My Elder Children

People ask me regularly which of the boys was born first. 

I hate that question. I don't plan on telling my kids who is "older."

It has not occurred to them yet that one of them might be older than his brother, and I certainly don't want it to! 

Whenever people ask, I just say "They're the same age! They're twins!"

"No, no. Who was born first?" people always clarify, as if there was a possibility I didn't understand their question. Sometimes, to pacify people, I wink and point at whichever of my children is closest. But for real. They are one minute apart in age. No one here is older.

Although, I do actually refer to Grey sometimes as my "elder child" and Micah as my "middle child," but only when they're acting the part!

When I took August's 14 month update photos this week, it occurred to me that I haven't gotten good portraits of the elder children in a while!

Using cookies as bribery, I got them to take some pictures for me. 

(P.S. If you have never used a cookie to bribe a child,  you might not realize how susceptible they are to it. They are terrifyingly susceptible to it. Sometimes we have conversations like this:

"What if someone tells you they have a treat for you, and you have to come in their house."

"I will say, I have to ask my mom!"

"That's right! But what if they say, Just come in really quick, and then run home."

"Then that's okay and I will just go inside really quick!"

NO. You are confused. There are many scenarios in which pretend bad guys could successfully lure my children away using desserts.)

Anyway. I used desserts to take advantage and manipulate my children into taking photos.

 Grey first. Because he's older. ;)
(I feel really dumb when I use emoticons on the blog. Should I write "winky face" or say nothing? How do you know that I'm cracking jokes? Le sigh. Who knows?)





I love this picture of Grey smiling. He is so blasted cute. He's going to grow up and be so handsome. He's very pensive and considerate. He's a story teller and thinker. I just really, really like him.

 In the above picture, it's Grey on the left, Micah the right. This pose cracked me up! Grey thought I might like it.

 I said to Micah, "Do a picture where you look at me and don't smile," to qhich he promptly responded, "I want to smile all the time, I love to smile."
Micah is so funny and personable, he is cheerful and passionate and a serious lover. Speaking with a friend the other day, she said. "Your boys are so easy to tell apart- but I can't tell if it's because they actually look different from each other, or if they just make different facial expressions and have different personalities."
And basically, I wonder that every day.
These little people of mine. They're good ones.
And even better in the summer, when their hair is white and their eyes are sparkly. Dang, they're cute!