People often regard winter in Wisconsin as some kind of hardship. In fact, we love it. And it looks like the state is embracing the idea with the slogan “Winter Becomes You”:

http://industry.travelwisconsin.com/marketing-overview

One day recently we bundled up the kids and went to the lakefront when it was about -10F.

It’s really quite beautiful.

Teddy & Gwen turned six months old on January 12th. To celebrate we did what we do on most days: try to avoid the feeling that our life is unraveling while we attempt to care for three children, two of whom are tyrants (ok, lovable tyrants). We took Everett to Sunday school and then the entire family went to church. Afterward Chris and Everett tromped around in the snow for a couple hours and tried to take advantage of the warm temperatures to clear the ice off the driveway. Teddy and Gwen were outside with us and took a nap in their bassinets. Later in the day Chris took all three children on a trip to REI so that Melissa could have some quiet time.

Our experience with the twins has been rewarding but also exhausting. Every night is an unpredictable odyssey, yet we are always hopeful at bedtime that we (and everyone else) will sleep through it. I think it’s safe to say that neither Melissa nor Chris has experienced this degree of sleep deprivation before. But the babies are extremely cute and lovable, and our impression of them is the same we had with Everett when he was their age: soon after they were born we developed the impression that they are the way babies should look. Somehow this feeling isn’t diminished by having twins.

Teddy is extremely sensitive to and aware of his surroundings. We have now reached the point where we need to feed him in a dark, quiet place that is free of sensory input simply so that he will stay focused on eating. He is also very active. He has started scooting across the floor to reach his toys and other objects. In contrast, Gwen seems quiet and relaxed. There are many times when we will go into the nursery and find her wide awake but content and quiet, something that we have rarely observed with Teddy. She is very interested in eating. Actually, that’s an understatement – she seems to lurch forward and attack the food as it approaches her mouth, and she sometimes screams if there is too much time between bites. We have given her bananas, avocados and oatmeal. Teddy has been far less interested. He is curious about the spoon, but otherwise doesn’t seem so curious about what’s on it, or figuring out how to swallow it.

Each of them develops at their own rate. It seems that one of them will surge ahead in some new capability and then plateau, and later the other one will catch up. Teddy seemed to be out in front for a while with physical development. He is still very active, but Gwen has made a lot of progress, even if she isn’t as wild as he is. For example: Teddy will get into the exersaucer and slam his bottom down as hard as he can, causing the springs to compress and the whole thing to lurch to one side; Gwen will interact with it, but sometimes put her head down and go to sleep while upright. Teddy also started vocalizing earlier than Gwen, but this week she was the first to start using a recognizable word: “Dada”. Other recent observations:
-The bottom two front teeth have now poked through the gums in Teddy’s mouth.
-Teddy has invented his own eponymous dance.
-Everett has come up with several new renditions of Beyonce’s All the Single Ladies: All the Sleeping Babies; All the Crying Babies; All the Screaming Babies; and All the Stinky Babies.
-Over the last week Teddy has taken a much greater interest in eating, though he has a different style than Gwen. She gets right down to business and seems to swallow most of the food. He takes a spoonful of food and then follows it up with his thumb while grabbing the spoon with his free hand.
-Both Teddy and Gwen have started outgrowing clothing and baby equipment. We are getting ready to give some clothing away, and their bouncy seats are going back on Craigslist. Actually, the latter is more for safety: one day we found that Teddy had folded his torso over his feet and off to one side. His head almost hit the floor, and he could have easily tipped the entire chair over. This was an experience we have never had with Gwen or Everett.
-Both of them can roll over at will, and we often finding them sleeping on their stomach.
-Lastly, both now sit at the table with us for dinner each night.

We are in the middle of winter in Wisconsin. Among other things, this means that the ground is covered in snow, ice and salt, a lot of which gets tracked into the floor in the new minivan. To better preserve the fabric we ordered rubber floor mats which arrived a week ago. After unpacking them, Chris and Everett started playing around with the boxes and in the process Everett got hurt. Without going into too much detail, he hit his head on the floor pretty hard while Chris was trying to hold him upright. He cried, which almost never happens from physical injuries, and this added to our sense of alarm. We laid him on the couch, put ice on his head, put Phineas and Ferb on Netflix and kept a close eye on him. For the next hour Everett seemed to start feeling better while Chris started feeling worse. By bedtime Everett seemed back to his normal self and was pouncing on Chris while getting “settled down” to go to sleep, but it took a few days before Chris could start to get the event off his mind. Afterward Everett agreed with Chris it was a bad idea to be playing with the boxes the way we were. However, using Dad logic it might be more accurate to say that this was a questionable idea, and that the reason it made the transition to “bad” was because Everett got hurt. It’s worth noting that Dads come up with a lot of questionable ideas that seem, in retrospect, benign. Some even get spun as fun afterward. But the most memorable (and gut wrenching) ones seem to be those when your child got hurt and you could have prevented it.

On a related subject Chris has noticed that he and Everett are roughhousing less often than we used to, and the most likely explanation is that when we do someone often gets hurt. This is probably due to the simple facts that Everett now weighs close to 50 pounds and he is getting stronger everyday. Continued roughhousing will likely require a safer play area than we have in this house.

Melissa and Everett watched The Empire Strikes Back while Chris was traveling for work this week. When Chris returned he discovered that Everett was pretty concerned about what happened between Darth Vader and Luke (spoiler alert!).

“If Darth Vader is Luke’s father then why did he cut Luke’s arm off?”

We tried to explain, though it didn’t seem to help.

“But he is Luke’s father!”

Then he asked Chris “Would you cut my arm off?”

Fortunately we were able to inject some humor into the situation with the book Darth Vader & Son, which Everett received for Christmas. I hesitate to give too strong a recommendation for humorous books because it can get expectations too high, but if you enjoy Star Wars and children’s books then this one is worth reading. Here is one of my favorite pages:

Lastly, we note that despite the angst caused by The Empire Strikes Back, Everett is very excited to see The Return of the Jedi.

As a Christmas present this year Gabby and Grandaddy took us to Disney World along with Matt, Katie and Trinity. Everyone was in on the secret except Everett, who we told on Christmas Eve. Remarkably, he didn’t find out beforehand despite several close calls at home and in Cincinnati. After a few of these we concluded that Melissa is probably not cut out to be a spy.

The Disney trip was exceptional. We arrived about midday on Saturday with our wristbands on and went straight to the Contemporary Hotel. It seemed too late in the day to use a park pass, so instead we went to the pool in the afternoon and went to bed at a reasonable time that night. We didn’t know if at the time, but this would be our last reasonable bedtime for about a week. Most days we got up to have an early breakfast and then went to one of the parks, then came back to the hotel to rest in the afternoon, and then went to the parks again in the evening. This time of year was high season and the parks were open long hours which were extended even further for people who were staying on Disney property. We could have gone to the Magic Kingdom from 7am to 3am almost every day of the week. A photo gallery of the trip is here.

Day 2: It was raining so we went to Disney Studios, which seemed the best option for the weather. One highlight of many was the Star Tours ride. After returning to the hotel and resting in the afternoon, we went to the Magic Kingdom for a couple hours where we got to experience short lines and lots of repeated rides like the Barnstormer roller coaster. This was our first roller coaster of the week with Everett and he loved it. We also went on Splash Mountain a few times. On the way out of the park that night we discovered that there is a magic system where kids can become sorcerers and interact with seemingly inert objects and window displays around the park.

Day 3: We went to the Magic Kingdom during the day, and Everett practiced more sorcery.

Day 4 (New Year’s Eve): We went to Animal Kingdom. The safari was by far the best attraction. That night we had a fantastic dinner at Sanaa before returning to the hotel for a toast and nightcap.

At midnight we watched the fireworks from the hotel.

Day 5: We had an early start with a 7am character breakfast at Chef Mickey’s.

Then went to Epcot. It was raining off and on, but we were still able to get in all of the rides we had planned on. And Everett was able to experience the magic of becoming a secret agent. Like the Magic Kingdom we discovered that there is a whole other world at work within Epcot. It is brilliant, simply too cool to describe in words. The short of it is that you get to be a secret agent who is trying to defeat Dr. Doofenshmirtz, and there is a different adventure in each country. In each adventure you use a cell phone to communicate with headquarters to receive your mission instructions. Then you use it to interact with seemingly inert objects all over the park.

Day 6: On the last day we had a quick breakfast and went straight to the park to ride the Thunder Mountain Railroad. Then we met the rest of the family at the front of the park for photos,

and then went on two more rides before returning to the room for our midday rest. By late afternoon we were ready to go again, so we dropped the babies off with Gabby and Grandaddy and took the monorail to Epcot where we did an Agent P adventure in Mexico, had dinner in Germany, rode Maelstrom, and finally had dessert in France. We took the monorail home and as we passed the Magic Kingdom on the way to our hotel Everett realized that this was our last day. Chris and Melissa were both really tired, but Everett looked deflated and really wanted to go on one more ride. So he and Chris stayed on the monorail and went back around to the Magic Kingdom where we arrived just in time to see the fireworks and watch Tinker Bell fly down from the castle. Then we rode Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain one last time. As we got off Splash Mountain we realized that the train back to the park exit had closed and that we had to walk, which worked out ok because we saw the parade once more on the way out.

Observations:

-We have never seen so many strollers in our lives. There were huge stroller parking lots in many areas of the park, each with attendants.

-The twins and Everett were fantastic during the trip. We got into a daily rhythm of breakfast, park, lunch, nap, dinner, park (with Everett). The daily nap seemed to be the key element to keep everyone sane and happy. Many nights we accepted the generous offer from Gabby and Grandaddy’s En Suite Babysitting Service to watch the twins while Chris, Melissa and Everett went back to the park for the evening. Everyone in the family did surprisingly well considering how tiring it can be to have fun all day.

-We learned Everett’s signal when he is ready for a ride on Chris’ shoulders. He walks right in from of Chris and stops, then puts his arms straight out to the sides and says “I’m ready for the comfy seat!” Interestingly, Everett often reported that he was not tired, but that he couldn’t walk any farther. That must be another manifestation of the magic in the Magic Kingdom.

-Everett observed during this trip that Gwen looks right in your eyes when she cries, while Teddy closes his. Also, Gwen’s eyebrows turn red when she is upset.

-Disney is much more advanced than when Chris or Melissa were kids, and even more than we imagined. Examples are the Fast Pass system, the bracelets, the line system for families with infants.

-Everett worked his way up the roller coasters from Barnstormer to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to Expedition Everest and finally Space Mountain. He never expressed the slightest reservation about getting on any of them. In fact, he used the word “awesome!” pretty often.

-We never anticipated that a platypus would have such a huge role in our lives. Everett doesn’t ask for much in the way of toys, so when he expresses interest in something then people try to do what they can. He now has Perry the Platypus pajamas, curtains, 3 platypus stuffed animals, Mickey Mouse ears, shoes and several other things that I am probably forgetting. The amazing thing about this is what an odd superhero Perry makes. He doesn’t talk, and in fact he makes on one sound (kind of a teeth-chattering grrrrr). His major appeal seems to be his intelligence, sense of adventure and the mystique of being a secret agent. Good stuff.

We have had several Santa sightings this year, starting on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Noni was visiting us that week and she accompanied Everett along with the twins for their first meeting with Santa. Our next sighting was two days after Thanksgiving for the Santa Rampage. It took a fair amount of preparation to get the entire family on the Rampage, but it all worked out. At around 7am we got dressed: Chris as Santa, Melissa as Santa’s helper, Everett as Rudolph and the twins as baby Santa and a baby reindeer. Melissa got on her bike and we loaded Everett and the twins into the front of the Bakfiets, and finally attached the Santa trailer with Christmas playlist and stereo and headed to Cranky Al’s. It was our first bike ride with the entire family and it was a great way to start the Rampage. Breakfast consisted of coffee, hot chocolate and doughnuts (Bavarian cream for Chris and Melissa, chocolate with sprinkles for Everett). Afterward we returned home to drop off the children and switch bikes, and then Chris and Melissa went to Café Hollander for the official start. This was the first year Melissa joined the rampage and it was fantastic – after Hollander we rode the tandem with the Santa trailer attached to the Lakefront Brewery for more festivities before Melissa headed back home to care for the children. Chris left soon afterward and rode with Jesus to Conejito’s Place for lunch.

The following Friday we walked to the village for the lighting of the Christmas tree and the arrival of Santa. Once again, all of our children got to meet with him at this annual tradition. Santa arrives on a fire engine, and after the tree lighting he sits in the back of Paulina. The line to meet with him goes from the storefront all the way to the back of the store through a hallway that is too narrow to accommodate the stroller and entourage, so we parked it in the front of the store and carried the babies in our arms. Teddy spit up in Chris’ arms just before it was our turn to meet Santa; most of it went on the floor, but a fair amount of it also went onto Chris’ jacket and arms. Fortunately there were many other parents nearby, including the owner of the store who has three children, one of whom is a newborn, and many of them offered paper towels and sympathetic responses. So Chris squatted to the ground with Teddy in one arm while trying to clean the spit up off himself and the floor with his free hand, and at the same time preventing any nearby children from walking through it. Everett decided that this would be a good time to undress and asked Chris “Dada, can you hold my hat and gloves and jacket?” Um, no. On a related subject, Chris had a work dinner recently with an Italian colleague who proclaimed that Italy has a saint for everything, so Chris asked if they have one for logical behavior from children (adults are a different matter). It appears that the answer to this question is also no.

Longtime readers of this blog no doubt recall the entry a few years ago about the BCS and the need to dismantle it in favor of college football playoffs. Astonishingly, this may actually come true, but not without a lot of speculation about “Armageddon” scenarios for the final season of the BCS: it appears possible that there will be two undefeated teams, neither of whom automatically qualify for a championship game, along with a large number of very good teams with one loss. And if this happens then the last year of the BCS will be one in which the subjective nature of its ranking system will be exposed to a greater degree than its creators ever imagined. We can’t claim full responsibility for the elimination of the BCS, but the fact of the matter is that we wrote on this blog about the need for playoffs, and sometime later they came about despite seemingly impossible odds. Therefore, in the hopes of making further progress in American football, we would like to recommend another important change: the NFL and college football should convert to metric units. This would likely have many benefits, one of which would be to increase the appeal of American football to an international audience, most of whom consider football to be what Americans call soccer. The simplest way to implement this change would be to convert the field length to 100 meters long by 50 meters wide. Endzones would be 10 meters long. Goal posts would be 3 meters off the ground and 6 meters wide. Footballs would be 3 decimeters long and 6 decimeters in circumference at the center, and they would be inflated to about 90 kPa. This is all pretty straightforward, though it might require that some stadiums be renovated or rebuilt, but we think that the fans who see the value of metric units won’t mind paying higher taxes to build new stadiums. However, the real advantages could be gained in scoring. With the conventional scoring system it’s often hard to tell what sequence of events led up to a particular score. For example, today the Packers won against the Cowboys 37-36 (despite seemingly impossible odds after the first half). How did this come about? We can only speculate and wonder from the score alone. However, an alternative could be a system where touchdowns and field goals are treated separately, and this could be achieved using complex numbers. In that case the score would be Packers 34+3i and the Cowboys 21+15i. The absolute value of the scores would be Packers 34.13, Cowboys 25.81, and using this system it would be clear that this game wasn’t as close as it seemed. This would justify the use of scientific calculators during football, which at the very least would be a fun episode to watch on the The League. It could happen.

We still have a Boppy from when Everett was nursing, and while Melissa was pregnant a friend lent her a My Brest Friend Twin Plus. It’s like a buffet table that straps around Mom’s waist. When the twins were newborns it was large enough for each of them and a friend. We called it the milk bar. They are now about five months old and have grown a bit, first by getting fatter and then by getting longer. It is somewhat amazing to think that it’s possible to create a person from breast milk alone.

Soon after the twins arrived we were informed by a lactation consultant at the hospital that breastfeeding requires dedication and commitment from Mom. Really? This hardly qualifies as an insight – what if someone else is dedicated but Mom isn’t? Fortunately, Melissa is determined to nurse both of them and has been doing so almost exclusively since soon after birth. A curious side effect of this has been that it takes a lot of work to get Gwen or Teddy to take milk from a bottle (even breast milk). Also, they are often hungry if Melissa is in sight (or earshot) but seem content for much longer periods between feedings if she isn’t around. Another interesting behavior is that they have become very curious about what’s going on around them, and sometimes get distracted while nursing. Melissa has tried to address this by limiting sensory stimuli.

Having infants has raised our awareness of breastfeeding. Chris has begun to notice “lactation room” signs more frequently, usually on women’s bathrooms, which has renewed his curiosity about what else might be in there. Couches? Home theater systems? A tiki bar? For those of us who don’t have access these ideas don’t seem so far fetched. He has also learned to recognize the International Breastfeeding Symbol,

and has become aware of lactivists, who seem to run the range from educator to fanatic, depending on who you talk to. For example, the International Breastfeeding website also recommends a “truth in advertising” label for baby formula. If you read the language in it you begin to realize that these are people with very strong feelings about breastfeeding, and it may be difficult to walk the fine line between encouragement and fanaticism. Granted, breastfeeding is probably a good thing to be a fanatic about. But what’s troubling are the implications of not breastfeeding. Culling some text from this page, it sounds like breastfeeding is for dedicated mothers who want their babies to be fed supreme perfection. Otherwise, your child can be fed a superficial facsimile that increases the risks of a long list of scary-sounding diseases. That seems pretty harsh. No wonder mothers seem to experience so much anxiety about making the right choices for their children among myriad possibilities. And who can forget the Time Magazine cover with the woman breastfeeding her son with the caption “Are you Mom enough?” The most concerning part about this is that most parents, especially Moms, already have a desire to do a good job, and there are seemingly endless things to worry about with children. So perhaps the best possible approach for nursing Moms is promotion and encouragement, but without some of the judgement. Fortunately we have been able to find people who provide this kind of support.

The Y-Tribe event this month was bowling at Bluemound Bowl last Saturday morning. It was fun as always to see the other kids and Dads from Y-Tribe. It was also fun to win: Everett won the highest score for his age group; Everett and Chris also won for the highest combined score. Everett threw a couple spares, and Chris had four strikes in a row at one point. If there was an award for the most variability from one frame to the next then Chris probably would have one that as well. We are now the proud owners of two golden bowling pins, which Everett is very excited about!

A couple years ago Everett realized that some of the animals he loves are also animals that we eat, chickens among them. We feel confident that his concern would be accentuated if the chickens were ours to begin with, an idea that is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Despite the fact that we have virtually no knowledge of how to raise them (after several advanced degrees neither Chris nor Melissa know whether chickens can fly or not), it seems like it can’t be that difficult as long as we keep predators away (mostly coyotes and dogs, we think). And more importantly our town has recently allowed homeowners to keep chickens during a trial period. As of October, it appears that four Tosa residents have permission to keep them, among them a woman named “Fowler”.

On a distantly related subject, Grandaddy is now known as Chopped Liver, as in “Are Gabby and Chopped Liver coming to visit us?” This came about because when Everett was younger he would direct most questions and attention to Gabby. After one particularly large hug for Gabby, Grandaddy waited for his, and when it wasn’t forthcoming he said, “What am I…chopped liver?”…the name stuck and he got his hug. Of course, as we all now know, chopped liver is delicious, so it is a badge of honor.