After 10 years, new adventures for septuplets

Like his brother Kenny, Brandon James is preoccupied with battlefields — both military and athletic.

Brandon: Mostly, the part I like about it is tackling. I play a lot, safety, right tackle, left tackle, right guard, left guard. Sometimes quarterback.
Ann Curry: What's your favorite position to play?
Brandon: Linebacker.
Ann Curry: I think you need to eat a little more before you get to be a linebacker… Are they big?
Brandon: Not really. The biggest person on our team -- he doesn't make that much tackles.
Ann Curry: You think you could make more?
Brandon: Yeah.

The strong, silent type, fear has rarely been a factor for Brandon.

(From year four)
Bobbi: Brandon!
Brandon: What?
Bobbi: Do not go over the gate.

He started climbing things as high as seven-foot fences when he was three.

(from year five)
Bobbi: Brandon James, get down...

By four, he was bending branches into bows and arrows.

Brandon: Shoot it daddy!

Video   Septuplet interviews Ann Curry Brandon McCaughey asks Ann Curry about her life in New York City. Dateline NBC

At five, he aspired to be a soldier -- and used anything to shoot.

Ann Curry: What is it about the military that you like?
Brandon: Well I like planes and missiles and stuff...
Ann Curry: Anything else you're thinking about?
Brandon: Fighting and stuff.
Ann Curry: You know what -- Kenny was in here and he was saying, he was kind of wishing that there wouldn't be any wars. Do you think about that at all?
Brandon: Not really.
Ann Curry: Nope.

If Brandon sees the world simply, Joel Steven views it with a critical eye. Since our overnight visit to the science center of Iowa, when he was seven...

Joel: I want to go to the moon and see what it's like on there.

...he has sharpened his focus on outer space.

Joel: Well, some people say there's life up there, but there really isn't. 
Ann Curry: What do you want to be now?
Joel: A scientist.
Ann Curry: A scientist. What would you want to study? Stars? Or planets? Or what?
Joel: The moon has been, like, studied.  I want to study Mars.
Ann Curry: What would be the questions you'd want to answer about mars?
Joel: How come it mostly has, like sandstorms?

Joel's efforts to look at things from another vantage point, nearly ended in disaster in August.

Bobbi: The one athletic thing that he really, really loves, is to climb trees.  And more than once we have seen him clear at the very top of a tree and have had to say, "Joel, let's move it a little lower.” And one particular day, he happened to grab hold of a branch that was already broken off.
Joel: It was so thick in the leaves I can barely even see it, so I grabbed onto it.
Ann Curry: And what happened?
Joel: Just broke off.
Brandon: When he fell, it looked like a really far ways down.
Ann Curry to Joel: You slipped down?
Joel: Flat on the ground -- flat on my back.
Ann Curry:  Ouch. Hurt?
Joel: Yes. I was so stiff I could barely even move a muscle.

He compressed and cracked five vertebrae in an 18-foot fall. But Bobbi calls the accident a blessing in disguise because of something the doctors discovered.

Joel has misshapen vertebrae which may cause his back to hunch as he grows.  Early detection means he will get preventative care if necessary.

Video   Joel asks about the news Joel interviews Ann Curry about how she is able to report the news for the TODAY SHOW each day. He's also curious about why people hold up signs outside the studio. Dateline NBC

To recover from the accident, he had to wear a body cast for almost two months and take it easy. At recess, he often sat with Nathan or did homework. It was a sobering experience for a boy who prefers more rugged play.

Ann Curry: Is there a lesson there?
Joel: Yes.
Ann Curry: What's the lesson?
Joel:  Don't climb trees.

As for life on earth as one of seven, he loves this scene from our report when the kids turned two...

(from year two)
Joel: We just start crawling up the stairs in slow motion.

But he isn't too fond of how the septuplets were confined at bedtime when they were three.

(from year three)
Kelsey: Hey let me out! I want to get out!

Joel: And she goes like “got to get out, got to get out, I want to get out!” She's a little squeal.  I hated those cribs.
Ann Curry: Why did you hate those cribs?
Joel: You can't get out to go to the bathroom.
Ann Curry:  Oh.

If Joel has his way, there will be only a couple of cribs in his future.

Ann Curry: How many kids do you want in your family?
Joel: One boy and one girl. Want to name the boy Troy -- and I’ll name the other, the girl, Gabriella.
Ann Curry: Where'd you get those names?
Joel: “High School Musical.”

MORE FROM DATELINE

Dateline Section Front

The Friday the 13th Mystery Mystery at Lost Dog Road Slideshow: Photos in the Bob Duke case When The Smoke Clears   Sneak peek: When The Smoke Clears Slideshow: The Christie Fleming murder Transcript: Dan Brown and Secrets Of The Lost Symbol Through The Pouring Rain In Plain Sight: Jaycee Dugard Timeline: Jaycee Dugard's kidnapping Dateline Section Front   Add Dateline headlines to your news reader: