The Land of Milk and... Wait, Milk?

It's been raining cats and buffaloes at my house today, and the twinks have been fascinated. Water is pooling up in our backyard, which is quite something, since we are 65 ft above sea level (for those not from coastal Florida, that's virtually the highlands) and on a hill. Both kids have been pointing enthusiastically at the sheets of rain and the puddles and exclaiming, "Milk!" Sarah tried to tell them that what they were seeing was not milk, but water, and told them the story of Noah and the Ark. They looked at her, looked out and pointed confidently. "Milk!"

What's funny to us about this (besides the obvious) is that we don't call their cups "milk." We usually call it their "sippy" or their water, because we rarely even give them milk. It must be the day care, because now, all water is milk (except the tub, which is "bubbles"). Emma even points to the Santa Rosa Sound now and bestows the title of "Milk!" upon it as she passes.

Twins Tympanums Trending Totally Tubular

The Twinks had PE tubes put into their ear drums today. They've both suffered multiple and recurring ear infections, especially JoeJoe. Hopefully that will clear up now and they'll be able to hear a little better and we can miss fewer days of work because of sicky babies.





JoeJoe went first and had an active ear infection when the tubes were put in. The infection will be cultured so we'll have a better idea of which antibiotics to use in the future since the last few didn't work. Emma's ears were not actively infected, but there was fluid behind the ear drum. Neither of them woke up very well, but they calmed down quite a bit once the IVs were removed from their hands. They've headed home with Sarah, GrammaLynn, and Lali, so the rest of the day they will be well cared for. Since I only got 3 hrs sleep myself (we had to be in P'cola by 6) there's a good chance I'll be joining the (hopefully) happily napping household sooner than later.

The Little Girl Who Cried Poop

Emma Don't Take No Sass
Originally uploaded by Joe Dad

The Twinks have been picking up lots of words lately. They have learned some from the books we read, some about the food they eat, some about their toys. And, of course, there are those words that are supposed to help Sarah and me determine (without looking) if they need a diaper change or not.

For a while now, Emma has seemed pretty close to being ready to be potty trained. She often gets very upset when she pees in her diaper and will whine "pee-pee!" at us and tromp into her bedroom to get changed. This has also helped when the kids have been in bed for the night, and suddenly start crying. We check to see if they need a change, and if they don't, and there is no other overt reason for them to be crying, we often let them cry it out and go to sleep. However, if they tell us they have "pee-pee" or "poo-poo" (or in JoeJoe's case, "Ew!"), we'll pick them up right away and take them to be changed.

This has changed, however, because Emma has started to use this power for ill, rather than good. She now almost always tells us that she's "poo-poo" as soon as we go in, when most of the time she isn't. This has carried over to non-bedtime scenarios as well. Essentially, if she has exhausted her other attention-getting tactics, she plays the "poop" card.

Ah, Emma. If she only knew the moral of the little boy who cried wolf, which we know (thanks to Ricky Gervais) is not "never tell a lie," but rather, "don't tell the same lie twice."

The Twinks and The James Gang Go Swimming

Jude and Hannah (the blonde who doesn't go in the pool) are John and Ashley's and Madelyn is Jared and Jessica's.

More Fun with Identicals

The Importance of Being Emma

As I mentioned last time, Emma is very big on "Mine!" lately, something which we are battling against constantly. I provide, as evidence, what was to be a cute video of JoeJoe playing with his The Cheat, while Emma was happily playing with her cell phone. As you'll soon see, what is JoeJoe's is Emma's, and what is Emma's is Emma's.

Hit Me With a Double

Hi Internet! Remember us?

First, the latest. Little Man has a double ear infection. Ouch. He had a fever yesterday, and has been more clumsy than usual lately, falling down for even less apparent reasons than when he usually does. I guessed ear infections based on the balance problem, and our new pediatrician confirmed it. Oh, that's new, too. Our other pediatrician closed up shop at the end of February, so we had to find a new one. We're pretty happy so far.

But on to funny stuff. So the other night it was the coldest night we've had since, well, Winter. Sarah wakes up to JoeJoe whimpering/crying at 4:30 AM. She goes in to find him huddled in the corner of his crib. Only one sleeve of his shirt is still on and his pants are down past his knees. The coldest night in weeks and he decides to strip. Riddle me that, Batman.

So the next night, he got the full body treatment.



Emma got the same treatment, just in case.



We're also pretty sure JoeJoe is a Lefty. He loves to play with his toy balls and throws them all around, often with a running start. Emma likes them well enough, but JoeJoe is really into them.



Otherwise, they've been quite fun. They're getting pretty good at saying "please" and "thank you," if not always in the appropriate order. Unfortunately, Emma is starting to use "mine" much more frequently, as well as "no." Those are power words for the 16 month-old set, let me tell ya.

We'll have their Easter pictures up soon. I've not been a good photo journalist lately, so the photos you see are the only ones I've taken since the last update. No shame!