A few weeks ago, around the time of his 4th birthday, Caleb went all the way across the monkey bars all by himself. In the week or so leading up to this grand accomplishment, he'd been dangling from everything--doorknobs, towel bars, Mommy and Daddy--building up his upper body strength. Conquering the monkey bars seems to be a sort of rite of passage amongst preschoolers that few have mastered, so he was very proud of himself. Joshua isn't quite there yet, his progress being no doubt hampered by the extra pounds he carries! Both twins, however, can do a perfect somersault. We're pretty sure they got the idea by observing our neighbor Lily somersault around the front yard, and decided to try it out for themselves. Now they're always saying "Mommy, Daddy, watch this!" as they tumble all over the living room floor. Given the boys' flair for acrobatics and high energy level that isn't easily contained within our little house, we've been thinking about asking Santa for a trampoline for Christmas!
Meanwhile, we have caught Moses standing up without holding onto anything for a few seconds at a time. When he realizes that we're watching him, he'll become bashful and drop down to his knees. Who knows, maybe he's been standing for even longer periods of time when we're not looking! In this respect, I wonder if Moses' personality will turn out to be more like Caleb's, who likes to make sure he's got a skill nailed down perfectly before showing it off. I looked back at our blog archives, and as it turns out, Joshua had been standing independently and for longer periods of time even earlier than Moses! We'd predicted that Moses would be an earlier walker since he started crawling so early and since he is just so big in general, but maybe he'll follow in his brothers' footsepts and wait until after his 1st birthday. Only time will tell!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Nine in, Nine Out
Moses has now been out of the womb for as long as he was inside of it. Our sweet 9-month-old weighs 25 pounds, has 5 teeth with a sixth one poking through, and enjoys crawling and semi-cruising around the house. His favorite places to play are outside in the grass, the toilet (I usually catch him before he gets wet), and the refrigerator. Like his brothers before him, Moses loves taking vitamin bottles out of the fridge and shaking them. I'm sure it won't be long before he's feeding Papa his vitamins, too!
Moses has a good sense of humor and likes to play games. Whenever I change his diaper on the bed (which is most of the time since I've never understood the need for a designated "changing table"), as soon as I remove his diaper he flips over onto his tummy and quickly crawls to the nearest pillow. He plunges his face into the pillow and lies motionless until I exclaim "Moses!" and tickle him, sending him into a fit of laughter. If I don't tickle him right away, he looks up at me as if to say, "here I am, aren't you going to play my game?" He also loves to play with his big brothers, especially Joshua, who is partcularly good at entertaining Moses and finds great delight in making him laugh.
This past month, Moses has started eating solid food on a semi-regular basis. I wanted to wait til he was one year old, but he kept grabbing at our food and has been attempting to taste all kinds of edible and non-edible morsels, so I decided it'd be cruel to deny him any longer. Some days he wants to exclusively nurse and other days he insists on having a taste of every single thing I put in my mouth, so we just kind of go with the flow. His favorite foods so far are fresh pineapple, apples, and carrots (I "grate" carrot sticks and apple slices against his bottom teeth and he eats the resulting "puree"), yogurt with frozen wild blueberries, and baby crackers. He eats very few cooked foods. He also loves to chug cold water and diluted juice from a cup. If I'm holding a beverage glass, he'll grasp my arm and forcefully yank it towards himself so he can take a few sips.
Moses has started saying "ball", which actually sounds more like "bah." The first time I heard him say it, he was holding a toy orange. Other times, he said it while holding a whiffle ball, a kiwi fruit, a bouncy ball, and while staring at the globe-like pendant lamps hanging in Mimi and Papa's foyer. Since then, he's said "ball" at times when there were no ball-shaped objects nearby, but it could have been that he was just thinking about a ball, right? That's what we tell ourselves, at least :)
Moses has a good sense of humor and likes to play games. Whenever I change his diaper on the bed (which is most of the time since I've never understood the need for a designated "changing table"), as soon as I remove his diaper he flips over onto his tummy and quickly crawls to the nearest pillow. He plunges his face into the pillow and lies motionless until I exclaim "Moses!" and tickle him, sending him into a fit of laughter. If I don't tickle him right away, he looks up at me as if to say, "here I am, aren't you going to play my game?" He also loves to play with his big brothers, especially Joshua, who is partcularly good at entertaining Moses and finds great delight in making him laugh.
This past month, Moses has started eating solid food on a semi-regular basis. I wanted to wait til he was one year old, but he kept grabbing at our food and has been attempting to taste all kinds of edible and non-edible morsels, so I decided it'd be cruel to deny him any longer. Some days he wants to exclusively nurse and other days he insists on having a taste of every single thing I put in my mouth, so we just kind of go with the flow. His favorite foods so far are fresh pineapple, apples, and carrots (I "grate" carrot sticks and apple slices against his bottom teeth and he eats the resulting "puree"), yogurt with frozen wild blueberries, and baby crackers. He eats very few cooked foods. He also loves to chug cold water and diluted juice from a cup. If I'm holding a beverage glass, he'll grasp my arm and forcefully yank it towards himself so he can take a few sips.
Moses has started saying "ball", which actually sounds more like "bah." The first time I heard him say it, he was holding a toy orange. Other times, he said it while holding a whiffle ball, a kiwi fruit, a bouncy ball, and while staring at the globe-like pendant lamps hanging in Mimi and Papa's foyer. Since then, he's said "ball" at times when there were no ball-shaped objects nearby, but it could have been that he was just thinking about a ball, right? That's what we tell ourselves, at least :)
Sunday, November 15, 2009
The Elusive Deuce
Potty training has probably been my least favorite aspect of parenting thus far, rivaled only by the infant twins phase in which I rarely slept for more than one or two hours at a time for several months. Yes, it has been that bad. Caleb and Joshua have been peeing on the potty since early June and they've been pooping on the potty since early October, but there was a time not too long ago when I honestly believed that they would still be pooping in diapers on their 4th birthday.
Even though the twins wore underwear full-time during the day, when they needed to poop, they'd beg for a diaper. Any attempts to get them to sit on the potty to poop were met with blood-curdling shrieks and violent protest. When I eventually stopped caving in to their requests for a diaper, they'd schedule their poops around their sleeping schedules, since we still put them in diapers at bedtime. They'd either sneak in a poo right before bedtime or first thing in the morning before I even realized they were awake. Instead of their usual tradition of running into our bedroom and jumping into bed with me as soon as they woke up each morning, they'd stealthily poop in their diapers at their bedside, then postpone the inevitable scolding by lurking silently there until their stench wafted out of their room to greet my beleaguered nose. I would berate them, change their diapers, then we'd get on with our lives until the next morning. It was a vicious cycle.
Then one mild early October morning, I had not been feeling well and was lying in bed trying to get some extra rest when the boys staggered into our bedroom with soggy, stinky diapers, pestering me to change them. I buried my head in my pillow and refused. They continued to whine and plead, and that's when I decided enough was enough. I got dressed, escorted them outside, removed their diapers, and hosed them down, calmly explaining to them that this is what would happen from now on if they pooped in their diapers. The boys loved being sprayed with the hose in the context of playing outside in their swimsuits, but this time they knew I was not playing games. Meanwhile, Moses had crawled up to the screen door to see what all the fuss was about. I went to greet him, only to discover a sticky brown substance on his hands and knees. Upon further investigation, I concluded that he had crawled through poo that had leaked out of his brothers' diapers and fallen onto the living room rug. I was furious!
I ushered the twins back into the house and escorted them directly to the bathtub, where they proceeded to take a cold shower. Just like with the hose, they have previously been known to enjoy and even request cold showers, but this time they knew it was not for fun. While they were in the shower, I washed off Moses and gave him a new change of clothes, then cleaned and disinfected the rug. After a few minutes, I let the boys out of the bathtub and dried them off, explaining to them that from now on, every time they pooped in their diapers they'd get a cold shower in addition to being sprayed with the hose. They earnestly promised they would poop on the potty from now on, and a couple days later, after much coaxing, a few tears, and ample reassurance that "you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you", they did it! They haven't even had any major accidents since then.
Just as we suspected, the twins were fully capable of being potty trained a long time ago--they were just too stubborn and it took some rather drastic measures to break them of their stubbornness. They now take great pride in pooping on the potty. Caleb still likes for us to sit with him and coach him through the process, but Joshua requests that we close the door and give him privacy while he takes care of business. We're so proud of them both, and are so relieved that this unpleasant chapter of parenting our sweet twins is finally over.
Even though the twins wore underwear full-time during the day, when they needed to poop, they'd beg for a diaper. Any attempts to get them to sit on the potty to poop were met with blood-curdling shrieks and violent protest. When I eventually stopped caving in to their requests for a diaper, they'd schedule their poops around their sleeping schedules, since we still put them in diapers at bedtime. They'd either sneak in a poo right before bedtime or first thing in the morning before I even realized they were awake. Instead of their usual tradition of running into our bedroom and jumping into bed with me as soon as they woke up each morning, they'd stealthily poop in their diapers at their bedside, then postpone the inevitable scolding by lurking silently there until their stench wafted out of their room to greet my beleaguered nose. I would berate them, change their diapers, then we'd get on with our lives until the next morning. It was a vicious cycle.
Then one mild early October morning, I had not been feeling well and was lying in bed trying to get some extra rest when the boys staggered into our bedroom with soggy, stinky diapers, pestering me to change them. I buried my head in my pillow and refused. They continued to whine and plead, and that's when I decided enough was enough. I got dressed, escorted them outside, removed their diapers, and hosed them down, calmly explaining to them that this is what would happen from now on if they pooped in their diapers. The boys loved being sprayed with the hose in the context of playing outside in their swimsuits, but this time they knew I was not playing games. Meanwhile, Moses had crawled up to the screen door to see what all the fuss was about. I went to greet him, only to discover a sticky brown substance on his hands and knees. Upon further investigation, I concluded that he had crawled through poo that had leaked out of his brothers' diapers and fallen onto the living room rug. I was furious!
I ushered the twins back into the house and escorted them directly to the bathtub, where they proceeded to take a cold shower. Just like with the hose, they have previously been known to enjoy and even request cold showers, but this time they knew it was not for fun. While they were in the shower, I washed off Moses and gave him a new change of clothes, then cleaned and disinfected the rug. After a few minutes, I let the boys out of the bathtub and dried them off, explaining to them that from now on, every time they pooped in their diapers they'd get a cold shower in addition to being sprayed with the hose. They earnestly promised they would poop on the potty from now on, and a couple days later, after much coaxing, a few tears, and ample reassurance that "you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you", they did it! They haven't even had any major accidents since then.
Just as we suspected, the twins were fully capable of being potty trained a long time ago--they were just too stubborn and it took some rather drastic measures to break them of their stubbornness. They now take great pride in pooping on the potty. Caleb still likes for us to sit with him and coach him through the process, but Joshua requests that we close the door and give him privacy while he takes care of business. We're so proud of them both, and are so relieved that this unpleasant chapter of parenting our sweet twins is finally over.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Twins' 4-Year Check-up
The twins went in for their 4-year well child doctor's visit the day after their birthday. Considering their usual aversion to answering questions and speaking in complete sentences, Joe thought it'd be beneficial to drill them with some practice questions that the doctor might ask them during the examination, such as "what is your name?" and "how old are you?" We were a little concerned when, on the way to the doctor's office, Caleb answered one such question by replying, "my name is 4 years old" :-(
Thankfully, Joshua kicked off the doctor's visit with a confident display of mental aptitude when he cheerfully exclaimed, "Hi, Doctor!" when the doctor walked in the room. Phew! Then at the end of the visit, he asked the doctor, "why are you washing your hands?" which surprised us since the boys don't usually ask "why" questions. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), our preparations were in vain since the doctor didn't ask the boys any of the questions we drilled them with, but at least they should now be able to accurately report their names and age to the legions of people who will invariably request this information from them whenever we go to the grocery store. I'm still waiting to find out at what age our (presumably) identical twins will stop drawing so much attention in public!
Anyway, this was the first year the boys were willing to stand to be weighed and measured. They were not perfect angels and squirmed enough to make us question the accuracy of the results, especially the heights, since I'm pretty sure that Joshua is significantly more than half an inch taller than Caleb. At any rate, this is what we were told: Caleb is 40.75 inches tall (55th %tile) and weighs 37 lbs. 4 oz. (70th %tile). Joshua is 41.25 inches tall (75th %tile) and weighs 39 lbs. 4 oz. (80th %tile).
Thankfully, Joshua kicked off the doctor's visit with a confident display of mental aptitude when he cheerfully exclaimed, "Hi, Doctor!" when the doctor walked in the room. Phew! Then at the end of the visit, he asked the doctor, "why are you washing your hands?" which surprised us since the boys don't usually ask "why" questions. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), our preparations were in vain since the doctor didn't ask the boys any of the questions we drilled them with, but at least they should now be able to accurately report their names and age to the legions of people who will invariably request this information from them whenever we go to the grocery store. I'm still waiting to find out at what age our (presumably) identical twins will stop drawing so much attention in public!
Anyway, this was the first year the boys were willing to stand to be weighed and measured. They were not perfect angels and squirmed enough to make us question the accuracy of the results, especially the heights, since I'm pretty sure that Joshua is significantly more than half an inch taller than Caleb. At any rate, this is what we were told: Caleb is 40.75 inches tall (55th %tile) and weighs 37 lbs. 4 oz. (70th %tile). Joshua is 41.25 inches tall (75th %tile) and weighs 39 lbs. 4 oz. (80th %tile).
Monday, November 9, 2009
Happy 4th Birthday, Boys!
As of today I can no longer say, "I have 3 boys ages 3 and under," because Caleb and Joshua are four years old today! Happy birthday, sweet boys!
The twins have had a busy year. Among other things, in the past year they became big brothers, they started sleeping in their own bedroom, they learned to swim, they potty-trained, and they started going to preschool.
I'll write more on this topic later, but I must go to bed now :)
The twins have had a busy year. Among other things, in the past year they became big brothers, they started sleeping in their own bedroom, they learned to swim, they potty-trained, and they started going to preschool.
I'll write more on this topic later, but I must go to bed now :)
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Catch Phrases
I've been keeping a running list of some of the twins' favorite catch phrases. Considering that these phrases are already old news, I figured I ought to crunch out a post in their honor before they become totally obsolete.
Put some glue on it. "Glue" is pronounced "ga-looooo." The boys learned this catch phrase from the many incidents involving broken toys in need of repair. Now they (especially Caleb) like to just say it for fun.
Want some milk? "Milk" is pronounced "meeeee-yulk." For whatever reason, the boys tend to break out in a Southern drawl whenever they say "milk". We called them on it, and now they like to say this just to make us laugh. I guess it's their Shenandoah Valley heritage making itself evident!
You have chocolates at home. "Chocolates" is pronounced like "choc-letts," and the entire phrase is droned out in a robotic monotone, repeated several times in unison, usually in the check-out line at the grocery store.
Mushroom. Joshua came up with this gem. He bends his index finger slightly backwards and holds it in place with the tip of his middle finger, so as to resemble a mushroom illustration in his "Moonbeam Bear" book. He's been doing this for well over a year now.
Wanna go get Chinese food? "Chinese" is pronounced more like "CHAI-ness". The boys don't expect us to take this suggestion seriously, they just like to say this to get us to laugh. They were besides themselves when Joe and I actually used this catch phrase on Sunday evening and proceeded to take the family to the local Chinese take-out place. Caleb chowed down on lo-mein and rice, but Joshua would have none of it. His only request was to "see the big smiley face" on the plastic bag.
Put some glue on it. "Glue" is pronounced "ga-looooo." The boys learned this catch phrase from the many incidents involving broken toys in need of repair. Now they (especially Caleb) like to just say it for fun.
Want some milk? "Milk" is pronounced "meeeee-yulk." For whatever reason, the boys tend to break out in a Southern drawl whenever they say "milk". We called them on it, and now they like to say this just to make us laugh. I guess it's their Shenandoah Valley heritage making itself evident!
You have chocolates at home. "Chocolates" is pronounced like "choc-letts," and the entire phrase is droned out in a robotic monotone, repeated several times in unison, usually in the check-out line at the grocery store.
Mushroom. Joshua came up with this gem. He bends his index finger slightly backwards and holds it in place with the tip of his middle finger, so as to resemble a mushroom illustration in his "Moonbeam Bear" book. He's been doing this for well over a year now.
Wanna go get Chinese food? "Chinese" is pronounced more like "CHAI-ness". The boys don't expect us to take this suggestion seriously, they just like to say this to get us to laugh. They were besides themselves when Joe and I actually used this catch phrase on Sunday evening and proceeded to take the family to the local Chinese take-out place. Caleb chowed down on lo-mein and rice, but Joshua would have none of it. His only request was to "see the big smiley face" on the plastic bag.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)