17 months old

The boys are almost a year and a half old! Their new favorite thing to do is flitter-flutter their hands in the air like twinkling stars to prompt us to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for them. Halmoni taught them this. They are a most appreciative audience, always responding to our singing with wide smiles and generous applause.

They have learned the following new phrases:

• Oh man! Oh yeah! Oh wow! Do it!

They can almost say:

• Juice. Yes. Shell.

Whenever they sit on a little chair, they say "Shh-shhh" which is the sound I taught them to make when they sit on their little potty. Unfortunately, they seem to think that they can "shh-shhh" anywhere as long as they're sitting on a chair. Needless to say, we have put potty-learning on hold for the time being.

Caleb and Joshua LOVE to play outside. This recent cold spell has not sat well with them. They would bring me their shoes and their coats and say "Bye-bye? Bye-bye?", begging me to take them outside to play on the rain and snow-soaked earth. We are anxiously waiting for global warming to hurry up and do its thing so we can return to our daily outdoor romps.