Jaws and Pushups

Jaws

What else was I supposed to do with a toy shark in the bathtub?

The only natural thing I could think of was to put the shark under the bubbles and then slowly swim it towards Layla while echoing those famous two notes from the jaws theme song… Duuuuh dum. Duuuuuh dum, duh dum, duh dum , Ahhhhhh!

Layla giggled every time and kept asking for more. Kendra went to get the camera and by the time she returned, Layla was copying my theatrical piece note for note.



We’ll have to work on the cadence of the theme song, but I thought she did a smashing job!

Under the table and dreaming

For some reason Easton and Layla are entertained by climbing through the stand of the coffee table we have sitting in our front room. I suppose it is like a fort or something. They swing their toy airplanes through the air and pretend to fly around underneath the table.


There are very few pictures of Layla being “relaxed”. She is usually squishing up her face to show her big smile or running around being tense and intense. However, here you see her naturally hang her arm over the leg of the table as she sings a tune of some kind. The most interesting thing about this picture is how she looks like a sweet princess now instead of a little baby.


Ditto for Easton. He is our dreamer. Always looking up in the sky for airplanes and pretending as he plays with planes, trains, and automobiles. He looks more and more like a handsome young man instead of a little baby.


Ultimate Pushup

Kendra sent me to the grocery store to buy chicken stock. Apparently her wish was not to invest in a company listed on the Dow Jones Industrial that sells poultry. No, chicken stock is like chicken broth, but very concentrated and very difficult to locate in a grocery store. But I digress…. Anyway, as I was shopping I noticed some ice cream treats for sale and discovered Nestlé’s Chocolate Pushups were 50% off. Can you guess how big of a hit they were with the twins???


I can't figure out how his tongue is perfectly clean, but his entire face is completely covered in chocolate. Go figure?



Identity - I'm sure I'll have to rewrite the following section at some point because my random thoughts didn't come across as polished as I intended.

Who am I? That is a question I feel very strongly about. My identity and knowing who I am has absolutely nothing to do with self-actualization. If my entire goal in life is to "realize" how selfish I can be, then what a sad life that truly is. Any answer I can come up with that involves things or people (which can all be taken away) will ultimately lead to disappointment. I am a Christian. I am a martial artist. I am trustworthy. Those are things no one can ever take away.

However, I am not my job. If I am nothing more than my job and I lose it, then I'm back to question, "who am I" all over again. I am not my talents. I am not my hobbies. and the part I struggle with the most is: I am not just "a father of twins". As much as I enjoy being a father, it is merely a role God has placed me in at this point and time. I will be the best father possible until the day I die, but I must fight the desire to make these two precious toddlers my everything in life. It is so easy for me to focus every spare minute, thought, and dollar on Easton and Layla to the point where I lose balance of who I am.

After coming home from a long day of work today, I wanted nothing more than to spend time with Kendra and the babies recounting the excitement of the day while I was away working. I flopped down onto our bed with the fluffy duvet and multiple pillows knowing the twins could not resist the invitation to come and play. It's like Roger Rabbit hearing "shave and hair cut"... They are compelled to climb onto the bed. Tonight Layla gave me a big hug and kissed my cheek without having to ask for it for the first time.


Usually I have ask for kisses and then have Kendra reaffirm the request and THEN Layla will give me kisses. As I said earlier, Easton is the dreamer and even though the blue with the happy face in the center is made of cloth, he still smells and pretends to enjoy its fragrance none the less.


I couldn't decide which picture to post; The candid shot or the posing one, so I posted both!


This stage of 18 months old is 100X more fun than 12 months because we can do a little rough housing and wrestling around. Besides, it is much better when they can talk to tell you exactly what they need. "More crackers please?" Is way easier to solve than, "Wah, wah, waaaaaah!" I don't have to put my nose in the babies' butts to rule out the stinky possibility during the guessing game.

See you soon!