I thought these updates would come more regularly; as it is I will add one more before the brothers’ marshmallow feet flatten and they officially become toddlers.
We’ve entered that phase where everything these guys do is extremely dangerous and/or disgusting and will be for the next 18 months. Toren has been obsessed with the toilet water; and Eirik recently took him up on that game. I made a concerted effort to keep the lid down until yesterday when they yanked it back-and-forth and back-and-forth until they broke it off.
This behavior is typical for Toren (there are babies and then there is Toren); less so Eirik but keep your eye on him. He isn’t walking yet but given some space he makes laps in the playground sand, scribing circles with his knees. Put a ball in front of him, and he will push it with his head.
Toren took his first steps at 10 1/2 months and then started climbing highchairs and reaching for doorknobs. Today I found him on top of the coffee table. He loves being read to and is starting to bring me books. He watches big kids frolic with a gleam in his eye that says, I can’t wait! He also has a cat allergy:
Eirik has a distinctly gentle spirit; as well as a wild streak. If Toren is a Roman candle, then Eirik is a bottle rocket (he even whistles like a bottle rocket when he is excited. Pew! Pew!).
After months of defending Eirik against his sister, I now defend him against his brother as well. If someone takes him down, he lies there on the floor until mama comes to solve it. I would call him a crybaby; except that he is… a baby.
Which is why we call him Eirik-y or Scwunch while Torino is nick-named after a muscle car and a Clint Eastwood movie. They can resent me later.
Eirik can dish it out but he can’t take it at all. His clearest expression of love (also the way he asks for milk) is to tangle each of his baby hands in my hair, pull, and bite hard on my jaw bone. It gets the point across.
Communication is getting easier. Both babies say mama and Eirik has picked up the sign for “all-done”. He waves his hands in the air like he just don’t care at the end of every meal. Toren is skipping the signs and going right to words. I’ve heard him say dada, di-di (diaper), To-ren, and water. Once, after a midnight feeding, I heard his gremlinesque little voice say, ni-night mama!; which maybe counts as his first sentence?
Twins communicate more easily than a single baby. They consult each other about how they’re feeling; so I might be getting tired, quickly escalates into I’m tired and hungry! And mad! So is he! We are tired and hungry and mad! Roger.
Neither baby has gained any more teeth in the last almost-six months but they have gained appetite. Toren got serious about solid food at 5 1/2 months. One day he turned to me after nursing and said, What else ya got? He eats anything and everything, and he has the linebacker booty to prove it. He recently ate half of a roast beef sandwich. Food (unless thrown on the floor) does not go to waste. (If you count the food thrown on the floor, then a lot of food goes to waste.)
When nobody is paying attention, Eirik has his own version of hops. The other day I caught him free-standing for the first time and was so subtle that I almost missed it. I felt like, Have you done that before? Today he progressed from standing at the edge of the couch, holding the piping with his teeth for extra support, to cautiously inching his way along in his first supported baby steps. He also recently swiped an entire beef steak tomato off the table and ate half of it before I noticed. His other favorite foods are mama milk, paper, and meat.
Eirik is demanding in only one department: Play. If his daily quota goes unmet, then he refuses to go to bed. He stares me down and bumps his nose into mine in a way that says, tickle me! Then he throws his head back in anticipatory laughter, leaving me no choice in the matter. Fun-haver.
Eirik’s only flaw is that the bottle rockets go off at 5AM daily (Pew! Pew!). He parties long and hard enough to wake the entire family; then he goes back to bed.
The brothers bring a lot of humor into my life. My usual dreams of happiness include more time for friends, mountains, and creativity; I only recently stopped to consider how wonderful it is to have a houseful of kids who are really freaking funny.
More favorite things about these babies: Their skin is like peaches and cream. The way Eirik throws his little 12″ chicken leg over me when he sleeps. Toren grabs Eirik’s hand when they nurse together (Want to hold hands? Oh good, me too). Toren ducks behind his brothers crib and the pops out again with a big smile. Peakaboo! Baboo! Things that make the other kids cry make Eirik laugh. They can totally hang on a camping trip. They come when I call, Coo-ee!
I feel so lucky to know them across the arc of their entire lives.
*****
lovewarrior 