Video Post: Two Years Old

Happy Birthday to Colin and Jake! Here's a look back at this second year set to the music of Ben Harper's rendition of Beautiful Boy which was originally done by John Lennon.

16 Months Old

When you're not looking they're heading in opposite directions these days

The monthly post is a little late due to the boys’ first bout of a stomach virus. Colin started things off Wednesday last week when he woke up vomiting and finally began to feel better by Friday afternoon. Jake picked up right after that and proceeded to throw up a day’s worth of food (conveniently for Age, he did all five times on me!).

In what will be the first of many lessons learned on dealing with their sickness, instead of having both of them sick for three days, they were sick back-to-back for six total days. Obviously purposely making one child sick is not something I’m willing to go on record endorsing, but there is something to be said for not trying so hard to limit their exposure to each other! We spent a lot of time watching what bottle Colin was drinking out of, washing his hands, cleaning pacifiers and in the end Jake ended up getting sick anyway. I think it’s almost inevitable that the other twin will end up getting the same sickness, so why delay? Three days of them both sick at the same time will be tough, but in the end is it better than having the entire ordeal stretched over six days?

With all of that, we are happy to announce that they are back to being themselves. There have been some minor lingering affects, but for the most part they are recovering nicely. It was a very hard ordeal seeing their personalities disappear for a few days and watch them go through this. We sure missed them and it’s great to have them back.

It’s those personalities that have made this past month so fun to watch. Besides this end-of-the-month setback, things had been going great. We have mentioned this many times before, but it’s amazing what a sweet, little boy Colin is. He loves giving hugs to anyone he can. Sometimes he’ll stop playing and just walk over and give you a big hug, then go right back to what he was doing. And of course, the beneficiary of so many of these hugs is Scout! That dog puts up with so much and at the same time he wouldn’t have it any other way. He is very protective of his two little guys and has more than once assumed some “baby sitting” duties when we’ve turned our backs.

Most of the time turning your back means that Jake has scooted off to a new task. The kid is a bundle of energy. In addition to his non-stop movement, he has added a verbal aspect to his repertoire. He is definitely the more vocal of the two and enjoys jabbering away with a constant dialog on life as he sees it. Most of it is his own brand of language, but he floats in the right word as well. You just have to be able to decipher if the “Ba” happens to apply to bottle, ball, brother or some other word beginning with a B. If he points to something and says his word and you don’t understand what he’s saying, he’ll say it again and this time with a little more inflection in his voice. It’s as if he’s saying, “No, I said Ball dummy, not bottle!” Then if you say what he thinks he said, he’ll give you this big grin and be so happy that he just communicated with you and it was understood.

In some of these monthly posts, including this one, we tend to focus on one aspect of their personality and a lot of the same things are repeated. Jake is high-energy, Colin is quiet and serene and we don’t know what we’re doing!

It’s easy to pigeonhole a label on someone, but I think it becomes even easier with twins. The inevitable question always comes up from strangers at the grocery store or friends and family, “Which one is he, the troublemaker or the good one?” Or like we have done here in this blog (see Jake = high-energy, Colin = quiet and kind). There is something to be said for patterns of behavior – hopefully not the “we don’t know what we’re doing” part – but as their personalities take shape as toddlers we’re shown it’s more than that. Just like their adult counterparts there are multiple levels of to their behavior and personality.

When you see Jake pick up a pacifier and offer it to his crying brother with a soft pat on the back or Colin running laps around the living room screaming like a banshee, you know their differences are not that far apart and their similarities are closer than we think.

It’s like we are watching and living in this fascinating human development experiment. Everyday you recognize something new and different to each of them that you didn’t see before. The speed at which these changes and wrinkles in their personalities come at is astounding. It’s as if who they were when they went to bed the night before isn’t reason enough to be excited for the next day with them, but they make each new day a joy watching them grow into who they will eventually become.

A Day On The Farm

We took the boys to the Little Farm at Tilden Park in the Berkeley Hills this past weekend. With their growing mobility and Colin's future calling as a veterinarian, we thought this would be the perfect place for a weekend outing. The life of raising toddlers quickly snapped us back into reality when 30 seconds after arriving at the farm, a huge cow bellowed out a deep "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" and promptly made Colin cry. We went from having visions of our two boys feeding the animals celery sticks and making all the farm animal sounds they've been learning from their books, to this:

After a while they calmed down and were able to enjoy the ducks and geese while bravely put up with the sheep. Jake was having a pretty good time and wasn't as scared, but his mood soured as soon as he did a face plant while walking. Chasing them around and trying to convince them both that everything was all right made both of us pretty stressed.

The boys rallied though and ended up having a decent time I think.

Video Post: Wrestle Mania II

Not to be confused with Wrestle Mania I - The Cage Match. The boys were on fire last night and in the best moods. Right after they got done with this little wrestle match they chased each other around for a while. Age looks at me and says, "I'm so glad we have twins. What would they do if there was only one of them." Raising twins is so hard, but a moment like this when you know all they need is each other and they will be happy, makes it all worth it.

Best twins comment so far...

One of the things we were warned about as new parents of twins was to be prepared for random comments from strangers, such as "Oooh twins - Double Trouble." I have learned to just smile and keep walking because when I'm out with these two there is no time for small talk.

So today I was in a Hallmark store and this elderly couple was oohing and aahing about the boys, so I smiled at them. Which welcomed this comment from the old man: "It's gonna cost you half a million dollars to send those two to college."

Thanks buddy. Would you like to make a donation?

-Age

Past and the Future

Don't they look like fishing buddies?!

We took the boys to the Contra Costa Mothers of Multiples group barbeque last weekend. It was a great day and I think they both really enjoyed being out in the park with all the people. It was interesting for both of us as well to be able to see how far we have come and how far we need to go!

There were a couple sets of twins there that were under two months and it really was an eye opener to see that not too long ago we were in that place. The zombie like effect that the parents of newborns walk around in is like no other, but for the parents of twins those first two months take on a whole new meaning. To be able to say we made it through to the other end of those early months is extremely gratifying and to be able to look at those other couples and offer some words of encouragement that "it will be OK in a few months" is great.

On the other hand, to have some of the other parents with older twins tell us, "just wait, you have no idea what life with two 2-year olds going grocery shopping is like" brought us right back down to earth! It was a nice blend of what was and what will be.

The common bond we share with other parents of twins is very unique. This great (long!) article in New York Magazine really describes the life of parents of twins and how mothers of multiples groups like ours are growing.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

The boys are really beginning to recognize each other. For the most part, they don't pay much attention to each other. Even though we often put them side by side, they kind of do their own thing. The other day when I took this photo I put them face to face, and it was the first time I saw direct communication between the two of them. Their pure joy at looking at each other was amazing to watch. It was obviosuly the start of a beatiful friendship. They were smiling from ear to ear and "talking" to each other. I think the dialogue was something like this:

Colin: "Hey, I know you. You were sitting on my head for nine months."

Jake: "Yeah. I know you too. You're the guy who was eating all of the food."

Colin: "Let's put that behind us and be friends, okay?"

Jake: "Okay!"

That's all for now,

Adrianne

Some new photos at the front of each of their galleries.

The two boys together

Colin

Jake

Hey, who are you?

I think Jake realized that he has a brother for the first time in this shot. He was very transfixed on Colin when we put them in the crib together last night. Not sure if Colin has come to the same realization yet!

• We added some new photos to the Two Boys Together Photo Gallery
• Some new Jake only shots
• Some new Colin photos