New Words

As I mentioned Friday, Gus is expanding his vocabulary at a steady rate. Our hope is that this helps him communicate to us what he wants rather than getting frustrated and throwing so many temper tantrums. His latest addition to his collection of words is "poop," which he proudly proclaims whenever he does just that. Unfortunately for us, Gus's recent stomach troubles have given him many opportunities over the past four days to use his new word.

On Friday night Amy & I decided we wanted to get out of the house and break up the routine so we went to Los Tres Magueyes, our favorite Mexican restaurant. There was a decent wait as it was Friday night so we did our best to entertain two boys who did not want to be held and were fascinated by all the commotion. After finally getting seated at a table with two high chairs, Amy & I promptly ordered food & beverage without looking at the menu and began the unpacking ritual that is dinner for twin boys at a restaurant. We pulled out crackers, milk, ham, oranges, Nutri-Grain bars for the boys -- anything to keep them happy so we could enjoy a dinner out. As soon as we exhaled, Gus's hand slid to his back where he began tugging on his jeans.

"Poop! Poop!" he proudly boasted to his delight.

Amy and I looked at each other and just sighed. We attempted rock, paper, scissors to determine who was going to get this lovely clean-up exercise, but we couldn't decide if the rules called for the game to begin on three (one, two, then rock/paper/scissors) or one-two-three then the rock, paper, or scissors. Luckily for me, Amy took pity on her husband and scooped Gus up to take him away. About two minutes later though she came back to the table and mumbled a disappointed request for the keys to the van.

"It's one of those," she said. "This is going to be easier to change him in the van."

And that was pretty much the harbinger for our weekend. Little Gus was just a bear with his stomach troubles which we think are the remnants of ten days of antibiotics. All the bacteria in his stomach were wiped out by the medicine. We have been shoving yogurt in him as fast as we can to build the baterial back up. So he had his moments where his tantrums persisted, smacking his head onto the floor, into the wall, or on his crib out of frustration.

On the other hand we did get a break on Sunday when the boys each took their first solid naps since coming back from Kentucky which allowed Amy and me to each get a few minutes to catch our breath. Amy watched some of the Australian Open, and I caught a good chunk of the two football games. Owen spent most of his weekend climbing over toys and onto furniture, falling with frequent thuds only to dust himself off and begin again, and playing endless rounds of tug-o-war with the dog. Now if we can get Gus over the hump and expand his vocabulary from "poop" (and all the fun that comes with each of those proclamations), we'll be in good shape.

Ah, parenthood.

Cheers!