FREDERICKTOWN — The four have enough energy to power a small town. When they’re awake, the conversation is constant. Their words spill all over each other but, somehow, each understands everything the others say.
They’re the Moody quadruplets, and they were 5 years old in June. Their father, Bart, 34, works for Kokosing Construction Co. and Bethany, their mother, also 34, is a stay-at-home mom. Bethany’s job is a lot more taxing than Bart’s.
“We had four years of infertility,” said Bethany. “Fertility treatments for 2 1/4 years. Two miscarriages. When we found out we were pregnant with them, there were actually five. We lost one. One miscarried. I had 30-some ultrasounds.”
The couple wanted to know the sex of the babies in advance.
“We decided we’d had enough surprises,” said Bethany, “so we wanted to know everything.”
The boys are Caiden, Evan and Jeffrey, and they have brown eyes. Kailyn, their sister, has bright blue eyes. This confuses the children.
“Their dad and I are the opposite of them,” said Bethany. “I have brown eyes and Bart has blue eyes. So they say to me, ‘But we thought boys are supposed to have brown eyes and girls have blue eyes.’”
Kailyn — who says “I love being the girl” — wants to be a mommy and a ballerina when she grows up. Evan wants to be a farmer.
“On Bob Evan’s farm,” he said, “because I like my name.”
When Caiden grows up, he wants to be a daddy, and then either a clown or a fireman. And Jeffrey said he wants to be a daddy.
What do they like about being quads?
“I like them because they’re nice,” said Evan, referring to his siblings.
“I like that we have people to play with on the swing set,” said Caiden.
Bethany agrees the closeness of her children is special. One of the best parts of having quadruplets is, she said, the constant companionship.
“I never had to deal with ‘first child syndrome,’ where the oldest is used to all the attention and then has to adjust,” she said. “They have always been so used to each other. They love being together. They fight like brothers and sisters, but they play wonderfully together.”
And what’s the most difficult thing about having quadruplets?
“Whatever phase of their development they’re in, you are fully immersed in it. If we’re potty training, we’re living in the bathroom,” said Bethany. “If they’re learning to tie their shoes, all four of them are doing it. It’s overwhelming.
“But, ultimately, the most difficult thing is ... when you have one at a time, you have time to get to know that child, to learn its personality. I had to try to learn four children at one time, what works for this one and what works for that one. It’s very difficult.”
Bethany notes that Kailyn’s personality is very different from her brothers’.
“She much quieter, more passive. She’s very girly. The boys are more aggressive and physical. She’ll spend hours in her bedroom playing with her ‘people.’ All her life, even before she could talk, she would hold a doll in each hand and have them talking to each other. But when she wants to join in with the boys, she keeps right up. She holds her own.”
Evan has taught himself to read, and is helping his siblings learn, too.
“When I asked who taught him to read, he said, ‘Nobody. I just decided to learn,” explained his mother, adding that he’s already reading Dr. Seuss and the Dick and Jane books.
The quads attended the YMCA pre-school during the last school year, but will go to school in Fredericktown this fall. Accompanied by their cat, Jack, and their dog, Chase Lick — “because he chases us and he licks us,” they told their mother when they named the dog — they like playing clowns on the trampoline, and playing freeze tag and hide-and-seek. But when they go to town, they enjoy the attention they attract.
“They got so used to being the center of attention everywhere we went,” said Bethany. “One day we walked into Wal-Mart ... they were in their stroller ... and they start waving and saying, ‘We’re here! We’re here!’ Waving like it was a parade or something.
“They operate as a unit. They use the word ‘our’ very naturally [instead of ‘I’] and they’ll say, ‘We’re quads.’ They call themselves the Moody Quads.”
And, sure enough, posing for the camera, as soon as their mother began, “Now say ...,” the four children, as one unit, perked up, smiled, posed as naturally as movie stars and shouted in unison, “Cheezy weezy!”
