19 Months Old

Although the boys won't be 19 months old until Sunday, I'm posting early since this is going to be a busy weekend for us.

The boys' current favorite words are "apple" and "lion". Joshua will point to any round fruit and say "apple! apple!" If we give him an apple to hold, he will carry it around with him for an hour. He also likes to eat them. Caleb, however, likes to chew apples and then spit them out :( The boys also love to hug their stuffed lion toys and identify the lions they find in their books. Other new additions to their vocabulary include "boo-boo" (since their knees have been continuously skinned for the past few weeks) and "owl". The other day out of the blue, Caleb turned to a page in a book with an owl illustration and pointed to the printed word "owl" and said "owl". We don't even remember teaching that to him. It's amazing what they pick up in passing and remember.



This past week we spent a couple afternoons at the pool. They loved it! I turned them loose in the baby pool and they adapted to their new environment remarkably well. On our first day there, the other moms marvelled as Caleb and Joshua independently forged into neck-high waters while their own 2 and 3-year-olds sat timidly on the edge or clung reluctantly to the wall. Caleb was especially steady in the water and didn't even lose his balance once. Joshua toppled over face-first into the water several times. A couple times I helped him back up, but a couple times he was able to resurface on his own. Both boys revelled in being splashed in the face and having water dumped on their heads. Having been an avid swimmer in the days of yore, it warmed my heart to see my boys take to the pool so well!

The boys have also been creating some artistic masterpieces lately. They were given some nice beeswax block crayons and have been using them to create Jackson Pollock-esque masterpieces. Caleb seems to be especially interested in drawing, which is interesting since he's also been fond of observing art hanging on the walls.

The boys seem to be very strong-willed (to put it nicely) compared to some other kids their age. They do not like to take "no" for an answer and Caleb seems especially prone to throw tantrums if he doesn't get his way. On a recent play date I marvelled as my friend explained to me that her son doesn't touch their trash can because she told him not to. I tell our boys not to touch (or remove trash from or put their toys in) the trash can about 50 times a day. While figuring out how to effectively discipline strong-willed twin toddlers has been frustrating for us as parents, we're realizing that a positive side-effect of their strong-will and determination is that they are relatively fearless and confident. They are not afraid of the dark, going down slides head-first, climbing on playground equipment designed for older kids, big dogs who lick their faces, or being splashed in the pool by rough-housing 5-year-olds. When they fall and skin their knees to the point of profuse bleeding, it hardly phases them. They are, however, still rather skeptical of people they aren't extremely familiar with. But that's probably a good thing.