This is a hectic week. Actually, it feels like most weeks are hectic during this phase of our life. Sean and Kathy and the boys arrived last Saturday for a weeklong visit. They also offered to watch our children so that we could get away for a night! This was very generous, and it took some persuasion, but they talked us into it. We went to Ogden on Saturday afternoon and came back on Sunday about midday. This is the first time since the twins were born that we have spent the night without taking care of them. It was a great trip, and it felt like we were away for a much longer period of time. We had a fantastic dinner at Hanamaru and stayed at the Alaskan Inn. We were surprised to find that the other two sushi restaurants we considered were completely full. On one hand it was Saturday night. On the other hand, we didn’t expect to find so much going on in Ogden.

Sunday night was cold and incredibly windy. There have been a few days since we moved here in which we experienced strong winds that can make the east-facing rooms very cold. On Monday morning we noticed that the temperature in the house was about 10 degrees below the thermostat setting. Chris is too overwhelmed at work to troubleshoot these problems anymore so we called the home warranty company and they sent someone to the house in the afternoon. The repairman discovered that the air intake from the outside was obstructed by a tennis ball, along with some sticks and dirt. The air intake is a PVC pipe that is slightly larger than a tennis ball and is coincidentally at a height that is easily reachable by all of the children. It is also coincidental that the twins went to Discovery Gateway last week and thoroughly enjoyed playing in a room where you put balls into pipes. However, this isn’t proof of the culprit(s), and we are planning to line up the six suspects to get to the bottom of this.

Sean left Sunday afternoon for a conference at Sundance which wraps up about midday on Tuesday. Amy Silliman, a close friend of Chris’, is visiting Salt Lake from New Zealand and we went to the zoo with her in the afternoon on Monday and then she came over for dinner. Chris left Tuesday morning for a conference in Cologne, returning Sunday. That means that for the next few days the ratio of children to adults will vary between 2-3 to 1. To put this in perspective it’s useful to think about how many different groupings are possible among 6 children: 56. And each child wants some interaction with each adult, which increases the number of possible interactions by a factor of 4 if all adults are home. This doesn’t include adult-adult interactions because these generally aren’t possible while the children are awake. It’s useful to view it this way to quantify the constant buzz of activity that occurs when the children are together. It is never dull, and we feel a deep sense of gratitude that we can spend this time with our friends and family.

Taking care of the babies between 4-6pm is rough. It would probably be easier if there were at least three adults here during that time – one to take care of each baby and one to cook. However, Melissa does this by herself and what usually happens is that one or both babies are screaming while she is trying to fix dinner. It’s not unlike this description of breakfast from The Honest Toddler:

Good Morning! Wow it’s like it has been forever. You look good. You look okay. Actually you look bad. Sick. Like there’s something wrong in your body. Like something is draining you. Anyway for breakfast I’ll have 6 plain pancakes with a circumference of no more than five inches but no less than six. Also, I just wanted to bring to your attention that traditionally pancakes are round. Do you know what “round” means? I’m just asking because last time it looked like you were trying to be artistic or were cooking with a paper bag on your head. I’ll have my pancakes on the red plate. Not the red one with the green trim or the brick colored one, RED. Yes, the one that shattered yesterday. I’m sure you’ll figure something out. God help you if I see a crack. Also, I would like my pancake intact but in bite-sized pieces. Don’t break my pancakes but please cut them. I want them undamaged but in small pieces so I can eat. Do you see what I’m saying? Perfect but altered. It’s not hard. Follow your heart but keep in mind that if you get it wrong I’ll make today hard. Ok I’ll be in the family room sitting in your lap while you also cook in the kitchen. Love you. (so hungry)

Indeed, toddlers can be pretty unreasonable. By the time Chris get’s home around 6pm everyone’s nerves can be pretty raw.

This weekend Everett watched Mary Poppins for the first time. He loved it. It was also a chance for us to see it again and recall some of the best parts, one of which was some of the words and phrases they used (such as Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious). So the next night when Chris got home from work he asked “Melissa, would you be good enough to explain this unseemly hullabaloo?!?” Fortunately everyone laughed. It might have been a tense situation otherwise.

There is a hole in our backyard that is about 14 feet wide and 3 feet deep. It’s the perfect size and shape for an in-ground trampoline. Coincidentally, this is exactly what used to be in it until we bought the house. Naturally Everett was curious about it, and after we moved in he started climbing into it and looking around. Soon after that he started excavating rocks out of the walls by digging the surrounding dirt away using sticks and shovels. Chris’ first instinct when he saw Everett doing this was to say “Stop! You are ruining this hole!” Chris’ second instinct was to listen to his inner voice which was saying “Wait…what?!? How exactly is this hole being ruined, and what do you plan on using it for? Also, keep in mind that Everett is spending hours outside while digging in this hole with his friends.” Fortunately Chris was able to listen to the latter when deciding how to deal with the situation. To be fair, Melissa and Chris have been talking about plans for the hole that included a pond (not a great idea given the age of the babies), a shark tank (Melissa has wanted a backyard shark tank since she was young) and a giant igloo (though we have never built one this big, and even if we did the hole isn’t required, and in any case we are currently in the middle of the non-winter of 2014-2015 which hasn’t provided sufficient snow for an igloo). So none of these ideas are terribly realistic. Anyway, this is what the hole looks like after Everett and his friends have been digging in it for a few months. Can you see how it’s been ruined? We can’t either.

According to our children one of the best drinks in the world is “Dada water”. This is a term Everett started using a few years ago for the glass of water that Chris keeps at his bedside at night. Everett preferred this cup of water over all others. Many mornings he comes into our room, drinks the entire glass and then lets out a satisfied sigh. A couple years ago Chris starting joking that it was made using a secret formula, and about a year ago Everett wrote down the recipe for it: “cold wader [sic]”. After that it became know as “special recipe Dada water”.

Gwen has decided that the food on Mama’s plate is the most desirable and delicious in the house, even if everyone at the table is eating the exact same thing (which is almost always true these days as the babies have now transitioned to solid food). We have developed a dinnertime ritual where Gwen will have a couple bites from her plate and then look at Melissa’s plate and say “Bite?”, and Melissa will tell her that it’s all the exact same food, and Gwen will say “Bite? Bite? Bite?” and then refuse to eat her own food. We recently got new chairs at the kitchen table, and they have square edges that provide an almost continuous surface if you put them right next to each other. Gwen takes advantage of this by slowly sliding off of her chair and onto Melissa’s lap (we call this “the booty slide”). Then she will take Melissa’s silverware and help herself. Teddy watched this for a while from his high chair, but eventually started wondering (rightfully) why he didn’t get to sit in someone’s lap. The difference between them is that while Gwen wants Mama food, Teddy just wants to be held and sometimes to drink the coveted Dada water from Chris’ glass. Both of them strenuously object when Chris makes it clear that he is going to hold the glass for them while they drink.

The other night Chris and Melissa looked at each other and laughed at the absurdity of this situation, and we contemplated how much screaming we might have to endure to have a normal dinner again where all the children sit in their seats, or how long we might have to wait for the twins to outgrow this behavior. One short term solution is that we feed the children first and then we eat later, though with this approach we miss having family dinner and we are pretty hungry by the time we are able to eat. Fortunately there have been some signs of progress with regard to eating. First, we have started using time-outs as a consequence for throwing food, plates, cups or silverware off the dinner table. This has drastically reduced the number of things we need to pick up during and after dinner. Second, Gwen has spontaneously started looking out for Teddy. If she gets a snack then she will say “Teddy?” and reach out her other hand to get a portion for him as well. Then she will deliver it to him before she eats. It’s remarkable to watch, especially at this age.