October 4, 2007

• One Year Down

  As I wheeled my five-foot-long triple stroller into Mother’s Day Out today, I was waylaid as usual by passers-by wanting to see the twins. I try to get creative in my responses. Once, an elderly man said, “Oh, look! Double the trouble!” and I thought it was cute enough to repeat. Today, it was a mother talking to the woman at the front desk. As we walked by and she asked, “Are there two of them?” I laughed, and said, “Yes! Double the trouble!” “And double the BLESSING!” the woman behind the desk replied. “Oh, yes,” I looked back, “Double the blessing, too!” She leaned over her desk and called to me, “I’m a grandmother of twins; I can say that!” “Ah, yes!” I nodded, “Their grandmothers feel the same way!”

  She wouldn’t correct me if she was her grandchildren’s mother, I guarantee it. But it’s equally true and moreso, that my two boys have been double, triple, quadruple the blessing this past year. They turned one year old last Thursday, September 27th. Here’s a shot of them on their birthday–AK’s teacher gave them “Happy Birthday” stickers that they kept on all day.

  

  We had a little party on Saturday with their older cousins. While the cousins sat outside and ate their lunch, the boys crawled around the lawn. I was amazed–both of them were very curious and didn’t mind the grass and sand a bit.

  

  

  William the Wanderer

  

  Stephen the Sweet

  After lunch, we all went inside for birthday cake. Now, neither of them have ever had cake before. Stephen doesn’t even eat chewable food–he doesn’t even try, and chokes it up when we offer. William wants big people food and we do share with him from our plates, but otherwise both boys are still eating from the mountains of soft baby food we bought for pennies at Target this summer. So we were all interested to see what they thought of chocolate cake and frosting. Our two little Peas in the Pod enjoyed their little party favors–Gerber snacks and Cheerios.

  

  William was far more bold than Stephen with his cake, but even William had reservations at first.

  

  They didn’t last for long, however.

  

  Oh, yeah–the cake passes inspection.

  

  Stephen was so distracted by all the people crowded around him, he didn’t even notice his cake at first.

  

  He finally gingerly touched his piece, then proceeded to spread it everywhere but his mouth.

  

  For birthday presents, we assigned a gift to each cousin to open for the twins.

  

  William was especially fascinated by the hammer boat Omie gave him.

  

  Stephen was overwhelmed by the whole process, so he preferred to sit on the sidelines and hold the book Grandma sent in the mail. Here’s Anna Kathryn later in the day, showing her brothers how to play with their drum set. Notice that William, having already examined every gift, had decided to go play with the one thing in the room that is off-limits.

  

  Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa, Omie and Papa Bill, Aunt Jen and Aunt Sarah, Anna Kathryn, and all the cousins for helping us make William and Stephen’s first birthday special. We had a great time!

  • 1:47 pm
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