10,000th Diaper Change

I remember changing my first diaper. I was 44 years old. Sandy and I practiced on a doll in a prenatal class. It seemed so easy; however the doll didn’t kick, squirm, roll over, make chocolate or pee in our faces. That education came later. Before the twins slept through the night, we changed their diapers every three hours around the clock. Eight times a day times two boys equaled 16 diapers daily. As they slept longer, that number dropped and then we found overnight diapers. They cost twice as much, but they held twice as much. That brought our diaper changing average down to a dozen per day. Then the boys discovered the joy of filling a brand new diaper. No more than we lift them off the changing table and they have a fresh dump requiring another change. We estimate that we’ll change over 15,000 diapers before they’re potty trained.

Birthday Benchmark Photo – Two Years

A funny thing happened at the doctor’s office on the boy’s second birthday; they measured smaller than expected. While both boys have added about 4 lbs over the last 4 months, neither has grown measurably taller. This is odd considering how much leaner they both look. It is also common for children’s bodies to fill out before going through a growth spurt. Their 2T clothes are getting tighter while their sleeves and pant legs are still too long. Perhaps because they were five weeks premature their two-year growth spurt is slightly delayed. Of course it’s difficult to measure squirming little boys and the nurse’s technique is not perfect. We’ll measure again next month and see what happens.

Showers are not scary

Grandma Roe and I attempted to give the twins a bath recently, and when they melted down with fear, we were dumbfounded. They love water and taking baths. Something had changed that. Had they somehow seen Janet Leigh in the movie Psycho without our knowledge? We called for Sandy who said they had a scary shower experience the previous day while filling the bath. Trey Davey lifted the valve switching the water stream from the tub up to the shower head and this sudden change terrified the boys. The next day Daddy sat in the tub with the boys to show them it was safe. The day after he showed each boy how showering was safe. After a week of apprehension, both boys returned to joyful bathing.

First Graduation Day

The Health Access Nurturing Development Service (HANDS) is a voluntary program for all first time parents residing in Kentucky designed to promote healthy pregnancies, births, healthy child growth and development, healthy and safe homes, and self-sufficient families. With limited to no experience with children, Sandy and I thought it might be a good idea for us to participate. For the last two years our HANDS nurse, Jackie, has visited us at regular intervals testing and tutoring us on healthy parenting. As parents, we are the most important people in Benji and Trey Davey’s life, their first and most important teachers. With Jackie’s help, we prepared the boys well and aced their final exam qualifying them to graduate from the program. Neither boy cared much for the cap and gown, so Winnie the Pooh accepted their diplomas for them.

Out Mid-Bite

Both boys were wide awake this morning at 6:00 am. It is likely that they actually rose much earlier and were waiting for a parental stirring before becoming feisty. Unlike their traditionally slow wake up period where they sit and watch cartoons for an hour before they break out the toys, on this morning they traveled directly from crib to toy box to engage the loudest most exciting toys available. This high energy continued through breakfast and bath time. At about 11:30 Trey Davey crawled into a ball on the couch and fell fast asleep, so we transferred him to the security of his crib. Benji was still a ball of energy at noon, so we brought him downstairs for lunch. After just a few bites, however, we lost him too.

Big Present

In the 1988 movie Big, Tom Hanks performed one of the most memorable film scenes of that decade when he played the song chopsticks with his feet on a huge piano. In this comedy-drama film Hanks plays a boy who makes a wish “to be big” to a magical fortune-telling machine, and is then aged to adulthood overnight. We don’t want our boys to grow up that fast, but they are big enough for this big piano. This birthday gift from Grandma and Granddaddy Roe is really fun. The boys love music and this keyboard offers 24 keys and seven different voices. You can play prerecorded classical songs or tap out your own tune as Trey Davey is doing – with or without pants.

Newspaper Men

When the Bells were visiting over Thanksgiving, Al took the opportunity to sit on our couch and read the newspaper. Benji thought this was very cool and decided to do the same. Mimicking his newspaper buddy, he found a spot nearby and began reading the entertainment section. Opening the newspaper with both hands outstretched like his hero, Benji would hold the paper up high just like people do when they are actually reading it. He would watch and when Al turned pages, so would Benji. Al lingered on one particular sports page for some time reading a column. As Benji watched this he noticed a photo of a football game and pointed this out in case Al missed it.