Are they twins?

Believe it or not, this is still a frequently asked question. Not by you; by total strangers. Depending on my mood, this question causes a range of internal reactions -- on the one hand, exasperation. I'm tempted to say they're actually two months apart, just to see how long the conversation goes before they realize I'm yanking their chain. On the other hand, appreciation. Because I realize it's just an entrée into a conversation that will usually -- not always, but usually -- include a compliment to my daughters, and that's always okay with me.

Anniversary.

I'm remembering a phone call from one year ago this morning.

"Perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave." -- Rilke

Development update.

Sociability:  Evelyn has made some improvements in this category, but Anna is still the one least likely to object to being held by a person other than Mommy, being left temporarily in a carseat, or being abandoned in an alley at night.  Advantage: Anna.

Size:  Evelyn remains the front runner in this department, with leads ranging from slightly over to slightly under a pound.  Anna's just the same peanut she's always been.  Advantage: Evelyn.

Teeth:  Evelyn's got five.  Anna's got one.  No contest here.  Since they're still nursing, I'll say Advantage: Anna.

Sitting:  Evelyn can now sit up unassisted.  Anna topples over instantly.  Advantage: Evelyn.

Crawling:  Neither one of them can crawl.  Put Evelyn on her belly and she'll cry and flip over and stay that way.  Anna freely rolls and scoots backward all over the living room.  Advantage: Anna.

Eating:  Both of them do well with "solid" baby food and rice cereal.  Evelyn seems more comfortable with true solids like Cheerios and crackers; Anna requires a bit more coaxing on these.  Perhaps it's the lack of teeth -- with one tooth, it requires better aim.  Advantage: Evelyn.

Talking:  We have some verbalizations of syllables, but zero mimicry.  Looks like we're months away from this.  Tie.

Hair:  Evelyn's is turning blondish with maybe a strawberry tinge.  Anna's is a beautiful chestnut, at least for the two hours immediately after a bath.  Outside of that time window, it's just sort of Joe Hair.  Advantage: Evelyn.

Standing:  Anna's knees buckle quickly.  On the other hand, walking is severely bad news for parents of twins.  Advantage: Anna.

Eyes:  Evelyn's eyes are now a rich sort of blue.  I  would call them International Klein blue.  Anna's eyes are more Carolina blue, which evokes a negative emotional response from anyone who's attended an ACC school.  Advantage: Evelyn.

If you're expecting me to tally up some sort of total and pronounce a winner, you've come to the wrong place.  This isn't a competition.  Jeez.

Kitten's turn (still).

Kitten's turn.

Mouse, showing off.

At the Academy of Sciences.

Mouse.

Kitten.

It's been a while since you posted anything.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Perhaps you heard there are two babies to care for? Okay, for Ginger to care for. But it's exhausting watching her work so hard.

I was musing to myself yesterday, and it seemed like the kind of thing I used to post to this blog, so here goes: There's definitely something different about dealing with "a baby." What I mean by this is that when we had singleton births, there was only "the baby." Whoever was dealing with the baby was definitely dealing with "the baby." Even when Charlie was "the baby," it was clear what you were talking about when, for example, you said "Can you hold the baby while I finish cooking dinner?" Or, "Would you mind cutting up my steak? I'm holding the baby."

The words "the baby" haven't been spoken in our house since about April 2005. (I mean not together in that precise order.) That's because it's now a meaningless phrase in our house. Instead we talk in terms of "a baby." "Would you please hold a baby while I tie my shoe?" "Do you want to take a baby with you when you go to the store?"

Babies have become, in a way, a fungible good. You're not really being a productive member of the household (or for that matter any kind of worthwhile guest in our house) unless you are doing something for, with, or to, a baby. But it doesn't matter which one. They're interchangeable for this purpose, and perhaps for other purposes too. Babies come in a quantum of one, but there's definitely more than one to address. You wind up with "a baby" at a time. There is no "the baby." This may seem obvious to you, but it's weird to me that the "the baby" phenomenon that motivates the speech and action of every other set of parents simply doesn't exist in our house anymore.

Obviously we refer to them by name more than as "a baby." But a lot of times their need for attention is interchangeable. The only thing that specifically matters is which one of them is "more due" for nursing, in which case it does matter which one Ginger is holding and which one I have. But for most other purposes, you're just supposed to be helping "a baby."

Lately, the most effective form of man-to-man defense we have is Ginger with Evelyn and me with Anna. That's because Evelyn overtook Anna in the level of demand for attention. Anna can fall asleep by herself in the bouncy seat; Evelyn cannot. Anna can find her own thumb and self-soothe; Evelyn (for the most part) cannot. Anna can sleep for five hours at a stretch, day or night; Evelyn cannot. Anna can be put down and will fall asleep if you walk away; Evelyn cannot. So Evelyn gets a lot more time being held than Anna, because she needs it more. There are evenings when Ginger will suddenly realize that a day has passed and she hasn't held Anna at all except for active nursing.

There's also the fact that Anna is still taking one bottle a day, while Evelyn has been at 100% breastmilk for almost two months now. Because five ounces of formula is a lot for an eleven pound baby to work on, we try to time Anna's bottle for the very last thing of the day, to allow her to sleep through on a full tummy. Often this means waiting for Anna to wake up spontaneously at midnight, one or even two in the morning, giving her a bottle, burping her and putting her back to bed for the rest of the night. Sometimes she'll sleep as late as 8 a.m. or later under those circumstances. Because Ginger doesn't do bottles, most nights she'll take Evelyn to bed with her to "nurse out" while I stay up and wait for Anna to wake up enough to take the only bottle of the day. I'm a night owl anyway and this plays to my strengths, but it does solidify the impression that Evelyn is Ginger's baby and Anna (being less demanding) is mine. For now.

Snow Day.

Transfiguration's Snow Day.

Thanks to Jeremiah.

Christmas photo.

Of the 9,000 shots taken from this angle, this was the only one that was remotely passable.  We're in for a long childhood.

Comparisons.

My sister-in-law, Susan, has a theory about babies -- and she should know.  Her theory is that babies come in two flavors: Churchill and Eisenhower.

Most babies are Churchill.  But babies from my wife's side of the family are almost universally Eisenhowers.  I've posted previously about how Anna (above, right) bears a strong resemblance to my wife's side of the family.  In other words, Eisenhower.  Evelyn (above, left, duh) bears an equally strong resemblance to Winston Churchill.

Note that this does not necessarily mean that the baby in question grows up to look like Churchill or Eisenhower.  That would be ridiculous.  I mean, D-Day alone would have been a very confusing affair indeed.

Mouse in a dress.

Thanksgiving.

Mouse at rest.

Meet the twin: Anna.

Today's subject: Anna.

Anna, as we all know, is smaller. Her face looks more like those of the babies on Ginger's side of the family. She was more active in utero and, at least to my observation, more likely to be flailing her arms at any given moment even today.

That said, Anna is also a sleeper. Within two weeks of coming home, she was stretching her feedings to four and five hour gaps, which is not supposed to happen. We had to wake her up to give her a bottle. Even now, we sometimes realize all of a sudden that it's been way too long since Anna's last feeding, because she's been quiet and cuddly without any complaint.

She's a better nurser of the two, although her lighter weight means that we're supplementing her with bottles while Evelyn is basically at 100% breastfed for now. You might conclude by looking at them that their size disparity is fundamental to their natures and may be permanent. Perhaps I'm jumping to this conclusion because Patrick was underweight for some time and is today a skinny little kid, while Charlie, well, has always been Charlie. Even considering this, Anna just seems like a more delicate type. We're prepared to be surprised.

She is showing signs of red hair, like Charlie's, though a bit lighter.

On the nickname front, our use of "Kitten" for Evelyn in daily life is growing more infrequent. It comes up now and again, but there's no nickname for her that's in regular use. We sometimes still use "Mouse" for Anna because she still squeaks quite a bit, particularly when we are waking her up. More frequently we refer to Anna as "Anna Banana" or just plain "Banana." Ginger shortens this to "Anna B." or sometimes just "B."

Links of interest.

Article about a NICU nurse who's also a NICU graduate.

Meet the twin: Evelyn.

People ask if the girls are yet displaying personalities, so I've decided to introduce their nascent characteristics. Today's subject: Evelyn.

Evelyn is larger than Anna, but her personality footprint is somewhat smaller. She is, on the main, more even-keeled (so far). She is less likely to spit up, but not reliably so. We are convinced that if Evelyn had been in the "Baby A" position, Ginger might very well still be pregnant, because Evelyn was probably not in any kind of hurry to get out into the world. She was brought into the world when she was because the perinatologist broke her water after Anna had already started the process and made it inevitable. This was probably a rude awakening as far as she was concerned. She was less kicky in utero and this remains true today. She is a pretty sloppy nurser; her latch involves a good deal of inefficient slurping, which probably cuts down on her intake. Still, her weight gains are usually greater than Anna's, at least until recently.

Evelyn also looks more unlike Patrick and Charlie. Anna bears more of a resemblance to the babies that have come before. This is not a personality trait per se, but it's probably an indication that she's more of me than of Ginger and therefore her temperament will remain (to Ginger) maddeningly stable, like her father's.

I said I would tell you about her personality characteristics. I never promised there would be a lot to talk about, at least at this point.