Thursday, July 21, 2011

Introducing Cocoa and Blueberry

A couple weeks ago, a teacher at the boys' preschool emailed me and asked if we'd be interested in adopting a bunny. Every Summer, Tauxemont brings in several baby bunnies, kittens, and other animals for its camp program, then needs to find homes for them after camp is over. I agreed to come check them out, and by the time we got there, a white "lion head" and a brown "mini rex", both 3 months old, were still available.

Brownie perfectly fit my mental image of what a proper cute bunny should look like, while Frankie struck me as an unkempt anomaly with his wild white mane. It didn't help that I've never really cared for white rabbits. Mrs. Matthews told me that Frankie was more sociable since the campers requested to hold him more often than the other animals, and that he was further along towards being litter box trained. Two points for white. A few of the campers informed me that Brownie bites. Minus one point for brown. So despite love-at-first-sight with the brown bunny, and Moses' insistence that we "get a brown bunny because I am brown", I decided that the white bunny would be the more prudent choice. I committed to picking Frankie up when we got back from our weekend out of town.

When we went to take delivery of our new bunny, we found out that Brownie was still in need of a home. Once again, I found myself torn between the funny-looking white bunny and the beautiful brown one. Mrs. Matthews sensed my indecision and told me that we'd be welcome to take them both home for a trial run and then decide which one we'd like to keep. Perfect! We loaded them up in Pinky's old cage and took them home. Mrs. Bradley remarked that she'd never seen Caleb, Joshua, and Moses so happy to be leaving Tauxemont.

Once home, it became difficult to imagine giving up either of the bunnies. They snuggled each other, groomed each other, and the boys were simply ecstatic to play with them both. Being the indecisive person I am, I decided to poll my Facebook friends to see which one they thought we should keep, and almost everyone who weighed in cast their vote for the white bunny. But by this point, the thought of sending away the brown bunny was unfathomable. There were smiles all around when Daddy gave his consent to keep them both.

The first order of business was to decide on new names for our new bunnies. For the longest time, Caleb had been set on naming our next pet "Cranberry." You might recall that he had wanted to re-name Pinky, "Cranberry," but it never launched. More recently he'd told me he wanted a dog named Cranberry. So of course, he suggested we name one of the rabbits "Cranberry," which actually would have been rather appropriate for the white bunny if it had had the misfortune of being born with red eyes. But since good genetics had blessed him with blue eyes, I suggested that we name him "Blueberry" instead. Caleb thought it was a great idea, and the name has stuck ever since, although we occasionally slip and call him "Frankie," but usually only if he is being naughty.

As for the brown bunny, the boys thought that Brownie was a cute name, but that "Chocolate" would be even better. Seeing that "Chocolate" seemed like kind of a mouthful, I suggested a truncated alternative--one of the boys' favorite cold weather treats--"Cocoa". The boys all agreed that it was a good choice, and Cocoa he has been.

We have given Cocoa and Blueberry free reign of our screened-in porch and keep the ceiling fan on to make sure they stay cool during this heatwave. They are not litter-box trained, although over the past few days they have been gradually started to limit their pooping and peeing to one-fourth of the porch. I guess it could be worse, and hopefully over time they will learn to hone in on their litter box exclusively. Maybe then we'll even be able to let them roam around the house, especially since Blueberry has already managed to sneak into the house several times. Until then, I've been giving the vacuum a good work-out, and I've enlisted the twins to use the dustpan to sweep up the copious little round pellets.

Interestingly, all three boys have declared that Cocoa is their favorite, and Cocoa has warmed up to us more quickly than Blueberry has, in contradiction to what the teachers and kids at camp had told us. I guess we never have been ones to just go with the flow. Seeing how well the boys have bonded with Cocoa makes me especially glad that we decided to adopt him, too. Both bunnies are still slightly nervous around the boys, especially Moses, who is still learning how to be gentle. But when I go out on the porch by myself without the boys, both bunnies come hopping up to me for a snuggle and a pet. I don't think you could ask for sweeter pets than bunnies.

And now, a few unrelated quotes:

Caleb: "Mommy, can I read a book with you? I just really love you all the time!"

Joshua, flattening Cocoa's ears against his head: "Cocoa looks like a beaver!"

Moses: "Mom, babies have guns?"
Me: "No."
Moses: "Only just soldiers have guns."

Joe, listening to music: "Joshua, do you like this song?"
Joshua, after a thoughtful pause: "No, I don't like this song because it's not about God. I only like songs that are about God and Jesus."

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Farmer Joshua

It's been really cute to see how excited the boys have been about our garden this Summer. Last year I hastily planted an in-ground garden in the back corner of our yard, and while the boys helped me water it occasionally, it didn't hold their interest quite as much because the plants didn't yield much fruit, and it wasn't in the area of the yard where they normally play. In light of last Summer's meager harvest, I decided to switch gears and give container gardening a try. It seems silly since we have such a huge yard, but being able to keep all of the plants in pots on the deck by the pool has made tending and watering more convenient, and in-between dips in the pool, the boys like to monitor their growth. Granted, the plants probably drank a little more chlorinated water than they would have otherwise!

Moses loves to pick cherry tomatoes and eat them straight off the plant. Not a single cherry tomato has made its way inside of our house all Summer, and they usually don't even get a chance to fully turn red before Moses plucks them. Joshua is our avid cucumber harvester. Every morning he wakes up and asks if we can go check on them, and gets very excited when a cucumber is ready to be picked. I think he takes after his Papa, who has always been an avid vegetable gardener. Since cucumbers are our most prolific crop, the boys have been eating a lot of them lately. Caleb still insists that he doesn't like the taste and pinches his nose while eating them, which has prompted Moses, who actually likes cucumbers, to do the same. The funny thing is that Moses doesn't hold his nose tight enough to have any effect on his ability to taste.

Yesterday we picked our first bell peppers, which Joshua decided that we should use as a pizza topping. When we picked our first zucchini, the boys were so excited to help me make zucchini bread. I'm so glad that they have this opportunity to grow and eat their own food.

And a few unrelated quotes:

Me: "If we get a pet bunny, what color would you want it to be?"
Moses: "Brown."
Me: "Why?"
Moses: "Because I am brown."

Moses: "Mom, I need more salad. And more Catawina dressing."

Joshua, observing my messy hair: "Mommy, you look like a porcupine."
Moses: "You look like a squirrel."

Moses: "I don't need mama anymore." (That's right, Moses is officially no longer drinking "mama" as of last week! Of course it took me a while to convince him that he didn't need it anymore.)

King of Jericho or Caiaphas? Tiger or Lion?

Lately Moses has been going through an argumentative phase. For example, today we were reading the story about Joshua and the Battle of Jericho in the boys' children's Bible. Moses pointed to an illustration of the king of Jericho and said, "That's Caiaphas." I corrected him and said, "No, Caiaphas was the high priest in the days of Jesus. That's the king of Jericho," but Moses stubbornly insisted, "No! That's Caiaphas!" And so we argued back and forth until I finally gave up. Whatever.

For the past couple days, Moses had been carrying around a toy tiger and calling it a "lion". I repeatedly told him, "Moses, that's not a lion. That's a tiger," to which he always retorted, "No! It a lion!" Then, when we were checking out at Trader Joe's today, the cashier asked him, "What kind of animal do you have there?" Moses paused, carefully averted his eyes away from me, and told the cashier that it was a tiger. So, just when I was beginning to wonder if he honestly believed the misconceptions he has been so fond of arguing in favor of, he showed me that he really just likes to give his mommy a hard time.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Sister or Dog? Gogi or Hot Dog? In-Utero iPhone Playing?

Our boys say some pretty crazy things. And they have a remarkable memory... mostly accurate, but occasionally extremely inaccurate!

Joshua: "Mommy, you look kind of like an old mommy."

Moses, observing Joe wearing a scarf on his head: "Daddy, you look like a Christian."

Moses, looking at a coupon for Oreo look-alike cookies, and remembering the time Uncle Chris babysat him about 9 months ago: "Remember, Uncle Chris give me these?"

Moses, pointing to a bank that he went to with Mimi over 6 months ago: "Remember, I go there with Mimi?"

Me: "Moses, do you promise not to tell your brothers that I gave you Chick-fil-a?"
Moses, grinning: "Yes."
Me: "Really, Moses, do you promise?"
Moses, still grinning: "No..."

Joshua, almost every morning for the past 3 weeks: "C'mon, Mommy! Let's go check on the cucumbers!"

Joshua: "Mommy, do you have a baby in your belly?"
Me: "Um, no."
Joshua: "How 'bout you get one in there?"
Caleb: "Maybe a girl this time."
Joshua: "Yeah, I want a sister."
Caleb: "And a dog, too."
Me: "Which one do you want more- a baby sister or a dog?"
Joshua: "A cat."

Caleb: "There's another Caleb in my class at Vacation Bible School!"
Joshua: "And another Joshua! But not the Joshua in the Bible. It's another Joshua. He doesn't have a sword."

Joe: "What do you like more- gogi or hot dogs?"
Joshua: "Hmmm... gogi. And rice."
Me: "Awww, good answer!"

Joshua: "Remember when I was a little baby and I was in your belly?"
Me: "Of course! You and Caleb were both in my belly at the same time."
Moses: "Remember when I was a little baby in your belly and I played your iPhone?"
Me: "Um, no..."

Moses, prefacing each acquisition of my iPhone: "Look, Mommy. I show you something."

Moses, shaking a finger at me every time he sits on the potty to poop: "But remember, don't wipe my butt, okay?"

Saturday, July 2, 2011

All Those White Kids

Yesterday I took the boys to the doctor to have him fill out their school medical forms. While we were there, the doctor did a quick check-up on all three boys. Caleb is in the 50th %tile for height at 3'8" and is in the 60th for weight at 46 lbs. Joshua is in the 60th %tile for height at 3'9" and is in the 80th %tile for weight at 50.5 lbs. Moses is in the 60th %tile for height at 3'1" and the 75th %tile for weight at 31.5 lbs. I was pretty surprised to learn that Moses is in the upper percentiles for weight, despite not being unusually tall, since he looks so skinny. I guess it must be all those swimming muscles he's put on recently!

I just need to get a couple more forms filled out and I'll be ready to register the twins for Kindergarten, something I probably should've done a few months ago. I guess I'm just not in a huge hurry to ship my boys off to public school. It doesn't help that Joshua keeps telling me that he doesn't want to go to Kindergarten and that he thinks the other kids won't play with him. After he attended orientation, he told me, "I don't want to go to Kindergarten with all those white kids." I am still trying to figure out where he heard that, although it's quite possible that he genuinely made this observation on his own. True, the elementary school he'll be attending is notoriously homogenous (or at least much more so than his current circle of friends) but it really surprised me that my self-proclaimed "white" son would say that he didn't want to go to school with "all those white kids!"