M! Please M!

These days we cannot make a quick milk 'n bananas Safeway run without Joshua begging me to lift him up and turn him upside down. "For what reason?", you ask. You see, the mere sight of the "w" in the name "Safeway" riles Joshua up and prompts him to passionately plead "M! Please M!" which transaltes, "please lift me up and turn me upside down so I can see the 'W' as an 'M'!". We encounter the same scenario if he sees the letter 'M': "W! Please W!" he will beg. Even if the word/sentence/phrase contains both an M and a W, he will insist on being dangled upside down so that he can see each letter upside down as its respective mirrored character. Do any other 2-year-olds do this? I can't imagine that it's a chore faced by most other mothers of young toddlers...

Say my name

After exclusively referring to each other as "brother" for the longest time, Caleb and Joshua are finally saying each other's names. While we respect the Berenstain Bears' decision to name their son "Brother", we had always thought it would be nice for our own children to have slightly more original names. So we were quite delighted when, in the past week or so, the boys have started using the names we picked out for them. The majority of the time they still refer to each other as "brother", but if we really push the issue and specifically ask "what is your brother's name?" they will say "Caleb!" or "Joshua!". We now sometimes hear Joshua saying "Oh Caleb, wake up!" or "Oh Caleb, where are you?" and vice versa.

They ate raw spinach: take 2

Something fishy has been going on with our blog. My raw spinach post disappeared, along with the comments on "The End of Two Eras". Oh well, for the record, the boys now eat raw spinach, which they fondly refer to as "leaf", and I am very happy about it!

The End of Two Eras

After 2 years and 4 months, Caleb and Joshua are now officially weaned. The last time they nursed was exactly one week ago. Many of you are probably surprised to learn that I was still nursing them up until one week ago. I haven't openly shared this with a lot of people, since in the United States it's culturally unacceptable to nurse past 12 months, and I am not the kind of person who likes to stir things up. I've had a pediatrician roll her eyes and practically scowl at me when I made it clear that I didn't intend to wean the boys at 12 months, and I know that most other people think I'm pretty crazy for nursing them for so long. What you may not know is that compulsory weaning by age 1 is a cultural phenomenon specific to the U.S. The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding until at least age two. And my mom has told me that when she was growing up in Korea, it was perfectly normal to see young children running around and playing, occasionally taking a break to have a drink of their mama's milk.

So, why did I do it? Well, first of all Caleb and Joshua showed no interest in weaning when they turned one, so I saw no point in denying them something that was so healthy for them. Also, they have been extremely picky eaters and up until recently have shown very little interest in fruits and vegetables. By nursing them, I could make sure that they were getting a diet of healthy food, albeit indirectly. Furthermore, a child who is breastfed beyond 12 months is:

• Less likely to develop food allergies.


• Less likely to get ear infections and other illnesses.


• More likely to maintain their emotional attachment to a person rather than being forced to switch to an inanimate object such as a teddy bear, blanket, or pacificer, setting the stage for a life of people-orientation, rather than materialism.


• More likely to have a higher IQ. Since a child’s brain is dramatically growing during the first few years not just months of life, some believe that this could account for the differences in IQ between breastfed and bottle-fed children. Numerous studies show that breastfeeding boosts IQ in children regardless of the income or educational status of their mothers.

Most research doesn’t currently look at children breastfed more than 24 months, because sadly most American women don’t nurse for more than just a few weeks, and most surveys indicate that only around 20 percent are still breastfeeding at 6 months. Here is an article that explains the benefits of extended breastfeeding in greater detail, in case you're interested.

The other "era" that has come to end in our home is cable TV. It was also cut off last Thursday. Without cable, we can't even get the networks or PBS. We hardly ever watched TV, anyway, and figured this would be a good way to save $42/month. We decided to seal the deal when we realized that's approximately 3 Chipotles or 2 Old Country Buffets each month :) The boys have a few Thomas the Tank Engine and Old School Sesame Street DVD's (well, the Sesame Street DVD's are technically Joe's) that they enjoy watching, but now that they are at the age where they can figure out how to work the remote, we didn't want them to get addicted to any shows, be bombarded with commercials, or catch a glimpse of any questionable content.

So there you have it- the end of two eras. Now do you think we're freaks or what? ;)

Uh oh! Water spilled. Why, WHY?

The boys are now 2 years and 4 months old, and are talking up a storm! I know I say that a lot, but recently their vocabulary seems to have increased exponentially, and they are definitely speaking in sentences now. Some recent quotes:

• "Uh oh! Water spilled. Why, WHY?" - Joshua, after spilling a cup of water on our bed. I wonder where he picked up the angry "why?" at the end? :)


• "Uh oh! Shoe come off." - Joshua, after taking off his shoe when he knew he wasn't supposed to.


• "Excuse me!" - Both boys have learned to say this when someone else is in their way and they wish to pass by. What polite young men!


• "Lamb sleepy. Sweet." - Joshua, when he is pretending to rock a stuffed toy lamb to sleep. He will cradle the lamb in his arms, sway his hips, and gently pat the lamb with his hand. It is the most precious sight ever.


• "Go outside? Bike, bike? Stroller? Alright, let's go!" - Caleb, when he wants to go outside and ride bikes and/or go for a ride in the stroller.


• "Hello, this is Katie. Alright, bye!" - Joshua, pretending to talk on the phone.

Also, Joshua practically has Dr. Seuss' book Hop on Pop memorized. Seriously, it's pretty impressive. He and Caleb both have certain lines from The Cat in the Hat memorized, too. They can also almost count to 20. Sometimes they will skip from fifteen to seventeen, etc., but they get the main idea.

Particular Caleb

It's becoming increasingly evident that Caleb is the more detail-oriented and particular twin. When handing out sippy cups, spoons, etc., we have learned to always ask Caleb first which one he wants; Joshua, on the other hand, couldn't care less, and will take whatever we give him. Same goes for when we're picking out their outfits in the morning. Caleb always prefers to wear blue pants, preferably jeans, and a top that has a picture on it. This morning I asked him which snowman sweater he wanted to wear (we have 2 sets) and he deliberated carefully before deciding. And of course if on a rare occasion they must wear non-matching outfits, I would be irresponsible not to ask Caleb first which he would like to wear. Thank God Joshua is so flexible... I don't know what I would do with two picky twins!

Last weekend we went to visit Granny and Babo, and when we crawled into bed the first night Caleb became very cross. We asked him what was wrong, and he pointed to a pillow in a plaid pillowcase at the head of the bed and angrily muttered at it. "Oh, you want us to move it?" we asked. He said yes. So I moved it to Joshua's side of the bed. Caleb continued to vehemently express his discontent. So I removed the pillow from the bed altogether. Yes, that was a suitable solution, Caleb was now willing to rest his head (on a non-plaid pillow, of course) and go to sleep. Apparently Caleb is not a big fan of his Daddy's favorite print! I suspect that Caleb inherited his Mommy's rather particular fashion sense ;)