Monday, February 28, 2011

Happy 2nd Birthday, Moses!

February has been a whirlwind of a month. Papa, Moses, Sooja Emo, and I all celebrated our birthdays this month, with Moses' festivities being spread out over a span of several days involving a party with family, then another party with a few of his little boy friends, and then a much-anticipated trip to Chuck-E-Cheese. Moses even stuck a candle in his slice of cake and insisted that we sing to him at Sooja Emo's birthday party, a good two weeks after his own birthday had passed. Anyway, I think I will be quite content not to eat another bite of cake until Joe's birthday in June!

Here are a few samples of the pearls of wisdom that have been coming out of Moses' mouth in the days leading up to and shortly following his 2nd birthday. I keep a pad of paper in the kitchen so I can jot down the things he says before I forget. I probably seem to be a bit obsessive about this, but I'm just totally in awe of this verbally precocious child who is speaking better than his brothers did when they were nearly twice his age.

Moses, after I gave him a towel to dry his hands: Thank you giving me towel.

Moses, after I came home from movie night at a friend's house: I missed you, Mommy!

Moses: My birthday coming soon! I wanna go Chuck-E-Cheese my birthday!

Moses, telling me what theme he wanted for his birthday party. Are almost-2-year-olds even supposed to know that they can have a "themed" party? We granted his request with a Pooh cake and Pooh gifts at our family celebration: Mommy, I want a Pooh birthday.

Moses, stirring water in the turtle pool with a stick: I cooking dinner.
Me: What're you cooking?
Moses: I making cookies dinner!

Moses, seeing some children riding bikes down our street: Where those kids going?

Moses, in response to his brothers' request to let Pinky run around on the porch: No! Pinky can't go on porch. He could die!

Moses, while eating a clementine: Pinky no eat that orange.

Moses, while eating strawberry jam straight out of the jar: Mmm, jam. I eat it. Praise God!

Moses, at dinner: We need to pray.
Joe: Ok, let's pray.
Moses: No, wait til Mommy comes.
Joe: Ok, that's a good idea.
Moses, observing that Joshua has continued to eat while Joe prays: No, Joshua! No eat. Pray!

Moses: Oh no, my drink all gone!

Moses, while lining up three blueberries in a vertical row, like a snowman: Hey Mommy, I making a snowman.

Moses, upset about being excluded: Hey Mommy, Caleb not playing me.

And we'll end with a mealtime prayer from Caleb:
Caleb: Dear God, thank you for this roll and jam and Mommy and Daddy and Joshua and Moses and Mimi and Papa and Uncle Chris and Granny and Babo and Texas and Idaho and Kansas and Alabama and New Mexico and Hawaii and Ohio. Amen.

The School Dance

This past month Caleb graduated out of his special ed preschool. His teacher, Ms. Jane, said she saw no need to keep him there any longer and that he'd better be served surrounded by stronger language models. Each special ed class has two "model students", but as is often the case, the two model students in Caleb's classroom were girls, and they didn't want to play with the boys. Thus, the special ed students--all boys, none with exemplary language skills--were usually left to engage in sup-par verbal communication amongst themselves.

When Caleb first started to attend this preschool, he refused to dance or sing. When his teacher finally told him it was a rule that "everyone in Ms. Jane's class must dance and sing", he decided that he didn't want to break the rules, so he started dancing and singing. Apparently Caleb has become quite a stickler for rules, and was always quick to tell his teacher if someone was doing something they weren't supposed to be doing (as he also does with his brothers at home!). Even so, his teacher told me that he still managed to remain very popular with his classmates. He must have won them over with his smooth moves, because Ms. Jane said that Caleb finished his tenure in her classroom as the craziest dancer of the bunch. She also said that when she told jokes, they would go over the other kids' heads and that Caleb was the only child in the class who would laugh. She said he needed to be with other children who could also "get" jokes. So, even though she has told me on numerous occasions that Caleb is a wonderful child and a joy to have in her class, it would be in his best interest to attend the community preschool full-time.

So now Joshua reluctantly boards the school bus all by himself three times a week. He is fond of his special ed preschool, but doesn't like the idea of Caleb having fun somewhere else without him. He still refuses to sing and dance at preschool, and even though his teacher has told me that he's the most talkative student in her class, he is being kept there a while longer in hopes that he'll come out of his shell (and hopefully straighten out a few pronouns along the way). Joshua of course wanted to know why Caleb doesn't go to this preschool any longer, and I told him it's because Caleb obeyed the rules and sang and danced when his teacher told him to.

When I picked Joshua up today, his teacher told me that he said, "I'm still here because I need to sing and dance," but still refused to do so. She added, "he is just so shy!" The ironic thing is that "shy" is one of the last words I would use to describe Joshua. He's loud, gregarious, and has no qualms about striking up conversations with complete strangers. As I type this, he is upstairs dancing (in other words, bouncing on the bed) with his brothers while Joe plays the electric guitar. But for whatever reason, he refuses to dance at school. Granted, he is a pretty stubborn kid and whenever he insists that he can't do something (zipping up his coat, buckling himself into his carseat, and writing his name are a few examples that come to mind), then eventually does it after days, weeks, or months of prodding, he breaks down in tears as if he's angry that we proved him wrong. Similarly, I have a feeling that he is too stubborn to admit that he really can dance at school. But then again, I was never much of a social dancer, either, so I guess I can't really blame him!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Twins' 5-Year Check-up

A couple days after I took Moses to the doctor for his 2-year check-up, I took Caleb and Joshua in for their belated 5-year check-up. Joshua now weighs 47 lbs and is 44.5 inches tall, which puts him in the 80th and 75th percentiles, respectively. Caleb weighs a little less but is still above average at 44.5 lbs, which is in the 65th percentile. He is in the 50th percentile for height at 43 inches. I have no doubt that the slight disparity in size is due to the fact that Joshua eats faster than Caleb, and therefore usually ends up eating more. The twins participated in a vision test for the first time (the one with the variously oriented "E's") and did a great job, passing with flying colors. Praise God for healthy boys!

I talked to the doctor at length about the twins' previously diagnosed language delays, and after conversing with them for a while, he said that he thought they seemed like perfectly normal five-year-olds. I told him that Caleb has made a lot of progress and is soon going to be graduated out of his special ed preschool program, but that Joshua might need to stay longer (which is fine with Joshua, because lately he's been telling me that he'd rather go to his special ed preschool than his community preschool). Of course, Caleb responded to most of the doctor's questions by saying "I don't know" while Joshua chatted up a storm and intelligently answered questions thoughout the duration of the hour-long visit. I tell you, just when we think we have the twins pegged, they always switch things up!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Moses' 2-Year Stats & We Have Sweet Boys

He won't be 2 for another 10 days, but today Moses went to the doctor for his 2-year-old check-up. He is 35 inches tall and weighs 28 lbs. 10 oz., which is in the 60th percentile for both categories. He checked out healthy in all areas. Thank God for good health!

In other news, our boys are really sweet. And I'm not just saying that. People, ranging from complete strangers to acquaintances to close friends keep reminding me of this fact. For example, our neighbor across the street recently told me, "Katie, you have the friendliest boys. They always make my day." Whenever the boys see this particular neighbor, they always wave to her and call out "Hi Mrs. D___!" Another example is when I took the boys on a crowded tour of the mansion at Mount Vernon late one afternoon and a tour guide told me, "You have such a nice family." Even though Moses would have rather been napping and the twins were nearly as tired, I guess they were still better-behaved than many of the children who pass through there. A third example is when a friend of mine who has two girls invited us over for dinner and told me, "I normally wouldn't invite a family with three boys over to our house, but your boys are so sweet, I know they won't be a problem." And lastly, the mother of one of the twins' classmates recently told me, "Your boys are so sweet. They are so polite and nice to everyone, and they always say 'Hi Mrs. G___!' when they see me." So there you have it, I'm not just making this stuff up. Now if only they could be sweet to each other 100% of the time, wouldn't that be nice?

And now for a few quotes:

Moses: "What that man doing?"
Me, taking a wild guess about which man he's referring to: "He's running."
Moses: "Umm, umm, umm... No, he not running. He riding a bike!"

Caleb: "Smile, Pinky!"
Joshua: "Caleb, Pinky can't smile because he's an animal."

Me: "It's Papa's birthday today, boys."
Caleb: "Yay! I love Papa! He's a nice man."

Joshua: "Today I'm going to be six years old and then I'll go to Kindergarten."
(We are still working on the concept of yesterday, today, next year, etc.)

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Does Coffee Make You Fat?

Moses, in tears because Joshua drank all of his water: "Joshua drink all my water! Joshua, you no drink all my water!"

Joe sings his original "Moses please don't scream" song.
Moses protests, "No! Don't sing that. I don't like that, Daddy."

Caleb, at the dinner table: "Mommy, you can't sleep while you are driving." For the record, I have never fallen asleep while driving. The "you" was a generality not specifically directed at me.

Moses, after stuffing a napkin in his mouth and then removing it: "You can't drink a napkin."

Joshua: "Mommy, I think you're getting really fat."
Me: "Oh really? Where am I getting fat?"
Caleb, while patting my hip: "In the hips, Mommy."

Moses, 23 months old, asking the most age-inappropriate question to date, after enjoying 2/3 of a grande coffee frappuccino: "[Does] coffee make you fat?"

Lately the boys have been obsessed with knowing which foods will make them fat. I knew we had to start being vigilant when Joshua told me that he no longer wanted to wear his jeans because they are too tight in the butt even though they still had plenty of length left in the leg. And no, they are not "skinny" jeans--they are relaxed fit! So when the boys wanted to know why they couldn't have a second bowl of cereal right before bedtime, I told them that eating too much cereal could make them get fat.

I'd read several years ago that cereal was possibly the most unhealthy "health" food on the market. I didn't think too much of it until I was pregnant with Moses and my blood sugar level registered unusually high at a prenatal visit which had been preceded by a breakfast of Special K Red Berries--a cereal marketed towards women who want to lose weight (which, needless to say, was not why I was eating it). My midwife (who is also a naturopathic doctor) went on to tell me that she suspects that breakfast cereal is largely responsible for America's obesity epidemic. And what would the twins eat morning, noon, and night, if I let them? Cereal. And we don't even buy "sugary" cereals. Even the "healthy" cereals such as Cheerios and Corn Flakes are loaded with sugar.

Anyway, ever since I talked to the twins about not going overboard with foods that could make them fat, they (and apparently now Moses, too) want to know whether or not each morsel they consume will make them fat. So if the boys tell you that you're getting fat, or if they tell you that what you're eating will make you get fat, you'll know not to take it personally!