Electioneering

I think I could teach Clegg, Cameron and Brown a thing or two about canvassing for votes after the huge success of my trawl for new followers. I am thrilled to announce that I am not only back up to 50, but have gained an extra one for luck. Clearly the cornerstone of my strategy was pathetic begging, but then again some of our would be leaders seem to have that technique down pat already, and it remains to be seen how effective it will turn out to be tomorrow. Either way I would like to welcome my two new followers to the exclusive FDMTG fold and thank them for joining up.

It occurred to me the other day that while I started my blog to record the life and times of my four boys after the birth of the twins, there has been much silence of late regarding the development of the youngest of my brood. I think it's because after those dark days of sleepless nights and six feeds a day, each, things have calmed down immeasurably. The twins have slotted into the family and it's as if they have always been with us.

That said I am still waiting for the moment when our family coalesces into a single unit, because it still seems as if we have two separate sets of children. The older boys form a rowdy, destructive and in equal parts discordant and amiable unit, while the twins are a cuddly, pre-toddler shaped gang of two. Their big brothers take a benign interest in the little ones, but I await the day when all four play together with anticipation and trepidation.

For now though the twins are going through an adorable stage. There are still no signs of walking, but twin one is cruising around quite happily, one minute reaching for the TV remote control or an iPhone, the next disappearing off upstairs through a carelessly open stair gate. He has grown the sweetest curl of dark brown hair which pokes out behind one ear, and has developed an undying adoration for daddy after they bonded over a shared love for gadgetry.

On the down side he has copied his brother's less than appealing habit of requesting something by pointing at it and screaming. I guess he thought 'Well if it worked for him.....".

Twin two still sports his crazy halo of fluffy blonde hair as I am incapable of getting it cut. I keep steeling myself to take him to the hairdresser as I am no fan of long haired boys (sorry to all those who are, but each to their own), but I just can't do it. I think in some way it will make him less of a baby to me, and I am in no hurry to see my youngest two grow up into little boys.

Although he is firmly sticking to crawling and none of this standing up nonsense his brother indulges in, he is ahead of him in terms of communication. While he still resorts to screaming requests if they are not answered within a nanosecond of him making them, he now starts any conversation with a pointing finger and a gurgly "Gah". I am not sure what this catch all phrase is meant to imply, but it is unbearably cute.

I carried him home from the school run the other day, and he kept swivelling around in my arms, pointing at everything, slapping on a toothy grin and exclaiming "Gah. Gah, gah, gah". What a conversationalist, I can see we are going to be up into the small hours as we unravel knotty philosophical conundrums together.

Tomorrow I think I will take them along for their first taste of democracy and wheel them to the polling booth. I am assuming that it will be pushchair friendly, at least until the cuts under the new government come in and all ramps are taken away and sold off to help pay off the national debt. I am not sure what they will make of it, but I am sure that the Gah party would get their vote should they be allowed to gum the ballot paper.