twinness and nodding off

Jane, as I think I've mentioned before, is much enamored of small spaces, especially various sorts of boxes. Yesterday, she was sitting in a dish tub (not the one we use to wash dishes in), happy as a small, plastic-encased clam, on the kitchen floor. And in trying to get out, she fell, giving herself a fat lip.

We, of course, picked her up, made sure she was okay, and comforted her. She stopped crying, but still wanted to be held, so I sat on the couch with her in my lap, just hanging out and letting her continue to sniff and calm down. I noticed that she had a little bit of blood coming from her nose from the fall too, but not much, and could tell that she was fine. (And she was, btw. You wouldn't even know today that yesterday she fell down.)

The funny part was when Kate decided to come sit on the couch by me and Jane. Kate noticed that Jane had a bloody nose. "Ooh!" she said, pointing at her sister's nose. I tried to convince Kate that the last thing her poor twin needed was to have a finger stuck in her bunged-up nose by another one-year-old. To no avail. "Da!" Kate insists, still pointing at her sister's nose.

And then it got even funnier. "Da!" says Kate, pointing. "Da!" Jane agrees, perking up. "Da!" "Da!" one to another. You could tell, if the conversation had been conducted in English rather than in in Toddler, that it would have gone: "Dude! you have a bloody nose!" "Yeah!" "So cool!" "I know, right?"


It was really, really cute, and especially fun because it was the first time I've really heard them have a conversation with each other. They talk to the older folk in the house all the time, but not to each other. I'd never really believed all that stuff about parallel play in babies till I had twins; but now I know that if you have two kids of the same age together, they really will play NEXT to each other rather than WITH each other. When you have two kids of different ages, it does look like real play because the older one really is playing, and the little one is imitating. Jane and Kate follow each other around the house and play with the same things, but they don't interact with each other like they interact with Brie and sam. So watching this interchange where Kate noticed Jane and talked to her, and Jane talked back, was really fun. Despite poor Jane and her owies. (Again, she really is fine, and was obviously going to be okay even then, or I'm sure I wouldn't have found it quite so cute! And it seemed like Kate's compliments on her wounds cheered her up!)

It's fun to watch them begin to be consciously aware of each other, especially since they have been so clearly unconsciously aware of each other for so very, very long. I think I'm going to enjoy watching them learn to play together.


the other funny thing that happened yesterday is that Samuel fell asleep AT THE TABLE. It was so weird; at first I thought he was pretending, and then I thought something was wrong with him. But no, he was just really tired. I know we've all seen people "nodding off" on film, but seeing it in real life is a little freaky. The drooping head that keeps jerking back up, and then drooping down again. Poor buddy. I carried him over to the couch and he snuggled right up and didn't wake up for an hour and a half. (I admit, I was so weirded out by having him fall asleep at the table that I wanted to have him somewhere where I could keep an eye on him, to make sure he was okay!) It was naptime though, so I guess it makes sense!

All four kids have gone to the dentist this week and, praise God, NO CAVITIES! I am especially grateful for this because Jane and Katie both have brown spots on their teeth and I was so sure that they had tooth decay. But no. They have weak enamel - which apparently could have been caused by some of the medications they had in the NICU - and that weak enamel got stained by the iron vitamin drops they took when they were little. I am so, so, so grateful to God that we don't have to go through dental work at such a young age.

-Jess