Updated: The Lazy Parents Guide to Raising Twins

DAD is sometimes too accommodative when feeding Liesel, holding the bottle in her mouth while she turns her head left and right to focus on something interest while she feeds.

The device above holds the bottle in one position, thus she loses the nipple when she turns her head or fidgets.

She doesn't like that.

Dad has watched her struggle with it with great satisfaction, intervening only as necessary. She's smart and figured out how to use her hands to reposition the nipple into her mouth.

Update 1: She has also learned to hold her head steady while feeding so as not to lose the nipple.

Dad isn't really lazy. He just wants to challenge his children to learn and grow.

Update 2: Dad observed that she has to be hungry to have the motivation to struggle with this. If she wants a bottle simply to soothe, she won't bother. She'll just cry in frustration. During this condition, Dad'll simple cradle her with a binky. Dad wants to ensure his children learn that food is fuel first and only comfort on special occasions. As one radio host observed with his own kids, there is a normal diet and holiday diet. The normal diet is the healthy one they eat the vast majority of the time while the holiday diet permits indulgences as infrequently as there are national holidays.

Updated: Soothing Song

BUG            a         boo,

my     little        Bugaboo,

my     little      Snugaboo,

and my little Buddy  Too.

Bug           a             boo,

my     little        Bugaboo,

I           love              you!

(Buddy Too!)

The Twins are fascinated by Mom and Dad singing to them. When quiet and alert, Buddy and Bugaboo will focus lazer like on the Parent's mouth and only interject when the song ends. The picture above shows EJ staring at Dad while he sings.

Feedin' and Sleepin' Time

EJ now enjoys oatmeal and the routine of feeding in his highchair.
Liesel is not so hot on the idea of eating solids just yet.

"Where's my oatmeal?"

"Ill sleep in today and skip breakfast."

The Parents tried a mesh netting (picture above) around her crib for a few hours to prevent her parts (arms, legs) from hanging out. That made the sheet savers unusable. But changing the sheet is a PITA they would rather not do more than is necessary, so the mesh went away and the sheet savers came back.

She really gets around that crib even when dressed in her sleep sack. Dad'll often find her sleeping with her head in a corner since she cannot yet extricate herself from that trap. She wakes from her night-sleep or a nap and sings to herself. He screams for food. Dad tries to time his naps to intervene just when he might wake, but Buddy Too has his own ideas about how long he wants to sleep.

Updated: Top Round Roast au Jus

THIS post is not about the roast, which turned out bad, rather it is about the wonderful au jus. But the pictures look nice.

Looks good, but was dry and stringy.

Post mortem: Dad attempted to make a top round roast the same way he makes a chuck pot roast, i.e. he browned it and pressure cooked it. The meat, while not tough, was stringy and dry. The cut has too little connective tissue and fat.

Concurrently he made au jus using Better Than Bouillon, water, seasoning, and unflavored packaged gelatin. Since he is fond of pork and beef gelatin for adding body to dishes that need it, and rendering it out of meat takes time and money, he wanted to experiment with unflavored gelatin. He wondered if it would perform as well.

The au jus is better than any he has ever had. Typically Italian beef juice is too salty and too thin. To compensate, some add a little fat to it, but Dad doesn't care for it. It just pools there on top in a greasy sheen. He likes the body that the fat delivers, just not the taste. So to get that mouth feel without the bad flavor (not to mention everything else) he tried substituting Knox unflavored gelatin instead.

It is wonderful.

Au jus that holds its shape when chilled.

And it is far easier to make. The picture above shows the au jus chilled. All of the seasoning has settled to the bottom (top in the orientation). From this, he can simply heat and serve it with the roast. Alternatively, he can whisk in flour for a more traditional gravy look and feel.

He used half the portion pictured as lunch. It was savory and satisfying, needing only fresh ground black pepper and a splash of Tabasco to liven it up (not that it needs livening up, Dad is just weird. He'd put Tabasco on ice cream to liven it up).

Not only does it taste fantastic, one cup has thirty calories, nine grams of protein, one carb, 680 mg sodium, and zero fat. Moreover, the gelatin cost $1.37 for four envelopes. Dad used one envelope and one tsp. of Better than Bouillon per cup of water.

Going forward he might halve the gelatin to water ratio and see if there is any loss in mouth feel. At 36 degrees, the gelatin was approaching Gummy Bear hardness.

For his next experiment, he is going to try making roast garlic ice cream for dessert. That is a month away yet so check back around Turkey Day to find out how it goes.

Update: "au" is french for "with,"  therefore "with au jus" is redundant. Sorry for the error. (Dad still refers to it as an ATM machine. Get it? Automated teller machine machine? He also has a penchant to say something is doubly redundant)

Buddy dons His Rugby Attire

Happy October 31st!

THERE are rumors swirling about some holiday occurring this time of year.

Hmm, Dad can't be sure what it is, but anyway here are some pictures of the Twins that have no particular theme tying them together.

Beware the cougar leopard young men.

Check out the tail...

...and the ears.

Man's best friend.

Is this why they're called dogs?

Hi Scotty!

Boo!

Daddy's Little Pumpkin

Buddy steals the spotlight with his smile

Hi "Booooddy"

Too cute (handsome).

Progress

THE New Family Twins are progressing along nicely. EJ regularly engages his sister in "conversation." He loves his ExerSaucer. After regressing last week to more frequent and shorter duration naps, this week he has decided that he really does prefer longer and fewer naps. By doing this he wakes more refreshed and cooing instead of screaming. Also, he is more pleasant for longer periods while awake. Dad is still working to perfect the timing, but he is sincerely persuaded that nailing that point when the boy first becomes drowsy is the fastest way to get him to sleep with a minimum of fuss.

EJ is regularly eating his oatmeal, but has decided that crying in protest makes for a accompaniment. Liesel doesn't care for the spoon and has difficulty in transporting the food from the front of her mouth to her throat. The Parents have bought rice and barley to see if she has a greater preference for either of those, though nutritionally they prefer the oats.

Liesel takes one really long nap and many shorter naps. She is yet convinced that life is more enjoyable when well rested. She too loves her ExcerSaucer and when both are in them, engaging her brother in "conversation." Yesterday set a record for dialogue length. It lasted several minutes. Unfortunately Dad was preoccupied and didn't get video. She also set a new low yesterday for worst blowout. She had to have an unscheduled bath, a treat for her, after that incident because the mess was so bad.

EJ sleeps on his back, and now does so on a flat surface. Liesel will not fall to sleep on her back. EJ, up until recently, slept in a bassinet that prevented him from rolling over. So either it is an innate preference, or it is a learned one. Dad believes it is the latter. Liesel, however, transitioned to her crib several weeks ago and quickly learned to flip over. In doing so she discovered that lying on her tummy is more pleasant for sleeping than lying (or is it laying?) on her back. Dad would like to try an experiment and switch their early sleeping equipment to see if she would now be a back sleeper, but time only moves in one direction with no do overs.

Both are healthy and happy.

Play time together

"The Conversation"

DAD figured enough out about the video editor to produce this. See the posts below for the background. He'll spend some time with tutorial when he has a chance.

This is all Dad ever asked from Windows Live Movie Maker. Too bad it couldn't deliver.

"The Conversation"

SO here is the product of Cyberlink's Power Director. Dad used the easy movie feature and accepted all of the defaults for scheme and music after trying to edit it manually.

The interface to edit movies is slick but a little intimidating. And the program hung in an infinite loop when Dad went to produce it. So the video here doesn't have EJ's end of the conversation, but is cool none-the-less.

Neat huh? It shows off the software more so than the parlay between the kids. Dad'll continue to work with it and if he likes it he'll probably end up buying it.

Now would be a good time to check the sofa seat cushions for coins. It's not cheap.