During a reporters recent visit to Blythedale, Clarence walked proudly, holding onto a therapist with one hand and pushing his stroller with the other. He was so energetic that at one point he stepped out of his pants and staffers had to find him a belt.
Meanwhile, Carl stood, a bit unsteadily, to play a bead game on a table.
Later, the boys laughed as they tumbled down a padded slide together. Though their skulls have not yet been reconstructed doctors dont want to interrupt their therapy and specially designed plastic helmets havent fit well, the doctors say the boys heads are protected well enough by their bandages even for horseplay.
Arlene Aguirre tried to hide while she watched her sons therapy session, because when they see her the boys want to do nothing but cuddle.
Both of them want my attention all the time, she said. But its very exciting that I have to deal with two children. Before the separation, I was thinking: Will I ever see them again?
She said she is encouraged when she hears Clarence say yogurt and call his brother by name. Carl says walk and mama and both boys use sign language to convey such phrases as please more eat.
Aguirre said she expects to move from Blythedale soon and set up a household with the boys, and hopes to eventually return to the Philippines.
My friends and family, I want to share the boys with them, she said. It will be so exciting to go back there, holding one boy with each hand.
The success of the operation has brought honors for Goodrich and Staffenberg, although Goodrich says the best prize hes received is a Montefiore parking space. They are constantly invited to speak or write about the procedure, which has been published in journals for neurosurgery, plastic surgery and anesthesia.
The surgeons recommend their staged approach not just for conjoined twins but for other severe craniofacial cases. In the only separation of similar craniopagus twins in the U.S. since the Aguirre boys, surgeons at Johns Hopkins used the marathon approach on 1-year-old German girls and only one survived.
Goodrich said an upcoming procedure overseas he wouldnt say where will be performed their way.
He said he initially tried to keep an emotional distance from the boys, but confessed you cant go through something like we did and not get attached. You cant be around them and not love them.
Staffenberg said he recently came up behind Clarence, who was walking down a hallway while holding a therapists hand.
Clarence turned around and looked at me and put his other hand out for me, Staffenberg said. I dont think at any point during all the surgery I would have imagined that kind of situation. When you get the moment when they reach out for your hand, its unbelievable.