Please May I...

We've been trying to get the boys to go from speaking sentence fragments to full sentences. They do a decent job, I feel, with commonly heard gems such as "Oh, look at the helicopter." and "That's not bread, that's poop."¹, but the most elusive sentence seems to be "Please may I have ____." Here's how the situation typically unfolds.

» "Want cracker?"

« We ignore them in hopes that they'll figure out that they need to say "Please may I have a cracker."

» "Want cracker? Want cracker? ... Want cracker?! ... Want cracker?!!! Want cracker?!!?!"

« We give them a stern parental look.

» "Please cracker. Please want cracker."

« At this point we verbally encourage them to speak the full sentence: "No, that's not how do you say it."

» "Say please want cracker. Say please. Say pleeeeeease want cracker."

« Defeated thus far, we spell out exactly what we want them to say: "No, you say: Please, may I have a cracker?"

» "Say please may have a cracker?"

« "No...please may I have a cracker."

» "Say please have a cracker? Say please have a cracker."

« "Don't say 'say', just: Please, may I have a cracker?"

» "Say please cracker. Please cracker."

« After a few more minutes of similar conversation, we give up and go get them a cracker.

The funny thing, though, is that the boys can say this sentence flawlessly whenever they're talking to each other. The other night before bed, Caleb was drinking some water. Joshua goes up to him and asks "Caleb, please may I have the water?"

¹ The phrase "That's not bread, that's poop." is spoken by the twins to each other when we're changing their diapers. They've also created variations such as "That's not meat, that's poop." and "That's not cheese, that's poop." My favorite variation, however, is when Joshua uttered "That's not Joshua, that's poop." We laughed a while over that one.

Our Little Giant goes to Giant

Moses is 6 weeks old today. Lately he has been operating on a 48-hour schedule in which he alternates between sleepy nap-filled days and days where he hardly blinks an eye. Before we figured this out, we took him to our favorite Korean buffet one day for lunch last week--a day that turned out to be a very wakeful day--and he demanded to be bounced or held the entire time. We can't complain, though, because that was the first time we've taken him to a restaurant and he didn't sleep through most of our meal.

At 6 weeks of age, Moses is a veritable giant. He has completely outgrown all of his 0-3 month clothes, and even some of his 3-6 month clothes are almost too tight in the torso, even when he's not wearing a bulky cloth diaper. When we take him out and people ask us how old he is, they're usually shocked when we tell them that he's only a little over a month old. Heck, when we took him to the Korean resturant to celebrate Sooja Emo's birthday when he was only one week old, the waitress asked us if he was 3 or 4 months old!

To commemorate Moses' 6-week-birthday today, I decided to venture out to the grocery store all by myself with all three boys in tow. This was my first attempt to do so, and everything went smoothly, thanks to Giant's huge fleet of car carts (to keep Caleb and Joshua happy, even though I refused to race them down the aisles and around the parking lot as Daddy is apt to do) and thanks to Moses' willingness to sleep in the Hotsling the entire time we were in the store (yes, today is one of his sleepy days). I even had my wits about me enough to use a couple coupons. The icing on the cake was that the twins, who have not been napping consistently lately, fell asleep on the way home. It was a great outing!

Today's pleasant experience brought to mind my first solo outing to the grocery store with Caleb and Joshua, 3 long years ago. Incidentally, that outing had also been to Giant, which is strange because we usually go to Safeway or Trader Joe's. Anyway, I remember the twins cried incessantly as I raced up and down the aisles like a madwoman (forsaking the luxuries of deliberating between products and making prudent selections) and relied on the kindness of the cashiers and an elderly Spanish-speaking lady to get through the check-out line and out to my car in one piece. Ah yes, yet another example of the stark dichotomy between life with an infant singleton and life with infant twins!

Earring Adjuster

With the exception of a few special occasions, I have been wearing the same pair of earrings almost non-stop ever since the twins were born. As you might imagine, accessorizing has not been a huge priority of mine these past few years! Caleb, our more detail-oriented son, has grown quite accustomed to my trusty old standard pair of earrings and will often check them to make sure they are straight--with the diamond positioned below the gold stud--and he will adjust them if they are not. This morning he came scurrying into our bedroom and upon taking one look at my face, asked, "Want to fix Mommy's earring?" I told him to go right ahead. He carefully rotated the askew earring back to its proper position, then checked my other ear and adjusted that earring, too. He performs this task quite often, and is always very pleased with himself for helping Mommy in such a big way. I know that I'll be able to count on Caleb to take good care of me and make sure I'm properly adorned when I'm too old to care about attending to those details on my own!

Happy 1st Month, Moses

While everyone else was celebrating St. Patrick's Day on Tuesday, we were celebrating Moses' first month of life! Moses is growing like a weed. I don't know how much he weighs now, but he is already outgrowing his 0-3 Month clothes and his 3-6 Month outfits seem to offer a much more comfortable fit. He's not a particularly fat baby (his legs are actually really skinny), so it would make sense that most of his weight can be attributed to his length, and that would explain why he's outgrowing his 0-3 Month clothes two months early!

Moses continues to win us over with his congenial personality and easygoing ways. I felt so spoiled the other morning when I woke up and complained that he had woken up every two hours to eat and poop the night before, and then realized that that had been my life for the twins' first 6 months, although back then I had twice as many babies to feed and change every two hours! I am blessed that on most nights, Moses sleeps 5 or 6 hours at a time.

Sadly, Moses has developed a case of baby acne, so I've been trying to be diligent about keeping his head clean. He enjoys his daily face-washing and shampoo at the kitchen sink, and also enjoys being taken into the shower every few days. He doesn't mind getting water in his face or eyes- what a good sport!

While Moses' experience in the NICU conditioned him to fall asleep on his own and not be held while awake, the more time he spends at home with his doting family, the more he expects to be held, rocked, and bounced to sleep. But really, who can blame him? Another sure-fire way to get him to fall asleep is to walk around while wearing him in the Hotsling or Babyhawk, which allows me to get things done around the house and appease him at the same time. He also takes a pacifier more willingly than the twins ever did (they used to spit them out with such rage that they'd fly clear across the room!)

Moses is already very good at holding up his head, and he coos when you talk to him. He loves looking at people's faces and his eyes will follow you as you move around. He seems to be mesmerized by shiny things (Mimi's sparkly eyeglasses, lights, etc.) and linear designs (the stripes on our bedroom drapes, vertical blinds, etc). He will sleep right through the loudest raucous emitted by his rowdy Daddy and brothers (I guess he got a lot of practice while in the womb), although when he's awake he often observes their antics with a look of concern and bewilderment. Don't worry, Moses, you'll get to join in on the fun soon enough!

Caleb and Joshua adore their baby brother. "Sweet Moses, I love you!" they will tell him. If Moses wakes up crying and I can't hear him because I'm in the kitchen frying eggs and running the washing machine (which is always on these days!), one of the boys will come tell me, "Uh oh, Moses is crying!" Joshua is constantly asking to touch his hair, which I'm reluctant to let him do because it gets so greasy (I tell him he can touch my hair instead). Lately Caleb has been coming out of his shell when he's around Moses and will now shyly give him kisses and ask to "touch his back" (or in other words, help burp him). The other day Caleb climbed into bed with sleeping Moses and laid down for a nap right next to him. For the longest time Caleb didn't want to be photographed with Moses, but now he is an eager participant in our photo shoots.

Even though Caleb and Joshua are generally very sweet with Moses, they still have a thing or two to learn about babies and their limited communication skills. When we're in the car and Moses is crying (as usually happens when we're stuck at a light), the boys think it's hilarious and will laugh at him. And when they're not laughing, they'll scold him using the same tone of voice that I use when I'm exasperated with them, saying, "Moses, calm down! Don't be ridiculous!" When I remind them that they should be more understanding of their baby brother, their tone softens and they'll sweetly say, "I know, Moses, I know... don't cry, Moses, it's ok."

Caleb on the Potty

The process of trying to get the twins potty trained has been long and arduous (due to my laziness and their stubbornness) but the arrival of Baby Moses has made me realize how utterly enormous the boys are--too enormous to still be wearing diapers--and has prompted me to attack potty training with a renewed vigor. I am therefore happy to report that for the past week, Caleb has been wearing underwear (his Nemo aka "goldfish" underwear are his favorite) and peeing on the potty 100% of the time during the day. Even if he is wearing a diaper before bedtime, he will ask us, "want to use the potty?" when he needs to pee. He still asks for a diaper when he needs to poo, though. Joshua has peed on the potty several times, but in the past couple days has regressed and refuses to wear underwear. Much to our amusement, however, he eagerly says, "Good job, Caleb! You used the potty!" whenever his brother relieves himself on the toilet :)

Stan Papa

The twins have been spending lots of time with Mimi and Papa lately, and as a result Joshua has figured out that Papa's name is "Stan". The other night we went over for dinner and Joshua was looking for Papa, who had not yet come home from work. "Papa... Stan Papa... STAN!" he called out as he forged up the stairs in search of his grandfather. The twins have yet to figure out Mimi's name, though!

Moses' 2-Week Check-up

Today Moses had his 2-week check-up with Dr. Irwin. It turns out he is maintaining his big baby status quite well. He now weighs 11 lbs. 2 oz. and is 23 inches long. That puts him above the 95th percentile for both categories. The doctor predicts that he is on-track to being a pretty big guy! We thank God that he is perfectly healthy in all other respects, too. Afterwards we celebrated the good report with lunch at Wendy's. Moses, of course, slept through the whole meal.

I should note, though, that Moses' nights of 7 hours of continuous sleep seem to have been put on hold for the time being. The past few nights he has only slept 3 or 4 hours straight, but since that's still twice as much as the twins used to sleep when they were his age, and since there's only one of him, I'm not complaining!

Moses' First Snow (2 Weeks Old)

No, we are not crazy enough to take our newborn out to play in the snow, but I do think it's noteworthy that despite being born in the second half of February, Moses didn't have to wait around another nine months or so before seeing his first snowfall!

It's hard to believe that Moses will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. Joe and I are still in awe that he is such an easy baby. For example, last night he slept 6 hours straight. The night before, he slept 5 hours straight. And for three consecutive nights before that, he slept 7 (yes, count 'em, SEVEN) hours straight! Who knew that a one-week-old was even capable of sleeping 7 hours at a time? Neither of the twins slept 7 consecutive hours until they were at least 2 years old.

God blessed us with a sleepy baby at a perfect time, too. The day before Moses slept his first 7-hour stretch, I had been feeling pretty terrible physically for a couple of days. Concerned that something might be seriously wrong with me, my family was urging me to schedule an appointment with the OB/GYN office. Not thrilled with the prospect of having yet another doctor lecture me about how irresponsible I was to attempt a VBAC homebirth with a post-term baby, I instead decided to go visit my midwife first and get her opinion, which was basically that I should stop taking the iron tablets the surgeon at the hospital had prescribed for me because they were wreaking havoc on my tummy, and most importantly, that I needed to get more rest. After all, it's not easy on one's body to endure 44 hours of sleepless labor, only to immediately follow it with major surgery. And that very night was when Moses slept 7 consecutive hours for the first time. I am so thankful to have a God who is looking out for me.

In fact, God has blessed us with many people who have been looking out for us in the aftermath of Moses' birth. Family, neighbors, church friends, and co-workers have been blessing us with meals, which has helped more than they can imagine. Mimi and Papa have been a huge help, as always, by taking the twins over to their house almost every day for the past 2 weeks so Joe and I can get rest and get things done around the house. There is no way we could be doing as well as we are now without everyone's help.

The twins have been handling the transition pretty well, too. Joshua has definitely shown more interest in his new baby brother than Caleb has. He is constantly rubbing Moses' head (probably why his hair always appears greasy even though I've been shampooing it every few days), giving him kisses, trying to burp him after he eats, and bringing me his burp cloths and blankets, etc. Caleb is much more reserved and will only sometimes timidly ask to touch Moses or give him a kiss.

The twins spent their first night away from Mommy and Daddy exactly two weeks ago during my second night of labor, and since then they've become perfectly well-adjusted to being away from Mommy, something I'd once feared would never be the case. While I was in the hospital I only saw them for a few minutes a day at most (going one whole day without seeing them at all) and even then they spent most of their visiting time playing with the bathroom door. Now when it's time for them to go play at Mimi and Papa's house, they nonchalantly say, "bye, Mommy!" and make a beeline for the car. Sometimes Joshua even says, "Mommy, you stay here" as he's heading out the door.

Also, the boys did not protest when we moved them out of our bedroom on Moses' first night at home. They now sleep in their own room (with Daddy, for the time being) and Caleb has only cried for me a few times in the past week and a half. Joshua hasn't cried for me at all. It's as if the introduction of baby brother Moses to their lives has caused them to grow up overnight (I'm also pretty sure they've also grown a few inches over the past couple weeks, but maybe that's just me)!