You've Got Male: October 2008

A Dog, A Frog, A Cowboy and A Chicken...

No, not the beginning of a joke. It's what we were for Halloween - barnyard animals!

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Joe's costume was a crack up. His legs were really the horse's legs and he was supposed to be a very stubby little cowboy.
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The neighbor kids bought their A game, too. My favorite was the whoopie cushion in the back row. Joe is excited to show you the top of his head. This is his new special pose whenever we want to take a good picture.

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Some of our neighbors REALLY get into Halloween. Luke (the dalmation) was actually too afraid to venture any closer. (There was also some spooky soundtrack coming out of the 'cemetery')

Shh... It's their third birthday!

Since we have already celebrated with Grandma and Papa, and we will be celebrating tomorrow with Grammie and Granddad, we've been kind of mum about it being Patrick and Luke's birthday. In fact,

The boys started the day nice and early with thier first trip to the dentist.
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Brave Patrick volunteered to go first. The boys got sunglasses to protect their eyes from flying slobber and toothpaste. The technician then put the seat back and turned on the bright light. It was just like being at the beach, relaxing in a lounger with shades and the bright sun overhead. Here, Patrick is "assisting" the technician with his fingers. Thanks, Patrick!
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Luke was the most skeptical, by far. While Patrick was being worked on, he sat by looking very concerned.

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The beach analogy did not hold as much delight for him, either. .

He was even skeptical when he met the dentist, Dr. Jim.
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However, Luke warmed up when he saw Patrick checking out the goodies drawer.
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The clever dentist noticed right away that Patrick still had his binky. He reassured us that within three months, the overbite corrects itself to the way nature intended it. I reassured him that the nuk was slowly disappearing, one little snip from the tip at a time. The first snip was about two weeks ago. We're down about halfway now.

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Joe was by far the worst of all of them. He threw a huge fit as soon as he sat in the chair. The good dentist calmly asked me to leave and shut the door behind me. Within a minute, all was quiet, and a few minutes later, he came out smiling. The dentist couldn't get x-rays, though, so we promised to be extra good at flossing.

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Final verdict: perfectly healthy teeth! Way to go boys!

Best Buds

Luke and Patrick do most things together for practical reasons. Sometimes I wonder if they want the other one around. They bicker and fight over toys like all siblings. Do they realize they're twins? Do they or will they have the typical twin bond? I'm not always sure. What we have seen is a realization that they belong together and that they care for each other in some very sweet ways.
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The boys usually go to nap together and wake each other up at the same time, although we've long suspected that Patrick needs more sleep than Luke. When we noticed Luke was keeping Patrick away one day, I stuck Patrick in my bed. A few minutes later, Luke was screaming and crying. "I need Patrick," he said in a sad little voice.
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At mealtimes, one or the other is helping me set the table and get ready. They always mention how Patrick needs his milk cup or Luke wants the Mickey Mouse spoon. When the vitamin bottle comes out, one will always pick out their brothers' favorite color to take to them if they're not right there.
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Going to the Y the other day, Patrick was being a little difficult to deal with. "Cooperative little boys get to play games with mommy at the Y," I said. By the time we got to the Y, Patrick was still not being a cooperative little boy, so Luke and I left him in kidcare to go play basketball and goof off in the gym together. Luke's excitement about having mom all to himself waned pretty quickly. "I want Patrick to play." He seemed bored without his best buddy.
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Also at the Y, I watch the boys when I come pick them up from kidcare before they know I'm there. Most of the time, they are playing together. If not, when one sees me first, he doesn't run to me. Instead, he runs to his twin to make sure he knows the exciting news.
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Patrick and Luke shown here enjoying our visitor "Sundae," the neighbor's guinea pig. Sundae stayed with us while they showed their house. With our pig-sitting, the house sold in eight days.

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I've heard many different theories and practices of twin rearing. They go from making "twin-ness" the main identifier of their children all the way to over emphasizing their individuality and never even calling them "twins." I will never have a license plate or bumper sticker announcing my parenthood of twins, but I will dress them kind of alike until they ask me not to. There's a balance there somewhere. I hope they are delighted to have each other and realize someday that God has given them a special gift to have an identical twin.

Uncle Chris

Scott's brother, Chris, is in Africa now doing some missionary work. If you would like to read about his adventures, click HERE

October Outing

When Grandma and Papa were here visiting us last weekend, we went to the coolest little kid pumpkin patch. The grounds were covered with signs and cut outs for the kids, make your own scarecrow, a corn maze and a haunted woods. They also had all kinds of silly grave markers. It was a very non-scary halloween destination.

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Here's our "Dirty Luke" next to his grave marker.
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Our little goblins got a kick out of getting their picture taken. Patrick the witch is practicing his most menacing "Oooooo."

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They even had a little straw pile just for kids to roll around. The boys had a great time and we enjoyed finding hay in their diapers hours later.

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They had an ancient "International Farmall" tractor pulling a wagon with all of us. Grandpa was pretty sure it was the same model of tractor he first drove as a little kid not much older than Joe. Here we are crammed into our corner of the wagon on the way out to the pumpkin patch.