The Big Fall

Greetings and welcome back!

We discovered that refrigerator magnets and children's artwork falling on the tile floor at 2:00 AM sounds suspiciously similar to an intruder. Kendra and I jolted up in bed and she started flashing Navy Seal style hand signals telling me to go find out what it was. Luckily the mess on the kitchen floor relieved my anxiety and we were back to sleep in no time. The moral of the story is: Secure the items on your refrigerator prior to bedtime or get better magnets.

Christmas is coming and I plan to ask (on behalf of the twins) for some new bath toys! Got any ideas? I'd like to hear some feedback about your child's favorite bath toy so I can have some ideas of what to ask for. Here's what we have right now:


The orange bee-hive is a button and if you pour soap with water into the chimney and push it 500 times per second, then a few bubble come out of the top. Other than that we just have Elmo and other Sesame Street characters along with a few cups.

The Big Fall

There are books written about how the human body develops through childhood and all that scientific stuff is certainly true. However, today it became crystal clear why God designed children to be soft and flexible. The reason is to account for parental neglect and stupidity. Today Easton met the sand on the playground floor in a very personal way due to gravitational forces... He fell. No need to worry though because he is just fine.

The 4 Webbs decided to take advantage of the perfect partly-cloudy day by taking a picnic lunch at the park in Aunt Mary's neighborhood. The park is laid out very well with a giant wall separating the street from the park, sand and rubberized walkways in all the right places, and jungle gym equipment that is perfect for toddlers.

Easton isn't afraid to get dirty. In addition to dumping cups of sand back into the playground repeatedly he toddled down the nearby hill and dump several cup fulls of sand on a tree. I'm not sure why he did that, but we cheered him on and congratulated him none the less.


Layla is appropriately girly. By that I mean she is a little princess when she needs to be and she's also more than happy to play in the dirt when given the chance. Although in this picture it looks like she is panning for gold.


Kendra brought an assortment of household utensils and cooking ware instead of spending $100 on special sand equipment.

As we prepared to leave, Kendra gathered up the toys and bags while I watched over Easton and Layla climbing on the playground. The twins separated and started moving towards different parts of the jungle gym as they wound their way through tunnels and up steps. I tried to monitor both, but there is nothing I could say to force them to "come" and obey like a golden retriever. They still aren't mature enough to follow a command with such specific information as, "turn around and climb back through the tunnel towards daddy".

Anyway, I stood close to Layla and thought Easton was crawling through the tunnel safely. He wasn't... He walked towards an opening in the upper section of the jungle gym and the next thing I know he's face down in the sand below crying. He took a big fall, but appears to be ok. He has scratches on his forehead and cheek, but luckily there are no other signs of trauma. Here's the visual damage report:


He is such a trooper. I felt like a complete failure having this kind of accident occur on my watch. Blame isn't a part of the equation when I look inward to understand how I feel about what happened. Maybe a little bit of shame mixed with feelings of pride, but mostly I was relieved to see he was OK. I know it is impossible to keep children in an accident-free bubble for their entire life, but I want to avoid them experiencing harm or pain due to my lack of oversight and carelessness.

Back to the fun stuff: Kendra took a few other good pics recently including this close up of Easton.


Ever since we visited my parents in Missouri where Easton and Layla were able to hide in their kitchen island cabinets, Easton loves to close himself into small spaces and play peek-a-boo. He's using the diaper box standing up long ways as a hide out.


As long as he has his stuffed animal cow making "mooooo" noises, he will be detectable to us. Sneaky little guy...

Layla uses her toy phone to call only 3 people. GG, Oma, and Opa. It's always one of those three and she doesn't get much deeper into the conversation than saying, "Hello Oma!" It


I'm looking forward to next week when Oma and Opa arrive in town for a visit. Should be interesting to see what Layla has to say after saying "hello" for the 100th time. It'll much more interactive with 3-D Oma and Opa, I'm sure. Until then we have to use what's available: Skype. When Oma and Opa sing their good-night song each night, part of the lyrics are "close your eyes, go to sleep". You can see here how Easton follows simple commands very well when they are part of a song.


Layla experienced her second round of disciplinary action today due a meltdown in public. I've heard it gets easier as time goes by, but given my limited set of data points (2), I have to disagree. She is an extraordinarily intelligent girl. When she disobeys willingly and defiantly we have to start establishing boundaries already because of how advanced she is. Some days I wish we were grandparents and didn't have to worry about the discipline part...

See you soon!