Thursday, June 30, 2011

Tale of Two Missing Teeth

Caleb lost his first two teeth today! The first one fell out while he was swimming, and my efforts to don goggles and scour the bottom of the pool were all in vain. The second one fell out later that evening while he was eating dinner, and when we couldn't find it, we figured it must've found a new home in Caleb's digestive tract. Thankfully, Babo later discovered it stuck to the bottom of his foot while he was walking through the dining room. So at least we have one of Caleb's first baby teeth, but the very first one is most likely forever lost in our pool's filtration system.

Meanwhile, Joshua's first two adult teeth are growing in nice and straight despite having made their debut while his baby teeth were still occupying their space. I'm trusting that the boys will inherit their mommy's good teeth genes and never need to pay any visits to the orthodontist, either!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

PM Pottying: Progress or Pain?

For the past two nights, Moses has woken up in the middle of the night to use the potty. Last night, he woke up to go four times! Each time, I said, "Moses, you can just pee in your diaper", to which he adamantly replied, "No!" as if he found the mere suggestion insulting. And then of course he refused to put his diaper (or even underwear) back on afterwards. While I am proud that he's doing so well, I can't help but wonder if I've created a monster. Before Moses was potty trained, at least I could count on a good night's sleep every night!

A few quotes:

Me: "Moses, do you want watermelon or strawberries for breakfast?"
Moses, probably remembering all the watermelon I force-fed him during potty-training: "Strawberry. I don't want watermelon because I don't want go pee."

Moses: "Hey Caleb, I pooped!"
Caleb: "Oh wow, good job, baby!"
Moses: "And I peed, too!"
Caleb: "Wow, Moses, you're really growing up!"

Joshua, not yet cognizant of double negatives: "Jesus is never not a ghost. Jesus is never not a witch. He is a good man."

Joshua: "I bet Jesus has a sword."
Caleb: "Hmm, probably! A sword to get the bad guys."

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Good Sports & Spiders

This past weekend we hosted the T-Ball Rockies end-of-season party at our house. Coach Brian gave each player a certificate and a trophy, accompanied by a superlative such as "Most Consistent", "Most Improved", “Most Athletic”, or “Best Hitter”. Not surprisingly, Caleb and Joshua didn’t win any of those titles. As Coach Brian presented the twins their awards, he noted that he could always count on them to greet him with a friendly, "Hi Coach Brian!” and after each game and practice, they always said, “Thank you Coach Brian! Bye, Coach Brian!" Therefore he granted them both the "Best Sportsmanship" award. I don’t think any other award could have made a mom prouder, and it was cute to see how genuinely excited the boys were to receive their first trophies. I suspect that they would have been much more enthusiastic about playing T-Ball at the beginning of the season had they known they’d be getting trophies engraved with their names when all was said and done!

Now that preschool is over, I'm adjusting to having all three boys with me all the time. There were a few weeks after Tauxemont Preschool ended, but before Joshua's special ed preschool concluded, where I'd have several afternoons each week with just Caleb and Moses. It's amazing how much more peaceful things were with just two boys instead of three. Trips to the grocery store were a breeze and playtime at home was peaceful and much quieter than usual. It's not that I think Joshua is any more disobedient or more of an instigator than the other two; the dynamics just seem to change when you don’t have an even number of children. You'll inevitably end up with an odd man out. In our house, it’s usually Moses and one of the twins versus the other twin, and it usually begins when the twins pick a fight with each other and Moses chooses sides. It’s actually kind of funny to see how the twins will pander to little Moses to try to convince him to be on their side. I've heard it said that the only way to remedy this situation is to have another child to even out the playing field. I'm not so sure about that solution!

In other news, Moses continues to swim like a champ. The funny thing is that he’s more interested in showing off his swimming skills to Caleb and Joshua than he is to me and Joe. Instead of pestering mom and dad for attention, he’s always saying, “Caleb, watch me!” or “Joshua, look at me!” I think it’s just his way of trying to prove to them that he’s one of the big boys. When we ask Moses how old he is, he tells us that he’s 5 years old. He also tells us that he has loose teeth, just like the twins. In Moses’ mind, he and his big brothers might as well be triplets.

Moses is also doing a great job using the potty. After several night-time accidents, we’ve gone back to having him wear a diaper at night (against his will, of course), but he’s definitely diaper-free during the day. We bought some brand new underwear just for Moses, since the hand-me-downs he’d been wearing were all stretched out, his brothers’ bums being significantly more rotund than his own! He seems to be pretty proud of his new under-duds.

And now, a taste of what we’ve been hearing around our house lately:

Joshua and Caleb have developed a habit of saying “Eew Spiders!” at random times during the day. I don’t know for sure, but I’ve deduced that they say this in response to something that looks kind of freaky, gives them the shivers, or simply is not as it should be--usually something with lots of little cracks or lines remotely resembling spider legs. I've heard them say “Eew Spiders!” in response to a wide range of things from lightning bolts to crumbling bread to hair. It's just one of those weird twin things that makes no sense to anyone other than themselves.

Caleb, admiring my new lip gloss: "Ooh, Mommy, I like your red lips."
Joshua, skeptical: "Mommy, you look like a different woman."

Joshua: "My staff doesn't work. It doesn't turn into a snake and it doesn't part the waters. I wish I could have Moses' staff. His staff was really, really cool."

Moses, while eating salsa and chips: "This is very spicy but I keep loving it. It my favorite!"

Joshua: "Are Hawaii and Hawai-oh twins?"
Joe: "You mean Hawaii and Ohio?"
Joshua: "Yeah."
Joe: "No, they're actually very different states."

Moses, while observing the plants in our vegetable garden: "When the zucchini turns red, then we can eat it!"
Me: "No, Moses, the zucchini is not going to turn red. Only the tomatoes will turn red."
Moses: "No! He did turn red!"

Friday, June 10, 2011

Our Two-Year-Old Sea Turtle

Yesterday Moses started swimming with his face in the water while wearing his robot vest (his bulky Speedo floatation vest, which he thinks makes him look like a robot). He told me, "Look, Mom, I'm swimming like a turtle!" Indeed, his robot vest did somewhat resemble a turtle shell. I was pretty impressed and took a video of him "swimming like a turtle".

Then, this afternoon Moses got out of the pool and asked me to take off his robot vest. He requested that I get in the "baby pool" (the non-heated hot tub which is 3 times deeper than your average baby pool) with him, and he stood on the step and told me to go to the other side. Moses then plunged into the deeper waters, and I naturally reached out to catch him. This act of motherly propriety was met with a vehement protest. "No, Mom, don't catch me!" he ordered. "But I need to catch you! You can't swim!" I replied. "No! Don't catch me!" he angrily reiterated.

After several more attempts in which I dutifully ignored Moses' adamant demands to not rescue him while he flung himself into the depths of the hot tub, I finally obliged. I figured I would let him find out for himself that he couldn't swim without my help. Well, was I ever proven wrong! Moses in fact swam across the deep part of the hot tub right into my arms. I was so amazed; it was surreal. He proceeded to swim back and forth again and again, then went down to touch the bottom of the tub with his feet several times, too. Previously, Moses would ask me to dunk him so he could touch the bottom of the pool, since he was unable to do so while wearing his bouyant robot vest.

Next, I suggested he try out his new swimming skills in the "big pool" and he did just as well. Moses covered even longer distances than the diameter of the hot tub, completely unassisted with his face underwater (I was crouched at the edge of the pool capturing the magic on video). He kept proclaiming "I'm so brave!" and beamed with pride as he swam sans floatation device in deep water.

I am completely amazed that Moses figured out how to swim all by himself in just a couple weeks. Our pool has been open for less than a month, and while the husky twins braved the frigid waters from opening day onward, skinny Moses was reluctant to get his feet wet until after the Memorial Day holiday ushered in warmer temperatures. I never even expected that he would learn to swim this Summer, let alone before Summer officially even begins, and before he's even two and a half years old (just for the record, he's 2 years and 3 months). The twins learned to swim when they were 3 and a half, and I thought that was pretty impressive.

I guess this is just another example of Moses' determination to be "one of the boys". Never mind that he is over 3 years younger than his older brothers. If he sees the twins doing something, he won't quit until he can do it, too.

Monday, June 6, 2011

My Favorite

This afternoon Mimi stopped by for a quick visit and brought a bag of kettle corn for the boys. Moses picked it up and walked it over to Joshua, saying "I give it to Joshua because popcorn is his favorite." Curious to see if Moses really knew what it meant to have something be your favorite, Mimi asked, "What is your favorite, Moses?"

Moses replied, "Ohhhh, I don't know... Maybe... Broccoli!" And thus we knew that he really does understand the meaning of "favorite" :)

P.S. I can confidently say that Moses indeed is fully potty trained! He's been pooping on the potty like a pro, and has even been sleeping at night without a diaper, accident-free!

Saturday, June 4, 2011

First Lost Tooth & Potty Training Superstar

Moses is basically fully potty trained! He's even figured out #2 a lot sooner than I expected. He hasn't had a poop accident since last weekend, and at night his diaper has been dry all but once in the past week. He even stayed dry during the 3.5-hour car rides to and from Virginia Beach last weekend. We put him in a diaper on the drive down last Saturday as a precautionary measure, but Moses insisted on taking it off mid-trip. We drove nonstop without any pit stops, and when he needed to pee, he did so in a bottle while still buckled into his car seat. Moses also knows to get out of the pool and pee in the grass, which is a huge bonus since I'm the one responsible for maintaining our pool's chemical balance this summer. I seriously can't imagine an easier potty training experience.

Joshua experienced a milestone of his own today when he lost his first baby tooth! He is the first of the twins to lose a tooth. It had been taunting us for a while, and since his first two adult teeth had already poked through, we were eager for him to lose it lest his new teeth grow in crooked. Instead of leaving a dollar or whatever is the going rate under his pillow, the Tooth Fairy a.k.a. Daddy gave Joshua a "real" gun, per his request. According to Joshua, it looks just like Gospel Bill's gun. And of course, as soon as Joshua and Daddy came home from the Variety Store with his new "real" gun, we promptly found ourselves back in the car to get "real" guns for Caleb and Moses, too. After coming home with "real" guns all around, Joshua said to Joe, "Daddy, let's take a nap. Then when we wake up, we'll go shoot some bad guys." Thankfully, Joshua's interest in guns is tempered by his interest in emulating great men of the Bible. After finding a new "staff" in the woods, he matter-of-factly told me--as if he had no doubt that it would actually work--"I'm going to take my staff and go try it out by the pool. I'm going to part the water."

By the way, I apparently I spend way too much time at Target, as evidenced by Moses' recent perception of a credit card's intended use. We got new credit cards in the mail so I gave the boys the old ones to play with.
Caleb: "What is that thing called?"
Me: "It's a credit card."
Moses: "No, that not credit card. That for Target!"