Plotting and Scheming

The boys have a tendency to grab the Jumperoo and violently shake it to "help" Moses jump. This evening the boys and I were keeping Moses company in the sun room while he exercised, and Caleb once again thought he should "help" Moses in this manner. I rebuked him and he stepped back. A few minutes later, Caleb oh-so-innocently said, "Hey Mommy, why don't you go take a shower?" Thinking it odd that he wanted me to go take a shower, I (truthfully) replied, "No, I already took a shower." Caleb paused, then said, "Want Mommy to leave the sun room?" I gave him a stern look and he grinned mischeviously. He obviuosly wanted me to go away so he could give Moses another shake.

Caleb tried to use the shower ploy on Joe the other night, too. Joe and the boys were lying in bed when Caleb said, "Hey Daddy, want to go take a shower?" Joe did in fact need to take a shower, so he got up and left the room, but suspecting foul play he peeked around the corner, only to behold Caleb standing next to the bed, bracing his arms against the mattress in his typical pooping position. He doesn't want to poop on the toilet so he holds it in until we put him in a diaper at bedtime, which we obviously have been discouraging. Caleb knew that if Daddy went to take a shower, he could eliminate in peace.

Then this past Sunday, I put Caleb in the church toddler class because he was acting up while Joe was on stage playing guitar with the worship team, and I just couldn't deal with all three of them by myself. The boys don't like going to their class, so when I left him there he was screaming and crying. His teacher said that after a while he calmed down and told her that he needed to go use the potty. As soon as she opened the door to take him to the potty, he made a mad dash for the exit and tried to escape! She redirected him to the restroom, where he proceeded to not put anything in the toilet.

Even though I'm less than thrilled with Caleb's attempts to deceive authority figures, I think it's fascinating to see that instead of his typical manner of acting impulsively and throwing tantrums when he doesn't get his way, he is now using his brain--scheming and plotting--to get his desired outcome. While it's not the kind of fruit we'd like to see our son bearing, I guess it's a sign of maturity nonetheless.

James Polk

"What letter does James Polk begin with?"

Yes, James Polk as in the 11th President of the United States. This is an actual question Joshua asked me yesterday. And I can't help but wonder how many other 3-year-olds have asked their mothers this same question?

Caleb and Joshua have been studying their U.S. Presidents placemat diligently. They can now identify about half of the presidents. Certain presidents seem to intrigue them more than others. For instance, I don't think they've ever inquired about Rutherford B. Hayes, which is probably a good thing since "Rutherford" is quite a mouthful. Besides James Polk, the names we hear tossed around most often these days are George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson (whom the boys affectionately refer to as "Mr. Johnson"), Chester Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter (formerly known as "The Raisin"), Ronald Reagan, George Bush 41, and George Bush 43, whom the boys fondly refer to as "President Bush"... we don't have the heart to tell them he's not president anymore!

Joshua's Potty Chronicles

While Caleb has been peeing in the potty for a while now, Joshua has absolutely refused to pee unless he's wearing both a diaper and pants. Weary of fighting with him about it, I decided to step back and allow him to blossom on his own time. After all, watching his twin use the potty would prompt him to follow suit, would it not? And if not peer pressure, then surely bribes of new Thomas trains and trips to the water park would win him over. But no, months later Joshua remained adamant that he would not pee unless he was wearing a diaper and pants.

Desperate for some reprieve from being cooped up in our small house with 3 boys all day long, day after day, I decided to research enriching activities that the boys could participate in without me. Weekday activities for toddlers are predominantly "Mommy and Me" style classes that require a 1:1 parent-to-child ratio, which incidentally excluded the twins from participation. But now that they are 3 years old, they're eligible to enroll in classes that don't require parental invovlement. The only catch is that for all of these classes, the kids need to be potty trained. So I was presented with the following dilemma-- do I sign Caleb up for classes and keep diaper-clad Joshua with me? No, that didn't seem fair, and it wouldn't be giving me much of a break, either. And so I resolved to potty train Joshua once and for all.

On Monday I put Joshua in underwear first thing after he woke up. All day long he whined, cried, and screamed for a diaper. I spent a considerable portion of the day in the bathroom with Joshua, offering an equal share of threats and bribes, all to no avail. I offered him the opportuity to pee outside in the mud or grass as an alternative, but he outright refused to pee anywhere unless he was wearing a diaper and pants. I refused to give in. After holding in his pee all day long, we finally coerced Joshua to pee in the bathtub that evening. He was in tears over the ordeal, but was happy to receive a brand new Thomas Train, Hector, as a reward.

Fast forward to Friday morning. After three arduous days of potty training boot camp (the details of which I'll omit since they would surely horrify our gentle readers), Joshua was the proud owner of yet another Thomas Train, Old Slow Coach, and "white car". He had been peeing consistently in the bathtub, and I felt confident enough to venture out to the playground to meet some friends. It wasn't long after we'd arrived at the playground that Joshua announced that he wanted a diaper. I suggested he pee in the bathtub instead, and he agreed. I escorted him to the pool house, where lo and behold not a single bathtub was in sight. "I'm sorry, Joshua!" I said, feigning surprise at the dearth of bathtubs on the premises. "You'll just have to pee in the potty instead." To my delight, instead of putting up a fight, he pulled down his pants and peed while standing at a toilet for the very first time! I was ecstatic and he was clearly proud of himself, too.

After lunch at KFC with our friends, the boys and I headed out to the mall. Our salty lunch resulted in us all chugging lots of water, and it wasn't long before both boys began to complain about needing to use the potty. We rushed into the restroom at Lord & Taylor and one of the boys stepped up to the toilet, pulled down his pants, and I lifted him up so he could pee. "Good job, Caleb!" I said. Then I grabbed the other boy and helped him pee. "Good job, Joshua! Mommy's so proud of you!" I exclaimed. The boy turned to face me and gave me a look as if to say, "I'm not Joshua!" and it was then that I realized that I was holding Caleb, and that it had been Joshua who took the initiative to step up to the potty first! Joshua peed while standing at the toilet for the third time ever that evening at Old Country Buffet. I was pretty impressed that we had been out and about the entire day without a single accident. Clearly, Joshua's potty training has not been a matter of learning to control his bodily functions, but a matter of conquering his strong will. Maybe I don't talk to other moms enough, but I've never heard of another potty training saga such as this one.

Now, if we can just get both boys to poop on the potty consistently, we can go to the much-aniticipated water park. In the meantime, I'm eagerly anticipating Fairfax County's Parktakes catalog of Fall classes!

Tall, Dark, and Handsome - 4 Months Old

Four months ago, 44 hours of unmedicated labor ended and a precious new life began. I must say that if I had to choose between an easy labor and an easy baby, I'd take the easy baby any day! Moses continues to be a good sleeper, averaging about 8-9 hours a night, giving me ample opportunities to make up for 44 hours of lost sleep (although instead of sleeping, I tend to stay up late editing photos and writing blog entries).

People often tell us that Moses is the calmest, happiest baby they've ever met. Unlike his more discriminating older brothers, Moses has no qualms about being held by new and different people. He is generous with his smiles and is beginning to laugh a lot, too. He chuckles heartily when I plant big kisses on his cheeks, alternating from cheek to cheek, making silly faces in-between kisses.

These days Moses tries to grab everything within his reach. While his newest fascination is grabbing his own feet and toes, he also enjoys grabbing hair, including his brothers' hair, a treatment which they kindly tolerate (Daddy lucks out on this one!). While lying on his back with his head resting on a pillow, Moses will often lift his head and neck up off of the pillow in an impressive effort to sit up. Since lying on his back is apparently so last month, if Moses can't sit up, he will roll over onto his belly. While on his belly, he'll survey the toy-bespeckled floor (as our floors always are these days) and if an item of interest lies just beyond his grasp, he will grunt and kick his feet and legs as he strains to reach it. If he weren't a mere 4 months old, I would swear that Moses was on the verge of crawling.

Four-month-old Moses has outgrown his 6 month clothes and some of his 9 month outfits are even a little snug in the torso. It has worked out well that his more average-sized brothers bequeathed him appropriate attire for the current season, since they were 3 months older than him at this same time of year 3 years ago. Many people think that Moses looks a lot like his older brothers, and while he does have the same Weidman nose and chin, he is definitely a darker version of them. His skin is not only noticeably darker than the twins' (whose skin is noticeably darker than Joe's), it is even darker than mine. Who would have guessed that the only one of us who didn't get sunburned at the beach would be the only one of us not wearing sunscreen? Moses' eyes are a beautiful dark brown, and his new hair seems to be growing in the same dark shade as his newborn hair. It should not be surprising that our new nickname for Moses is "Tall, Dark, and Handsome"!

Mr. Johnson

I've often listened to my friends share stories about their children (usually daughters) and the imaginative scenarios and dialogues spawned from their young minds involving imaginary characters. After recently witnessing one of the boys' little friends engage in such dialogue about imaginary horse friends, I told her mother that I've never observed my boys playing with or talking to any imaginary friends of their own. I recalled having imaginary friends when I was young (mine were named Kiwi and Piwi), but as far as I could tell, Caleb and Joshua hadn't yet tapped into that realm. I shrugged it off--after all, who needs an imaginary friend when you've got a twin brother? Well, I've since been informed that imagination is used as an indicator of intelligence when administering IQ tests to preschoolers. D'oh!

Just as I was about to write the boys' IQ off as a lost cause (just kidding, although I did become slightly concerned about their apparent lack of imagination), I overheard them talking to someone named "Mr. Johnson". They were standing at the screen window and appeared to be conversing with someone outside in our backyard. I checked, and no one was in our backyard. "Hey Mr. Johnson, where are you? Did you go to work, Mr. Johnson?" they called out. "Mr. Johnson! Come inside! Go to your room, Mr. Johnson!" And so on and so forth. We don't personally know anyone with the surname of Johnson, so I was quite puzzled about where they even came up with this name. Joe said that there's a blue muppet named Mr. Johnson who appears in a skit on one of our Old School Sesame Street DVDs, but when we asked Caleb what color Mr. Johnson is, he told us, "Mr. Johnson is yellow". Hopefully the boys will continue to fill us in on details about Mr. Johnson, other than the fact that he goes to work and is yellow. Meanwhile, I can be at ease knowing that our boys bear the marks of intelligent preschoolers after all ;)

President Raisin

Of the 5 senses, Caleb and Joshua seem to have grasped onto "smell" much more so than see, hear, taste, or touch. For example, this morning they were eating blueberries with their breakfast. Caleb picked up a blueberry and said, "smells like a ball." Another example is when the boys were eating "chips" the other day (and by "chips" I mean toasted and sliced plain corn tortillas, which the boys happily accept as "chips"), after a few strategic bites Joshua held it up and said, "smells like a boat." They also use "smells" appropriately at times, too, such as when they sniff their bottle of gummy vitamins and proclaim that it "smells like popsicles". I'm guessing that they latched onto smell so strongly because we'll frequently tell them their dirty diaper "smells like a barn" or "smells like an elephant".

By far the most amusing instance of the boys prescribing a scent to an item was during breakfast one morning a few weeks ago. While studying his placemat featuring the United States presidents, Joshua suddenly proclaimed, "smells like a raisin, Mommy". The boys usually say that their wrinkled fingertips "smell like raisins" after a long shower or a swim in the pool, but Joshua hadn't been doing either of those things that morning. "What looks like a raisin?" I asked him. Joshua pointed to a portrait of one of our presidents and said "smells like a raisin". I looked closely and laughed, thoroughly amused that of all our esteemed presidents, Joshua decided that one of the biggest fruits who's ever held that office most resembled a wrinkly raisin. From time to time, Joshua likes to remind me that Jimmy Carter "smells like a raisin" just because he knows it will make me laugh.

ETA: I found a picture of our placemat so you can see the raisin for yourself:

Turning Point?

The other night I experienced a parental breakthrough of sorts with Caleb. When Caleb really wants something, such as help for putting on a pair of mismatched socks or for playing his favorite computer game, he'll incessantly ask for it. First he'll just repeat his request over and over ("want this"..."want this"). After a while, this will escalate to whining ("want THiiiiis" "waaaant thiiiiiiis") and eventually to angered demands ("WANT this! WANT thiiiis!"). Upon reaching this phase we'll discipline him in some manner and he'll cry for a while, and not uncommonly return to the begging phase or get distracted by something else.

In this particular case, Caleb really wanted a lollipop. I kept denying him, and assured him that he could have one tomorrow, but not any more today. Of course, he continued begging until it escalated to the tantrum point, so I picked him up and put him in his bed; I told him that he was too tired to behave well. In the darkness of his room Caleb began to calm down. "Want water?" he asked, sobbing. Thinking that he was probably going to fall asleep soon, I said "sure", and I brought him some water from the kitchen. As he was drinking it, he stopped crying altogether and said "I'm sorry, Daddy. We'll have lollipop later--we'll have lollipop in a couple weeks." And then he leaned over onto my lap for a hug.

It was a sweet gesture, but more importantly, I think it's the first time that Caleb willfully accepted a "no."

Also, for the record, "a couple weeks" is what the boys regard as some unspecific time in the future. If something's not happening today or tomorrow, then it's happening in a couple of weeks.

Memorial Day Weekend '09

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to Virginia Beach for our annual weekend of hanging out with our friends from college. Moses did amazingly well in the car, only crying when hungry. Having just one baby makes road trips so much easier. Not only is Moses an efficient nurser, there is only one of him! Moses nurses for 10 minutes and he's done, whereas the twins used to take their sweet time nursing 30 minutes each, and since tandem nursing in the front seat of the car was basically impossible, every pit stop would be at least an hour long. I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but wow I cannot emphasize enough how much easier it is to only have one baby instead of twins!

Anyway, we had a great time visiting our friends and their growing families. In attendance were 5 little boys ages 3 and under! Caleb and Joshua quickly befriended 14-month-old Taylor Starr and found great satisfaction in bossing him--instead of each other--around for a change. While Taylor couldn't yet talk back to them, his cute (cute to everyone but his mom!) high-pitched squeals put them in their place! The boys lavished affection on adorably chubby 7-month-old Elijah Butt whenever they got a chance, which was rare since he spent a good chunk of the day slumbering. It never occurs to me how little our boys sleep until we spend time with other people's kids! Our friends' sleep schedules rubbed off on us a little and we even managed to get the boys in bed before 10 pm one night. We were hoping that we'd be able to maintain this "early" bedtime, but alas this evening Moses didn't fall asleep until 11:45 and the twins shortly thereafter. Anyway, Caleb and Joshua had a blast skinny dipping in the Hubbards' pool, begging "Mommy give me a huuuug!" to trick me into swimming with them, recruiting various "uncles" to take them on walks along the pier to go see the crabs, and searching for shells on the beach while being chased by the waves. We even convinced Caleb to pee while standing in the sand on the beach, which will hopefully pave the way to him peeing while standing at the toilet, too. When we got home I asked if he wanted to pee standing up, like at the beach. "Oh-kay!" he shouted happily. He was pretty upset when he realized we weren't actually going back to the beach at that very moment. Over two weeks later, they are still asking to go to back to the beach at least once a day.

Courtney gives a more comprehensive report of our weekend's activities on her blog, so I'll just encourage you to read it here. We are so grateful to Courtney and her parents for generously hosting us all for yet another year!