Holding Daddy's Hand

Hello friends and family,

The twins' fascination with "Snow White" continues and if I had to cast the characters from our own clan here is who and why:

Sleepy - Kendra. Because she went to sleep at 9 tonight. She yawned all day from a long week of work and kids and friends and taking care of me. I don't blame her a bit!
Sneezy - Me. Because windy conditions in a dirt covered city shaped like a bowl results in an insanely runny nose.
Happy - Easton. Because he's the happiest person I've ever met. He has his moments just we ALL do on occasion, but day after day his happy heart shines through.
Snow White - Layla. Because she is without a doubt the most fair princess in the land. She puts the cartoon character to shame with the way she slowly blinks and flutters her eyelashes just to ask for more goldfish crackers.

I normally try to share pictures depicting Easton and Layla doing things. After all, this blog is called "adventures" with twins, not monotony with twins. I capture their personalities through situational descriptions, which rarely results in just a simple close up picture of them individually. To make a short story long, here are some simple close ups of the twins during bath time.


I'm not suggesting they are flattering pictures, but if I try to get Layla to "pose" she squints her eyes so much because of her big smile that it is hard to see her eyes. I had to take these in the bathtub where I have controlled lighting and a captive audience.


Although the "captive audience" concept is questionable since they figured out how to climb in and out of the tub. They have very individual characteristics and facial features, but they also have spectacular similarities. They have the same hair, eye, and skin color and about the same height and weight. Regardless of their similarities and differences, they are both great looking kids.

A new phenomenon around here is the concept of compliments. Out of nowhere Layla tells Easton he is handsome and Easton tells Layla she is beautiful. That made me proud as a parent to hear them giving intentional compliments to each other. Shortly after the love-fest they probably tackled each other fighting over who gets to hold the helicopter toy and someone cried. None the less, you take the good with the bad and focus on the positive as much as possible.

In the Webb house we practice and teach giving lots of hugs to our loved ones and friends. It's not a "pet trick" per se, but Easton and Layla will hug on command and occasionally unprovoked.


I'm also doing my best to start Easton off early with "how to treat a lady". On our way home from the mailbox Easton voluntarily stopped, picked a flower from our neighbors bush, and told me it was "for Mommy". He was so excited to give them to her and also proud of himself at the same time.


That reminds me. The twins and I are scheduled to make a special trip to the store tomorrow to get Mommy some roses. I can say that here on the blog because I know she won't have time to read it before we go to the store. She has her ministry meeting all morning and I have the undivided attention of the twins!

Speaking of mailbox trips... Lately, our daily trip to the mailbox turns into Easton holding one of my hands while Layla holds the other. We run down the hill together and they have so much fun running full speed without worrying about falling down because they know I'm holding them up.


Once Easton realized he could hold my hand and not worry about falling he wanted to go stand on the bigger rocks, which he couldn't do on his own. Marisue, you might notice Easton is wearing appropriately matching BLUE Crocs now instead of borrowing Layla's pink ones.


This last picture of Layla is magical.


Certainly not for its crisp quality or majestic landscape. It is the memory of the way she looked at me this day. In the middle of the hill Layla looked up and I could almost hear her verbally say, "Am I lovely, Daddy?" Of course, she didn't actually say anything because she was so busy giggling. However, the way she looked at me suggested she was reveling in the moment knowing I was holding her, interacting, playing, affirming, cheering and 100% focused on nothing but her. Also, she trusted me enough to take her eyes off the hill and look up at me with full confidence I would keep her safe. That's the kind of thing money can't buy. She was giving me what I need, which is a sense of purpose and I was giving her what she needs, which is a sense of self-worth. All without any effort on either of our part and just by running around in the park.

I'm doing a terrible job of describing the moment, but where everyone else may just see a blurry picture I see one of the greatest accomplishments of my life and unconditional love in a form so pure it is practically transparent.

The clock is striking midnight and although I don't expect to turn into a pumpkin, no need to take a chance... I'm heading to be so I can keep up with a day-long family experience and birthday party for Landon.

See you soon!