laugh at you!"

When they don't get dressed, instead of fighting I say "that's ok, you can just go to school without your _____ on". They've never actually gone to school sans clothing...yet

Sending Toys to Iraq

We recently heard about an opportunity to send used toys to children in Iraq. I approached the twins about this with a bit of hesitation. Would they want to part with their beloved toys? I said, "There are boys and girls who don't have any toys. Isn't that sad? We have so many, maybe we can make them happy by giving them some of ours!"

They really proved me wrong, and this turned into a wonderful lesson on giving and geography.

They immediately started going through their toy boxes and happily offered up stuff to give away. I had to put the kibosh on a bunch of stuff that wouldn't ship well or had sentimental value, but had I let them, they probably would have given away everything but the Thomas trains! We ended up with plush animals, two sneaky snakes, a handful of hot wheel cars, and a drawing from each boy.

The twins wanted to know where the toys were going, so I showed them Iraq on the map. I pointed out how it's far away from Seattle, but pretty close to Israel, two places they already know.

I told them I was going to take the package to the Post Office, but the twins thought I was going to take the toys all the way to Iraq, and they wanted to come.

"Are we going to drive the toys to the children?", one asked.
"No, the mailman will do that for us tomorrow"
"I want to drive them tomorrow!"
"It's very far to drive, the mailman will have to take an airplane"
"I want to go on the airplane!"

I explained that it's too far for us to go, and these children live in a place that has a lot of bad guys. I compromised by telling them we can go when they're "this many", holding up 5 fingers.

They seemed somewhat disappointed, but OK with this deal. Hopefully, they won't hold me to that in two years...

[a related story from another family who sent toys]

Preschoolers

Yesterday was the twins' first day of preschool. I wish I had a cute anecdote to share, but really it was just like any other uneventful school day, but in a different classroom and with different teachers (even most of their classmates are the same). You gotta hand it to the boys, they pretty much take everything that life throws at them with composure and maturity. The only hitch was that they wouldn't nap, so they were somewhat cranky in the evening, but c'est la vie.

Ok, I actually do have a somewhat cute anecdote to share. In the morning, Isaac went to his old classroom and looked for his name on the little coat hooks. Unable to find it, he asked "Where's my hook?" That's all I got.

Underwear!

Since the twins had dry diapers yesterday, and they woke up and went potty right away this morning, they're ready to wear underwear in my book. I sent them to daycare with their new Thomas undies (and 2 spare pairs each). Our potty training method was care of their late great-grandma Beverly, who, during Mindy and my potty training years, made us pee every hour whether they want to or not, and gave us an M&M if we did.

Dentist Appointment

The twins' first dentist appointment was today. It went great: no cavities, and everyone got a toy. Apparently, Isaac has a chipped tooth. "From a fall?", asked Dr Wendy? If she only knew!

The twins were well-behaved, and very helpful. From the Dora the Explorer book we've been reading, they even knew what everything was already, especially the "explorer".

We also went to Pop's office to eat lunch with him for his birthday. Happy Birthday Pop!

Ear Infections

The twins have ear infections. As much as it sucks for them, these are luckily the twins' first ear infections. Hopefully their last too. The antibiotics are supposed to kick in within the next day, but till then, please send good vibes their way. Also, big ups to Aliya for helping me out at the doctor's office today.

Life Lessons

The twins learned two important life lessons today.

1. How to play air guitar: on the way out of school, there was loud music playing in the auditorium, so the twins ran inside to check it out. The soundman was playing "More Than A Feeling" and testing out the stage lights. So the twins climbed onto the stage and started dancing. I showed them how to do air guitar ("wait for the solo") and air drums.

2. Birds die: we were playing out front and the twins found a dead bird. I thought I explained the situation to them (they understand dead batteries), but they didn't really get it, even after I went and got gloves and a plastic bag. Aaron asked where the bird was going, I told him "the trash can", and then I think they understood because they got very concerned looks on their faces.

Later in the evening, my parents called and Aaron was retelling the story to my dad: "Pop...bird was dead and they got a battery inside of his nest...we put him in the trashcan"

The things you learn from books

The twins got a book from the library called Sally Goes To the Farm. On one page, two dogs meet and do their customary doggy meeting ritual.

Later in the week Justin and Abby came over to see our new place, and they brought their dog Harley. When Harley started sniffing Aaron, I was reminded of the book and asked him if he knew how dogs say Hello to each other.

He proudly said "They sniff butts!" and dropped down onto all fours to sniff Harley's butt.

eta: from amber

i asked aaron if he sniffed harleys butt. he said yes. i asked him what it smelled like. he said 'smelled like butt!'

Potty

Every day after school, we get a form about the twins called "Toddler Talk". It's about what each child did during the day, what they ate, if they napped, all written in the child's first person. Look at what they said yesterday...

Isaac: Today I used the Potty all day! Wow! I even asked when I needed to go! I'm so Big! :) No accidents! Wow!

Aaron: Today I used the Potty all day. Not one wet diaper. I did it all in the toilet! :) I loved dancing & singing silly songs & best of all Playing on Both Playgrounds.

Passover

From my mom

Oh, they were wonderful at the Seder at Joy's. Everyone was so impressed with their knowledge of Passover and how well they sat. When asked why do we eat matzo, they both said "Because it is Passover!"
After sitting for about an hour, Aaron said "I'm done with Passover". He wanted to get up and play.

My pants are in the garden!

Yesterday, Isaac was "helping" me move my big duffel bag, and he slipped and landed on his butt in the dirt. Before he got up he said, "my pants are in the garden!"

Also, whenever he's playing with an animal toy, and you ask him what its name is, he says "Curry." It's actually a really cute name for a pet.

What keeps Aaron up at night

Aaron was having a hard time falling asleep tonight (usually it's Isaac). Finally, he told me why: "Daddy, take the clothes out of the dryer." They had been sitting in there all evening. I reassured him I'd do it right away. This is what keeps Aaron awake at night.

My poop fell out

Words you don't want to hear. Isaac came out of the bathroom yesterday evening with his pants around his ankles and says, "Daddy, my poop fell out."

And there it was, on the bathroom floor.

"It's warm!" was his observation. Somehow my flosser thingy also ended up on the floor, close enough to the poop that I immediately threw it in the dishwasher.

Car, you meed gas?

One time I told the twins to ask the car if it needs gas, so they said:

"Car, you meed gas?" (they can't say "need" yet)

And I answered as the car (with a weird squeaky car voice, don't picture KITT from Knight Rider, you'd be way off).

Now every time we pass a gas station, it's "Car, you meed gas?" and they won't take no for an answer. I've started filling the tank when it's only half empty, just so the twins get the chance to help me more often.

Peepee in the potty

Both boys made peepee in the potty Saturday morning!

"What's that say?"

"What's that say?" is the twins' new favorite question. It's great when they ask it about a food product, then protest when you don't read every last word like the net weight and copyright date.

According to my mom, I asked this question incessantly for a year, and then taught myself how to read.

Bigger and Bigger

I shaved off my beard over the weekend, which I've heard can be a traumatizing experience for young children. So I had the twins watch me shave it to minimize the damage. They were thrilled watching all the hair fall into the sink, and Aaron kept saying "smaller and smaller and smaller and...".

When I was done they took it pretty well, but Isaac grabbed the clippers off the counter and handed them to me saying, "bigger and bigger?" Poor guy thought that clippers can either remove or add hair. Only on the Jetsons.

Stuff I've been meaning to post

monozygotic.com is down a lot (or so it seems), so I've collected a bunch of little things to post, now that the server is up while I'm sitting at the computer...Enjoy!

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On the drive from Amber's place to mine, the twins point out a lot of things. I figured I'd write them down for posterity:

"Kitty. And another!" = Greenwood Humane Society
"Tick tock!" = Luxury wristwatch billboard. Which was replaced by...
"Firefighter!" "No, it's a Zadie" = Firefighter billboard.
"Elephant spraying himself!" = Elephant Car Wash
"Man has no house." "No, it's a lady" = Homeless person on freeway offramp
"Brown mukick" = Skinned Xbox 360 billboard ("mukick" is their word for "battery charger")
"Dolly eating corn" = Gross anti-smoking billboard
"Color bar" = That weird color-changing pole in front of Cornish College's Raisbeck Performance Hall
"Dancing lady" = Sign for Tango restaurant on Capitol Hill
"Tony the baker" = Pizza Time where we stop to get a pie on the way home (it's an obscure Curious George reference)

Not to mention countless buses, firetrucks, and "dumpsters" (garbage trucks)

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"I wanna put it in the trash!" --Isaac, trying to pull out the hair on my big toe

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The twins stopped sleeping with bottles a few weeks ago! It went easier than expected. But now that I think about it, that might have been the catalyst for Get Out of Bed Fest 2006.

Operation "Big Boy Bed"

The twins have been climbing out of their cribs a lot. Especially Isaac. He'll climb out of his crib and stand in the doorway for a while, making little sounds to let me know he's up.

At first it was a battle: I'd put him back into his crib 10, 15, 20 times per hour for two hours. Then I decided to use a bit of parenting judo (I have to credit my mom for pointing out a relevant episode of that nanny show). I'd just wait until he came out of his room, and silently put him back into his crib with a short hug or back rub.

I figured this would be a good time to start the crib-to-bed transition, since it's something that messes up the sleep routine and Isaac's is pretty messed up anyway. So over the weekend, I took one side rail off each boy's crib. Isaac's crib is made to convert into a toddler bed, so I guess that's what it is now. Aaron's crib is not, so I had to lash a horizontal support underneath the crib to keep the thing from falling apart. I thought it would be kind of sketchy, but it's sturdy! It passed the double "no more monkeys jumping on the bed" test this evening.

Tonight was the first night with their pseudo toddler beds. I don't want to jinx anything, but so far so good. Aaron only got out of bed once, and Isaac only a handful of times. Now it sounds pretty quiet from their room, so I guess the first small phase of Operation "Big Boy Bed" is a success.

Now I'm just praying I don't hear that "thud......waaaaaaaah" sound in the middle of the night.

Getting kids to eat veggies

The topic seems so cliche. Isaac and Aaron's spinach honeymoon lasted all of 3 days, so here's what I've been doing recently.

Before preparing his mac and cheese, I take the amount of water that the box calls for, heat it and put it in the blender. I then throw in some frozen or fresh spinach and puree the heck out of it. Then I put the spinach water puree in a bowl, add the mac and cooking it as per the microwave instructions then adding the cheese. Other then it being green, he has no clue there is spinach in it, which he would normally never touch.

Peel Pressure

Yesterday, we were going to have tangerines with dinner. Usually I peel and separate them for the twins. I got distracted for a second, and when I turned around, Isaac was peeling his own tangerine. Maybe he interpreted my look of surprise as one of disapproval, because he said "My friends do it!"

I let both twins peel their own tangerines, and even though it took about 5 minutes, they both did it, and were really proud of the accomplishment. Today I packed whole tangerines in their lunches.

Music to my ears

Tonight for dinner I made the usual tuna noodle casserole, but I decided to try hiding some spinach underneath it when serving it to the twins. I think they call it "a bed of fresh-cut baby spinach" on gourmet menus.

And it was during this dinner that Aaron said the following:

"More spinach please!"

Actually, I'm not sure if he said "please", because he had me at "more spinach".

More unsolicited medical advice

They should seriously consider revoking the accreditation of whichever medical school the twins attended. This morning I blew my nose, so Isaac said:

"You sick, daddy? Take off your pants!"

Future Pick-Up Artist

The twins have a toy that they wear as glasses (it's a back-scratcher). For some reason, they began to say that they were doctors when they would wear the back-scratcher over their faces.

On Saturday, Aaron said the following: "I'm a doctor. Let me check your nipples."

Poop in the potty

News Flash! Isaac just pooped in the real potty. He told Amber he had to poopoo, and poopoo he did.

AA is for Isaac and Aaron

I was at the bookstore today with the twins, spending a gift certificate they got¹, when I saw a book called AA is for Aardvark. I thought it was cute that it was about double-A's, so I flipped it open. Much to my surprise, the first page says

Aaron Aardvark loves playing with Isaac Aardwolf.

¹ which, btw, is a really great gift for a child. Not only are you guaranteed they'll like the book they get, but they also get the fun experience of looking through all the books in the children's alcove.

Chankuah Report: Night 1

Our first night of Chanukah was really fun. In fact, all day was pretty fun. I took the twins to the local playground, but it started to pour right as we got there, so we ran under the climbing toy for shelter and had a snack.

On the way to and from the playground we pass a Starbucks, so I thought it would be fun to stop in to dry off and get a warm drink. It looked like the only thing open in the neighborhood because it was really hopping. The twins split a hot chocolate (which they called "iced mocha with whip" of course). They met a new friend named Alex, who they called "Raspberry" because he was drinking a raspberry yogurt.

Right before Chanukah started, we visited Candycane Lane and gawked at the amazing light displays.

Chanukah was just the males, everyone else is out of the country. The twins got Bob the Builder toys from (Great-)Uncle Neil and Aunt Judy, which they really loved and didn't put down from the time they opened them until the time they went to bed tonight.

We sang songs, ate chocolate gelt, and played dreidel (which for the twins means "grab the dreidel as soon as it starts spinning").

Thanksgiving

The twins and I had a busy thanksgiving. Travis and his family (including his two year old nephew, Tristan) came to visit, followed by a visit from Ellen.

Then we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at my parents'. The food and the company were both top-notch.

I'm so thankful for friends and family, both near and far. You've all shown so much love to the twins, Amber, and me. Also, for the twins' continued health. When I think about how they started their lives, it's still so amazing how healthy they are right now.

Plenty of photos from Thanksgiving can be found in the November album

"I peeped"

The twins have been home sick from daycare the past few days, with head colds. Yesterday after nap time, I went in to their room to find them both in their cribs totally naked. They like running around the house naked shouting "nakee boys" so I let them do so.

A minute later, Aaron comes up to me and sheepishly says, "I peeped." Before I could put two and two together, he leads me to the living room rug, points at a small wet spot, and repeats "I peeped on the floor and rug."

Toby: misunderstood

This morning, I spoke with one of Isaac's teachers about the Toby altercation (aka "Tobygate"), and it turns out it was all just a cute toddler misunderstanding. Toby likes to hug the other children, but he sometimes gets a bit carried away and he ended up knocking Isaac to the ground. Isaac will be speaking at a press conference this afternoon, at which he's expected to announce that he will restore most-favored playmate status to Toby.

I hope Toby's lawyers will dismiss the libel charges now.

Iced Mocha, Please

It's no secret that Amber enjoys her espresso beverages, nor is it a surprise that the twins tend to pick up on their parents' behavior. However, I was in for a humorous treat when I walked into the livingroom yesterday to find Isaac and Aaron playing "Starbucks drive through" with their toy firehouse. One would drive a truck up to the window, and say "Iced Mocha, Please. With whip!"

Makawiki

For ages, Aaron called macaroni "makawiki." But last night at dinner, he finally used the correct term. Only it was in reference to a plate of lasagna.

Two year checkups

You guessed it

This is turning into the "funny stuff said at mealtime" blog.

Isaac: Ice cream! Ice cream!
Me: Isaac, we don't have any ice cream.
Isaac: Ok. [thinks for a few seconds] Cake!

Aaron: More grapes.
Me: Can you say "more grapes, please?"
Aaron: Yeah, "say it"!

More funny stuff

Yesterday at dinner:

Aaron: More grapes.
Me: Can you say "more grapes, please?"
Aaron: Yeah.
Me: Then say it...
Aaron: More grapes, YEAH!

And not much later...

Isaac: [holding out noodles to feed "wormy" (my finger making inchworm movements)]
Wormy (me): Thank you!
Isaac: Nice manners.
Wormy: Thank you!

Kids say the darndest things

I should have known that shortly after learning to really talk, the twins would start saying funny stuff.

A few days ago, my mom stopped off at the emission test center with the twins in tow, and there were "too many people" so she had to leave. Shortly after that, she pointed out how many people were gathered at Safeco Field and Aaron yelled "leave, leave!"

Today, I asked if the twins knew any prayers (I think we were playing Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear) and they both started singing Happy Birthday to themselves. Aaron also likes to randomly cheer "Isaac and Aaron!"

1 - 10

The boys can count to 10 on their own! I'll try to get some audio/video of it soon.

18 month well-baby checkup stats

Pictures, poop, and money

Hope everyone had a fun New Years! When the clock struck midnight, Isaac and Aaron did a great job of sleeping through about 10 minutes worth of firecrackers and bottle rockets. With the new year brings a new online album, so enjoy.

New Years was also a financial milestone in two ways: the twins earned their first taxable income (1 cent of interest dividend each), and they learned the word "money" (not sure how!).

Poop story below the cut. It's gross, but that's what being a parent is all about, right?

Aaron has a tendency to get constipated, and as of this evening, he hadn't pooped in 4 or 5 days. He had been grunting and lying stiff all day, and his appetite was all but gone. So Amber and I gave him a baby enema to loosen him up (actually, Amber did the dirty work, I just tried to hold him down and distract him with my hat). It definitely did the trick! After a few minutes of grunting and groaning, he took the worlds' biggest toddler dump. There are pictures of the aftermath on my phone, I'll decide whether to post them after I view them.

Smart Human Tricks

1. When the twins hear an airplane they point out the window or straight up (whichever's most convenient) and say "Airplane!", though it sounds more like "A-pain!"
2. They've taken to "counting" things: pointing at a set of objects or images one at a time while saying what sounds like "one, two, three." I'm not sure if this is just mimicking behavior, or if they already have a concept of counting.
3. Aaron points at a compact florescent bulb and says "hot!" I'm trying to get him to say "Hot! but not as hot as an incandescent bulb with the equivalent candlepower."
4. If we lay out a soft blanket or quilt on the floor, the twins will lay down on it and pretend to sleep, making those "chaaaaa shooooo" fake snoring noises.
5. There's a Shabbat song with only two words ("Bim bom") to which you dance the hand jive. Isaac will sing ("Bih Bah") and jive along with you.
6. Shortly after Chanukah ended, we were reading a Chanukah book. When we got to a page with a Menorah, Isaac pointed at it and said Chanukah ("Ha-Kah") without prompting.

Good morning

Aaron's first words this morning were "Hi, Daddy!"

Upright Locomotion Update

Isaac just took 6 or 7 steps, enough to get him halfway across the room! He'll walk now with just one hand held.

Also, the twins added the word "hat" to their vocabulary. Don't ask me how or why they picked that one.

"Apple" season

I can't believe I forgot to write about this. Starting about 2 weeks ago, Aaron's first real word* is "apple," just in time for this year's tasty Washington apple season! Isaac followed suit shortly after, and now they can also recognize a "doggy" when they see one. Excited about their newfound grasp of semantics, they have yet to learn that even though they look similar to apples, tomatoes and pumpkins actually have a different name!

Their appetites for knowledge are hard to quench, both in the verbal and physical worlds. They have taken to pointing at new objects, and when we name them, they try to duplicate the sound.

Although they still only know a few words, the cadence and intonation of their speech is quickly developing. Aaron picked up on the lyrical rhythm of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?," so he will hand you any book and say "Bow Beah, Bow Beah!"

And of course, any attempt to halt an ongoing investigation of an object (let's say a cell phone for instance) will definitely be met with cries of frustration.

While Aaron has been excelling in verbal development, Isaac has been working on standing on his own. He's now at the point where he can rise from sitting or kneeling to standing without support, and he can even do it while holding onto a toy.

* and by that I mean, when you hold an object in front of him, he will name it without prompting.

Jeepers Creepers

What's a better gift for two soon-to-be-walkers than a new pair of shoes? Thank you Caroline! She got green dump trucks for Aaron and red ones for Isaac. These will be an invaluable tool in operation "get the twins to keep things on their feet since it's getting cold out."

Toddlers are standing by

Every day, Isaac and Aaron are one step closer to walking (pun intended). Here's Isaac standing up long enough for mom to take a picture of him, and below the cut is an animated gif of Isaac; wobbly but standing! If I was a betting man, I'd put my money on them walking before the holidays.

Who knew

Who knew I'd spawn a pair of such refined palates? Last night we were feeding ravioli to the twins and decided against putting marinara sauce on them (the ravioli) so it wouldn't end up all over the place.

Turns out they HATE plain ravioli. Isaac took one bite, spit it out, and shook his head "no" for about 2 minutes straight. I thought his eyeballs were going to fly out, his head was waggling so vigorously.

So we dipped each ravioli piece in red sauce, and they loved it! They also love the taste of their liquid iron supplements, which they used to hate.

Birthday Party

Thank you to everyone who joined us in celebrating the twins' birthdays! Everyone--including the twins--had a lot of fun! If I could do it over, the only thing I'd change is planning the party around the twins' nap schedule, as opposed to right in the middle of it. But other than that, it was a great party.

Here are a few pictures of the event, especially the cake!

Weather Check

Weather report for the twins' birthday party

Sunday, August 29:

High: 77°F
Low: 56°F
Partly Cloudy

Wind: From the NE at 6 mph
Precip: 0 %
Max. Humidity: 70 %
UV Index: 6 High

So bring your sunscreen but leave your raincoats at home!

[10 day forecast]

First Wave Intact

Speaking of milestones, we've successfully completed Phase I in operation "Goodbye Bedtime Bottle!" (Who said parenthood isn't full of action and adventure!?)

After one month of gradually diluting their bedtime bottles, the twins now go to sleep with bottles of warm water, and they don't seem to mind too much.

Phase II will be weaning them from the bedtime bottle altogether, and Phase III will be...wait for it...weaning them from bottles altogether!

Oh, the pictures above are from my phone. The first one is Aaron playing in the grass around Greenlake. The second is Isaac playing inside a big trash can that held rubber balls at one point at the Little Gym.

Overlooked Milestones

Along with the occasional dancing, another skill that the twins have recently learned is rolling a ball. Maybe this is so stereotypically fatherish of me, but I think this is a really important milestone that is frequently overlooked. Here's why:

1. Physically/mechanically speaking, it requires a level of development in coordination, and fine and gross motor skills.
2. It shows a willingness to look beyond the immediate gratification of holding the ball, and recognize that the game of passing it back and forth can yield a bigger entertainment pay off.
3. Ability to mimic the motions of others, and to respond to commands.

I'll try to snap a picture of it soon.

Gallery RSS Feed

Thanks to Cody and Michael, we now have an RSS feed of all gallery albums. Yet another way you can get the freshest monozygotic content delivered to your doorstep!

RSS

New tooth!

Aaron's top-right incisor tooth next tooth over* broke through today! You heard it here first, folks.

* But the top-right incisor is almost through.

Upstanding citizens

Both Aaron and Isaac are pulling themselves up to standing now. Their MO for this milestone is "anywhere, anytime." Turn your back for a second, and they're standing up against the baby gate, the bookshelf, the computer chair, the exersaucer, cardboard boxes, stroller, the futon. You name it, they've used it to help stand up, or at least tried to.

What goes up must come down, so with this new skill comes new spills. One of the worst sounds in the world is the dull thud of a kid hitting the carpeted floor, followed by a deafening second of silence, and then the crying crying crying. Luckily, these guys are always eager to try again.

Standing up is only half the battle sometimes. Last night, about 15 minutes after I put them down for bed, I heard some terrible crying. My first thought was that I forgot to put the crib rail up (again!) but I was sure I did that, so I went in to investigate. And there was Isaac, standing with a white-knuckle-strength grip on the crib rails, looking for someone, anyone!, to help him lie back down.

And Aaron invented this new game which I can only assume he's named "I'll lie on my back with outstretched arms and you help me stand up or else I'll start crying." But if you do help, he smiles real big, so it's a good game.

yo yo yo

yoo hoo