Friday, September 07, 2007

Griffith giving Allan a pat on the back.


Sweetest babies ever.

Oh, yes, they call him The Streak


Griff heading at top speed for the bath.

Temper, temper


Full on meltdown


We may have stayed a little late.

Nice dimples


Unfortunately they are on the elbows.

Does it fit?


Griffith trying to figure out if the crouton will fit through the hole. It did. Much to his dismay.

I didn't mean to drop it!


Distressed by losing his crouton.

Chilling on the patio


I like how he has his right arm thrown back oh-so-casually on his chair.

Dining al fresco


Dad and Allan out to dinner last night.

Action Allan


Leaning WAY over. It is a short step from here to crawling.

Allan's Madrid shirt.


The symbol is apparently a strawberry tree. Strawberries grow on trees in Spain?

Cha-cha-cha !!!


Aunt KK brought this really cool shirt back for Griff.

Toothbrushing


Allan has the hang of it. Griff, not so much.

Two tooth-brushing boys


Flora and Griffith


Thursday, September 06, 2007

The boys have been in good form lately. Good but busy.

Allan is making great strides (ha!) with his crawling. He can hold him self up on all fours and rock back and forth (vroom! vroom! vroom!). Then we do "1-2, 1-2" and encourage him to make his way across the floor. We set something up for him to fool with when he gets there -- right now we seem to enjoy knocking over a tower of blocks (when Griff doesn't beat us to it!) He's got the idea and can do it himself, but the execution is a little sloppy. He's just not quite strong enough to make it easy and would prefer it (greatly) if we would just Put.The.Toys.Closer. And he hasn't worked out how to take a break gracefully. When he gets tired he tends to *splat* but now he knows to turn his head to the side, instead of going face first. So that's an improvement. He still needs a boost to get from sitting in to crawling, but he keeps leaning out further and further over his hands. It is only a matter of time before he gets overbalanced and accidentally tips into the right position

As you can tell from the party pictures, the pool was a mixed bag. Both had the same intial reaction: skepticism and irritation. It was cold, it was deep, there were too many people and balls in it and everything was too loud. Sensory overload. Griff got adjusted to it, but Allan balked. He prefers the tub, thanks all the same.

The boys were very sweet Monday night. Allan kept taking my hat on and off and putting it on his head. Griff got in to the act and was taking it on and off Allan's head and laughing and giggling. It was heartwarming: this is how twins act in a Hallmark commercial. I grabbed the camera, Jay got the video and, just that fast Griffith began beating his brother about the head and shoulders with the hat. This is how twins act in real life. Griff redeemed himself later that night by taking the washcloth and scrubbing (gently!) his brother's back.

It really is minute-to-minute around here.

Griffith has pretty much switched to walking full-time these days. He will still drop and crawl if he is in a real hurry (like, say, when you open the refrigerator door). Otherwise he is content to toddle along.

We had him evaluated last night for his eating issues. I don't know whether we should be pleased or not, but the therapist who tested him didn't have any more success with getting him to eat than we do. So now we start the process of trying to get him approved for the same program that Allan is in. As part of the testing, she was trying to determine where he was with his language skills. One of the tests is does he look at Person X when you say "Where's X?" The first one was "Where's Daddy?" and he turned to look right at Jay. The next one was "Where's Mommy?" Nothing. Crickets chirping in the background. "Where's Mommy?" Chirp. Chirp. "Where's Allan?" Still nothing. Jay thought it was hysterical. We'll see how funny it is at 3 a.m. when Griff starts wailing. Ingrates. (Both of them.)

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

The boys had a great and busy weekend.
Saturday we all got up early and went to do the radiothon for the children's hospital. There is a duck pond outside where the station was set up so we walked around and fed the ducks. Griffith was highly suspicious of the ducks and stayed right up between my legs. If anyone was going to get it, it was going to be Mom. Then Mom headed out for a baby shower and the fellows all went to Caroline's birthday bash/pool party. It was a mixed bag -- Griff started off not liking the pool. The water was too cold, there were too many balls, there were too many bigger kids causing a commotion. Once things calmed down, though, it was all good and he and Dad spent a lot of time splashing and kicking. Allan decided to sleep through the first half of the party. The second half (pool time) , he objected to on the same grounds as Griff. He was not willing to get over it, however. Maybe next year.
On Sunday we had a big party to celebrate Labor (Labour?) Day. The boys were the life of the party but they stayed up way too late (so did Mom and Dad) and were fussy all day yesterday (as were Mom and Dad).
Enjoy the photos. More later.

There's Allan!


Allan and his dalmatian


Do you like my hat?


No one is suiting me!!


Enjoying my brother's misery


So every time Griffith screams and cries, Allan lights up like a candle.

Allan and Flora watching the golf.


At least Daddy is entertained.


Ready for the big dip


I'm not sure I like this.


The pool was a little chilly. And deep.

Enjoying the plunge


Full-on meltdown

The meltdown


This is not like my bathtub.

Big Al


Allan fell asleep on the walk over to Caroline's party and stayed that way for the first hour.

They seem to be closing in.


Griffith was not at all comfortable with all of the balls.

Taking a dip in the cement pond