Dirty Bananas

Caleb has recently gotten in the habit of eating bananas the same way he eats corn on the cob- he holds the banana horizontally and nibbles only the periphery of the fruit. Why, you ask? He has decided that the core of the banana- the part with the seeds that sometimes turns brown when ripe- is dirty. Yes, his exact words were "It's dirty!" Because it's brown, we assume. When I give the boys a banana to eat, I usually break it and give them each a half. Upon receipt, Caleb will now promptly inspect the broken end to see if it is brown. If it is, he will sometime refuse it altogether. I have become quite skilled at breaking bananas in such a way that a minimal amount of brown is exposed. Caleb certainly is the most particular child I have ever met!

Younger than they look

Today as we were walking into Trader Joe's a man came up to us and said "Let me guess- identical twins?" I didn't feel like launching into my typical explanation that we haven't had them tested, so we don't know for sure, so I just said "yep!" He said "I have identical twin girls. They're 23 now. I'll tell you, if you can survive raising twins, you can run General Motors" :) It's always nice to meet parents of adult twins who have indeed survived the sometimes arduous journey and can truly sympathize with our current plight. Anyway, this father of twins then went on to ask, "So how old are they? 4 or 5?" I thought to myself, are you serious? People usually guess that our boys are a little older than they are, probably based on assumptions that all twins start off as preemies and are therefore runts throughout early childhood. But 5 years old? This nice man was quite shocked to learn that the boys are actual half the age he guessed!

Logo Love

As a graphic artist, I have always admired a well-designed logo. But the marketing value of a truly unique and memorable logo did not fully sink in until just last week when Caleb saw a shopping bag lying around the house, pointed at it, and proudly proclaimed "Lord and Taylor". That's right. The first store logo that Caleb learned was not Safeway, McDonald's, or Toys 'R Us. Instead, he has revealed a fascination with an upscale department store. Needless to say, I am so proud that my boy has such good taste!

In the weeks leading up to this revelation, Caleb would always notice the "Lord & Taylor" sign at the mall, point to it, and ask Joe to tell him what it said. And the boys do enjoy their visits to Lord & Taylor. Not only do they find Lord & Taylor to be a suitable napping environment while I relish the occasional opportunity to leisurely browse the clearance racks, they also find great satisfaction in riding the escalators, looking at the fancy "clocks" (watches), and trying on $90 sunglasses, while passing through on our weekly lunch dates with Joe at Chick-fil-a.

And speaking of Chick-fil-a, tonight as Caleb watched me use the laptop he saw the Chick-fil-a logo on the screen. He pointed to it and said "Nugget! Chicken nugget! Fry!" Fashion and food... what can I say, he certainly is our boy!

Cereal Surprise

I was giving the boys their pre-bedtime Cheerios snack the other night and I had accidentally left the cereal box on the table they were eating at.  Joshua, after quickly polishing off his pile of O's, began to grab and tilt the box in an effort to get more cereal out (which is why you don't leave the box at the table to begin with).  I scurried towards the table to snag it from him when, much to my surprise, he pulled a toy car out of the box. "Car! Car!" was his half exclamation, half request for me to remove the red car from its wrapping. 

We managed to get into bed and turn the lights out before Caleb made his attempt to take the car away from Joshua.  He grabbed it, and defended it mightily in the ensuing brawl.  Joshua, realizing he would be unable to get the car back under his own power began crying for assistance. 

Sometimes I have the energy to be a good father, but at that time of night, I decided to take the lazy approach and open up a second box of Cheerios and get another car for Joshua.  He loved his new white car more than the first, and peace was restored to the Wolf household.

You know, I wish I had known sooner that the boys would enjoy free car toys from cereal boxes before sinking a hefty dime into Thomas trains.

2½

Happy ½ Birthday, boys! At 30 months, they are very well-coordinated and fearless, as proven by the follwing fascinating feats they have achieved. They can now kick a soccer ball while running, slide down tall slides all by themselves, climb to the uppermost parts of the elementary school playgrounds, and swing in the big kids' swings.

Joshua is overall more of a chatterbox, but Caleb has some lines of his own that are uniquely Caleb, such as, "Oh my gosh! A bug!" Hmmm... I wonder where he learned that? ;) The boys have also learned to embellish their interactions with actual English dialogue, so instead of simply hitting and pushing each other, they will hit and push while exclaiming, "No! Don't do that!" They also like to tell us if someone is funny or if someone is sad. For example, while playing with their trains Joshua might say "Oliver funny!" and if Joshua is crying, Caleb will say "Brother sad. Brother, don't cry." If they want something, they will say "Open! Open!" which seems to have replaced its longstanding predecessor, "Ajibah!"

The boys are empathetic and polite, for the most part. If one of us is coughing, Joshua will pat us on the back and ask, "Are you ok? Are you ok?" Both boys will say, "God bless you!" if you sneeze, and "Excuse me, sorry!" if they want you to move out of their way so they can squeeze by. Joshua loves to give kisses, and will announce his intention to kiss someone or something, saying, "I'm gonna kiss it, I'm gonna kiss it... mwah!" Caleb will sob softly, fight back tears, and reach out for an embrace if he realizes that he has hurt our feelings. I'm probably beginning to sound like a broken record on this blog, but they really are such sweet boys and we are so thankful that God gave them to us 2 and a half years ago.

(marriage+boys) > (marriage-boys)

Joe observed last night that at this point in our marriage, the amount of time that has passed since the boys were born (2 years and almost 6 months) is greater than the amount time we we were married beforing having kids (2 years and 4.5 months). What on earth did we do before we had kids? We aren't quite sure...

"Hi, Man! How's it goin'?" and more

"Ok, let's pray!" - Joshua as we sat down at the dinner table with Mimi, Papa, Uncle Chris, and Cousin Tae earlier this evening.

"Go! Go! What's your problem? Go!" - Caleb and Joshua when I suddenly slammed on the brakes while driving yesterday. They were talking to the car in front of me that came to an abrupt halt for unknown reasons.

"Hi, Man! How's it goin'?" - Joshua to our neighbor Kevin. We are still working on teaching the boys to use proper titles when addressing adults.

"Hey! Come back! Get over here!" - Joshua and Caleb to our neighbors' cats. I think they are pretending to be me and the cats are their children.

Tandem vs. Side-by-side: Defying the odds

Back in the day when we were in the market for a double stroller, I read many reviews that warned against tandem strollers b/c the children would fight over who gets to sit in the front seat since it offers the best view, the jealous child in the back seat would pull the front seat child's hair, etc, etc. Well, for lack of side-by-side double strollers in our price range that also accomodated two infant car seats, we settled for a tandem stroller- the lovely Graco Duoglider.

Fast forward 2 and a half years, and we have yet to witness a fight over who gets to sit in the front seat. Joshua and Caleb rarely quarrel over stroller seating arrangements, but if they do, the most hotly contested seat is the back seat. And the twin sitting in the back seat has yet to pull the hair of his brother sitting in the front seat. I have, however, on several occasions seen the boy in the back seat lovingly stroke the hair of his brother sitting up front!