The twins are now both walking and talking. Of course, their receptive language skills developed first. A couple months ago Chris was putting both of them to bed when he said rhetorically “Go to the bookshelf and get a book and we can read it for bedtime”, and he was pretty surprised when they both did it! Everyone was also surprised in October when Gabby and Grandaddy were visiting and someone asked aloud where Teddy’s pacifier was. Gwen found it, pointed at it, picked it up and gave it to him.

Gwen started talking first – for many months she has been making a sound like “wassis”, which we think meant “what’s this?” Then she started adding a few more words (such as “Tede” for her brother) while Teddy seemingly took no interest in talking until about a month ago when he started adding words by the day. Gwen was also the first to discover the power of the word “no”, although the way she says it is more like “nnnnnnnnnnNNNNo!!!” Once she got the hang of that she started experimenting with other styles, like saying no and shaking her head, or saying no and turning away, or saying no and holding a hand up dismissively. Yesterday she upped the ante a bit by saying “No Dada!” when Chris was doing something she didn’t approve of. This has become a running joke with Everett. He now says to us “Ask me something and I will pretend I’m Gwen,” and before we can finish a question he says no just like she does.

Meanwhile, Teddy has learned to express yes by making exaggerated nodding motions with his head while looking at what he wants. Only in the last couple days has he started to say no, and nowhere near as forcefully as Gwen. However, he has developed quite a vocabulary and has started spontaneously identifying things like his teeth, arm, hand, the car, the chair, etc. He is also the first to come up with a name for Everett: Daa Daa (not to be confused with Da Da). Finally, he has started saying “Hi!” to us and to strangers. He recently learned to do this when he wants to look cute after he has done something he wasn’t supposed to.

Here are some other words they say on a regular basis:
up, down, deer, puppy, owl, cheese, apple, sock, eye, ear, nose, baby, uh-oh (especially Teddy), snow, cup, trash (Teddy likes putting things in the trash)
go = Pepperidge Farm goldfish
owside = outside
mo = more
base = I want to go play in the basement (both of them)
pees = please (both of them)
baa = bath (both of them)
mmma = milk (though Everett has been trying to get them to say gnkn)
bi? bi? bi? = I want a bite of your food (both of them)
keeku = thank you (Teddy)
dedee = ducky pacifier (Teddy), though he now identifies the tiger pacifier with the same name
ba-ee = bunny (Gwen). We have had some heavy snow over the Christmas holiday and there is a bunny who now shows up often on our front steps. If we ask Gwen about the bunny she runs to the front door. And if she sees the bunny she exclaims “Oh! Oh! Oh!”
pow = pounce (on Dad)
nainai = night night (before bed)

Last night Melissa and Chris took Everett to see How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the Capitol Theatre. This is something that has been in the works for a long time and was meant to be a night when Everett got some alone time with Mom and Dad but without the babies (sorry babies). A couple months ago Amanda and Cress gave us a one year subscription to a local Broadway theater series. We knew the Grinch was coming up and that Everett would enjoy it, so we made reservations at a teppanyaki restaurant beforehand. It was going to be a late night so we asked Everett to take a nap in the afternoon. However, when he woke up he just wasn’t his normal self and said that the nap gave him a stomach ache. We didn’t think he was going to be able to go but after we gave all the children a bath he perked up and we headed to Benihana. Everett had the kids steak meal which included a large portion of ice cream as well.

Everett can usually stay up late with no problem – in fact during dinner we were recalling our last night at Disney World when Chris and Everett stayed out past midnight. But he started fading a little while after the play started, and by about 9:15 he seemed to be falling asleep. Then he told Melissa that he was going to get sick. She rushed him to the bathroom but nothing happened. We decided that it was probably time to go home, and indeed it was: Everett got sick just as Chris was carrying him into the house. There is no need to described the details except to say that it took both parents about an hour to clean up the mess. Fortunately he didn’t get sick again and was almost back to his normal self by today, which was good because we got our first big snowstorm of the season last night and we were all able to go out and play for a little while.

We are watching a friend’s house while they are away, and recently we noticed that they started receiving the New York Times. It seemed odd that they would start receiving a newspaper while traveling, and when we clarified with them it became clear that they didn’t order it, but perhaps it is being provided by a rogue newspaper delivery person, which is not unlike an experience that Chris had when he lived in Salt Lake several years ago (he received unpaid newspaper deliveries for months that were seemingly unstoppable). So our ritual is to check their driveway each morning, and if they receive a newspaper then Everett puts it in a pile in the kitchen. One unexpected side effect of this is that he has started reading the New York Times with Melissa.

Today Chris drove Everett to school. We aren’t yet setup for Chris and Everett to bike together (even though they both want to!) but to give Melissa and the babies a break they have begun driving to school one day a week. On the way Everett asked to listen to NPR. It seems that he has learned about the recent Ebola cases from the New York Times, and has also realized that this is a frequent subject on NPR. He is very intrigued about it and wants to stay up to date.

So we now have a six year old who reads the New York Times and listens to National Public Radio. We could be a top story on Fox News! It’s hard to guess how they might categorize the story because it has so many controversial elements, but Chris and Melissa would probably file it under “Risk factors for children who are raised by two PhDs”.

We are now at our new house in Utah. Despite appearances, this website is still alive. However, the last few months have been completely overwhelming so it’s not as up to date as it could be. In the last few months we have several major events:
-Chris’ grandfather (Grandpa) died
-We bought a new house in Salt Lake City
-Everett turned six
-The twins turned one. Raising twins is no joke.
-Everett attended Camp Gramapa in late July. During this time, Chris and Melissa flew to Utah with the babies to start getting the house in order.
-Chris’ grandmother (Gramsy) died
-We packed up all of our belongings in Wauwatosa and drove to Utah. Then we started moving into our new house. Moving with three children is also no joke.
-Molly flew to Utah and stayed with us for 10 days while we were settling in.
-Chris started a new job at the University of Utah
-Everett started first grade at a new school
-Chris travelled for the first time for work from Utah, while Melissa watched the children for several days solo.
-During all of this we have tried to sell our house in Wauwatosa.

This has been a lot of major events and changes at once. We don’t yet have a support network in Utah like we did in Wisconsin. Chris’ new job is fantastic, but starting a new lab is a tremendous amount of work. We love our new house but it will require a lot of work to get it in shape – it’s 20 years old and as far as we can tell has been pretty neglected. So it’s a lot of good things but also a lot of effort for the foreseeable future. As Melissa keeps saying: it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

We have uploaded some new photos and videos. “Soon” we will update the blog with several new entries between this one and the twins first birthday.

One of the people from Wisconsin who we are going to miss the most is Molly. She was the first non-family member to babysit Everett, and the first time we met her she listened patiently as we explained the elaborate routine that needed to be followed to put our 4 month old son to bed. Nevermind that she had more childcare experience than both of us. She started watching Everett on a semi-regular basis and we quickly grew to trust her. It was also clear that Everett considered it a special treat if Molly was coming over. She helped us through many transitions including the times when Chris was traveling and the period when Melissa was finishing her dissertation. When the twins were born she immediately helped us take care of them without getting flustered (which we often were). We have never seen Molly get flustered.

Over time Molly became a part of our family. She has been a part of birthdays and celebrations and has seen more of the inner workings of our household than many of our relatives. When we were making the transition to Utah it was hard to imagine how we might pull it off without her help, so we asked her to come with us. She flew to Salt Lake and we picked her up at the airport the day after we arrived. She lived with us for two weeks and helped care for everyone as we moved in. She endured sleeping on the floor until our furniture arrived, the spider infestation in our house and all manner of other inconveniences.

We feel thankful that Molly became a part of our lives and we hold her in very high regard. We miss you Molly!

Teddy and Gwen turned one today. In the afternoon we had a small celebration in the backyard with a few friends and neighbors. The babies each got their own cupcake, the same kind that Everett got for his first birthday, but this time with sugar and real icing. Teddy wasn’t too interested, while Gwen dove in.

Later that evening the babies discovered the piano and decided to start playing it for the first time.

Their first birthday was a chance for us to reflect. Melissa and Chris were high-fiving each other for making it through the past year with two happy and healthy babies. Chris recently had a conversation with an older colleague who has twins (now adults). They agreed that having twins is fantastic but exhausting.

Through the past year Everett has taken a lot of big changes in stride. He seems to take delight in the babies, even though we all acknowledge that he gets less attention from us because of them. And they think he is hilarious. Now they are starting to roughhouse a bit with him, which we sense he has been looking forward to for quite a while.

Melissa has successfully nursed both babies for a year, and they were fed almost exclusively this way for the first six months. Great work Momma! The reverse psychology that Melissa received from Froedtert seems to have worked (they said she couldn’t do it!)

Photos from the birthday party are here.

On the eve of July 4th we went to the Rowbottom’s house to celebrate Colleen’s graduation from high school. And we got one of the few pictures we have of Molly with the children.

On July 4th Chris got up a little early today to ride with the Spokesmen at 7am. Afterward, he and Everett rode the Bakfiets to North Ave to watch some of the parade while Momma and the twins stayed home.

We had a house showing around 11:30 in the morning, so we packed a picnic lunch and went to the zoo for a couple hours. We took the babies on their first train ride, and then all of us went on the carousel.

Since we are soon leaving Milwaukee, we also bought one of those photos that the zoo has been trying to sell us for the last few years.

While the babies took their afternoon nap we did a few house projects and played in the backyard. Around 4:30 we loaded the bikes and rode to Hart Park for the 4th of July festivities.

Afterward we returned home and put the babies to bed before having dinner in the backyard.

During dinner we talked about having babies, and Everett said he wanted more of them. We asked him how many more he would like to have and he said three: another set of twins plus one more.
“Well, we certainly have room…,” Melissa said, referring to our new house.
“in your belly.” continued Everett. Chris and Melissa were laughing too hard to speak. Funny kid! Though in this case we aren’t sure if he meant to be funny.

After dinner we played in the Marx’s yard until we watched the fireworks from the field behind our house. Tonight was the first night that we noticed mosquitos in large numbers, and also the first night we saw fireflies.

Everett talked nonstop while we were watching the fireworks, so much so that at one point Melissa shook her head in amazement. And as Chris watched quietly, Everett asked “Dada, why aren’t you talking? It’s fireworks!” Everett told us that this was the best July 4th of his whole life.

We have recently become aware of baby food pouches. Were these around as recently as when Everett was born? If so we didn’t know about them, but they are quickly becoming a big part of the US baby food market. For a while both of our babies ate them, but Gwen now insists on feeding herself most of the time and will only eat from pouches occasionally. In contrast, pouch purées are one of the few things that Teddy will eat, and he can suck one down in a couple minutes. We usually give him a pouch or two at each meal and then some non-non-fat yogurt. Only in the last couple weeks has he eaten tiny amounts of solid food like Cheerios.

We have mixed feelings about the pouches. If children are eating from pouches, are they still going to learn table manners and how to use utensils? Will pouches make food so quick and convenient for families that children don’t learn the habits and social aspects of eating at mealtimes? Is this the latest phase of an American effort to make everything as efficient as possible, including meals (and childrearing)? We don’t know the answers to these questions, but we have often had the thought that the pouches are definitely a big help for parents of twins. For example, using them one of us can feed two babies at the same time while holding them in our arms. And even if you are only feeding one baby, the pouches make it much easier when a high-chair isn’t available, for example on an airplane.

On the subject of eating, Melissa and Everett recently observed that Chris is incapable of feeding the babies without opening his own mouth. Everett and Melissa often watch Chris at dinnertime when he is feeding a baby. Chris thinks he is keeping his mouth closed; Melissa and Everett think it’s hilarious that he can’t.

Lastly, somewhat related to the subject of this blog entry, we found the remains of a rabbit in our front yard. It was eaten by something, perhaps a fox or a coyote, that left behind the head some intestines. Everett wrote a letter to it, below (the circles are teardrops). Readers may note, as we did, that this includes some pretty creative spelling. One thing we learned about Montessori is that in 5k they don’t really try to correct spelling, and encourage students to spell words phonetically. So if some words don’t make sense then try sounding them out, or find a 5 or 6-year old to help you.

All of the children are now playing new games. Everett has started playing “yellow car” when we are traveling in the car together. As the name suggests, the object is to find the most yellow cars before anyone else. Everett makes the rules, decides when the game starts and stops, and adjudicates when points will be assigned and to whom. Obviously this works in his favor. In the midst of playing this game Chris told Everett about a friend from college who would yell “punch buggy!” and punch him in the arm every time she saw a Volkswagen Beetle. Everett thought this was hilarious and decided that yellow punch buggies are worth double points. So far, Everett is winning at yellow car by about 1000 to 50, where the latter is the cumulative score for both Chris and Melissa.

The babies have become much more engaged with us and each other, and have also started to develop their own forms of play. Gwen still plays peek-a-boo with us by holding something over her face and then uncovering it quickly while she looks right in your eyes to see if you notice. Teddy plays a game where he crawls forward and then suddenly screams as he rears up on his legs and puts his arms straight up in the air, kind of like a miniature Godzilla. Sometimes he also shakes his head quickly from side to side. The babies have also developed the ability to take things from each other, often against the other one’s will. Surprisingly, at times they will give it back. They have started to follow each other around the house and consistently play in the same area. And of course they are learning to roughhouse. This started with Chris during diaper changes where he would give them a zerbert or pretend to nibble their bellies. They quickly learned to recognize when this was coming and put up their arms and legs to resist, laughing the whole time. More recently they have started pouncing Everett by climbing on top of him when he lays on the ground.

Several years ago we wondered whether Chris would start wearing dark socks and sandals after becoming a Dad. In fact, the opposite has happened. Since that time he has since started referring to socks as “foot prisons”, and he hasn’t considered the idea of wearing them with sandals, which is one reason why we were dismayed to read a recent article on fashion trends in New York supporting this fashion choice. Apparently several celebrities and runway models have recently dressed this way from the ankle down after the long, hard winter of 2013-2014. However, “some stylists are warning fashionistas to beware…personal shopper Valerie Halfonsaid she won’t advise her clients to try the tricky look.” And “Stylist Laura Solin-Valdina…cautioned that an entire outfit needs to be planned around the socks and sandals of choice. It is not one of those accessories that you throw on and it works with everything” Indeed, this may be one of those rare moments when engineers get to brag about their fashion decisions.