Our twins, Miriam and Adin, turned one year old today. They were born last November 23rd at 7:17 and 7:19 AM at Swedish Hospital. Last year, we missed Thanksgiving because my wife was in the hospital for 5 days (and I with her). It wasn’t much fun. But we’re hoping to make up for what we missed by this year having our usual modest feast with my brother and his friend.
Dahlia Bakery cupcakeTonight, after we had dinner we enjoyed our family birthday ritual, sumptuous cupcakes from Dahlia Bakery. These aren’t ordinary cupcakes. They’re the best cupcakes ever made (or at least ever experienced by this author). Each day, the cupcakes are a different flavor. Tonight, they had delectable vanilla icing with devil’s food cake. Janis believes you should give a birthday baby an entire cupcake and let them have their way with it. Me, I’m a bit more fastidious. But I figured hey, it’s their day, let ’em have their way. It was a gooey mess, but they were happy with it mess and all. We threw them in the tub afterward for a good shampoo (icing in the hair–eeewww!).
Adin on living room floorWe gave each twin his and hers cupcakes with little candles. We lit them in the pitch dark because they’d been crying and I thought it would distract them (it did). Jonah helped blow out each candle with me. We sang Happy Birthday and everyone cheered. Miriam and Adin looked at us with slight, but uncomprehending wonder.
Today’s cute story. No offense to Adin who’s charming, if a tad blustery and obstreperous, but Janis thinks Miriam’s got the smarts of the two. Here’s an example: most days (about 4 times per week) I take them for a long walk in the stroller that takes us down to Madrona Beach where I set them down on the walkway for a crawl-around and throw sticks into the lake for the Lab to retrieve. Then we mosey on down to Leschi and up to Frink Park the whole time walking along Lake Washington Blvd. The past few times I’ve stopped at the swings in Frink Park and set them up for 15 minutes or so of swing time. They look adorable sharing a single swing flying up and down.
Miriam in high chairYesterday, though I decided I needed to get home quickly so I didn’t stop at the swings. Not more than 10 steps from where I would’ve turned off to go down to the swings, Miriam started to cry. I bent over and looked down at her, saying: “What do you want?” She kicked her legs with enthusiasm and I had a feeling she wanted swings so I took them both over and we spent our usual 15 minutes flying through the air. When Janis came home from work, I told her the story and she had no doubt that Miriam, even at the tender age of 1, knew where she was and what she wanted. I said to Janis, we’ll try again next time and if she cries again I’ll know she’s a genius.
Today, I also wanted to get home quickly so I tried the same thing–passing the swings by; but Miriam would have none of it crying again until we turned back to the swings. Somebody tell me how a 1 year old can know her surroundings well enough (this is a usual 75-minute walk that covers several miles) to know where the swings were? Does she have the homing instincts of a pigeon?
