surrounded by testosterone

I am outnumbered. The Washuk boys are keeping me on my toes with their manly aggression and intensity. The twins are, gasp, almost nine months! Their personalities are starting to shine through, and I am beginning to feel a tad concerned that I am going to have a wild bunch of boys! In the last month they have mastered sitting up unsupported, have started to eat more and more solid food (favorites are apples, avocado and yogurt) and are starting the motions of crawling. Will is by far the more aggressive, constantly stealing toys from his brother, and getting in to anything within a 5 foot radius. I leave him alone for a minute and return to find him playing with Eddie's hockey sticks and Star Wars figures. Clark has this tremendous intensity - evident in his stare and also the activity of his inactivity (when he is lying still he flexes every muscle and when he is sitting "still" he is constantly kicking and twitching). Overall he is better at sitting and playing with toys, whereas Will needs to be on the move. I am going to go out on a limb here and guess that Clark will be more fine-motor and Will gross-motor. Yes, my monozygotic, DNA-sharing twins are alike yet oh so unique. Will is more happy-go-lucky, and Clark more serious, pensive and a tad of a complainer. Clark took to eating solids better at first; now Will has 6 teeth in and he is eating more, but seems to have a harder time with textures. Coughed up his cous cous and carrots last week and just now gagged on what seemed to be a thread from a spinach leaf that sneaked thru the strainer. My life is about to get pretty maddening as they are on the cusp of crawling and the days of leaving one alone while I go put the other down for a nap seem to be near over. They are still sleeping in our room in two pack-n-plays, and we are still not getting much sleep with 2-3 wakings a night from each. In general, Will sleeps better at night; Clark better during the day. Clark has taken to sleeping in our bed with us for the last couple months. Hey, whatever works, right?

Eddie's personality is really shining through strong these days as he asserts himself as the man in the house. He tells us where we can and cannot sit, for example, pushing his Dad out of his favorite chair. He feeds himself, opening the fridge and grabbing whatever he pleases, consuming an average of 4 apples a day. His speech is improving with more and more intelligibility as he says things like "I don't think so," "I want ___, NOW! (complete with arm folding with he says now! and the ever popular "Stop!" such as "Mom, can you make the babies stop crying?" He is already quoting movie lines, to his Dad's praise. And he can sing the "Star Spangled Banner" and "Jingle Bells," Oh, the theme to Caillou is also a fav. He loves to pretend play. Right now his world is still consumed with acting out Santa and Prep & Landing elves, but he also plays Toy Story and Star Wars. He still loves his two baby dolls. They go with him everywhere - to school, Navy Pier, doctor's office, park, etc. He talks to them non stop. We now have him in speech therapy twice a week; the diagnosis is moderate articulation and phonological processing disorder. He is making great strides and likes to use the IPad in therapy...looks like we'll be buying one soon. He is also in to playing with Playdough (he pretends he's baking cookies or going to the movies and eating popcorn) and of course still obsesses about hockey. Santa brought him some new hockey figures and they are all the rage! He is anxiously anticipating some snow. He goes to school two days a week now at Creme de la Creme, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and he is doing very well socially and emotionally. Academically, well, let's just say he are still working on numbers, colors and letters. Again, I am surrounded by testosterone and beginning to feel like my hopes of sitting and doing craft projects with my kids seem like pipe dreams. Jealous of those of you with daughters....but of course feel very blessed to have my boys!