I will... walk!

The boys are so talkative these days. Joshua has learned how to say "flower". He will point at all the blossoming buds in our yard and say "flower! flower!" Caleb likes to try to say "will", which honestly usually sounds like "wuh!" but it's a start. That is not an easy word, but he seems to have a special affinity for it. There's a line in one of their favorite books Are You My Mother? (which, I might add, is a 50+ page book that holds their attention even on the 3rd consecutive reading) where the baby bird says "I will! I will!" and Caleb always echoes "will! will!"

Forget the stroller... the boys want to walk everywhere now. They usually take turns pushing the wagon when we go on our walks, now. A couple times I tried letting them both walk down our street on our way to Halmoni and Grandpa's house, but since the boys each have their own agendas, such endeavors resulted in crying fits, with me carrying one boy and concerned neighbor ladies sprinting from their houses to help steer the other. Joshua is actually very focused and is good at efficiently walking in a straight line. One time he was concentrating so hard on walking that he walked straight into a truck's bumper. Caleb, however, is more curious and is easily distracted by pretty flowers, clouds, or a bird flying overhead. He does better on sidewalks, but unfortunately most of the roads in our neighborhood lack this novelty.

Our little supplicant

This evening at Halmoni and Grandpa's house we were gathered around the island right before dinner, and the boys were in their high chairs. Right before we were getting ready to say grace, Joshua took the initiative to pray on his own. I kid you not- he bowed his head, closed his eyes, said "Adabadabaadabadaa.... Amen!" and lifted his head and opened his eyes. We were all amazed!

Joshua also holds the phone up to his ear now and says "Hi! Bla bla bla..." But for whatever reason he won't talk if there's actually someone on the other end of the line.

Smoothies

Since discovering that Safeway sells frozen organic raspberries and blueberries for way less than what it'd cost to buy them fresh, I've been making smoothies every morning for breakfast. Berries, frozen sliced bananas, soy milk, and wheat germ... press the button and you've got instant healthy yumminess . Caleb and I have been enjoying them for a while now, but stubborn Joshua insisted that everything in my cup must be orange juice and decided a while ago that he didn't like orange juice. I tried offering him some in a little sippy cup but he didn't fall for it. Well I finally convinced Joshua to taste some today, and he loved it!

It took me a while to get used to the taste of soy milk, but after reading this article I've decided to reserve cow's milk for special occasions and small amounts, like in coffee, baking recipes, cheese, or an occasional ice cream. And Caleb actually seems to like soy milk smoothies better than the ones I used to make with organic whole milk!

17 months old

The boys are almost a year and a half old! Their new favorite thing to do is flitter-flutter their hands in the air like twinkling stars to prompt us to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for them. Halmoni taught them this. They are a most appreciative audience, always responding to our singing with wide smiles and generous applause.

They have learned the following new phrases:

• Oh man! Oh yeah! Oh wow! Do it!

They can almost say:

• Juice. Yes. Shell.

Whenever they sit on a little chair, they say "Shh-shhh" which is the sound I taught them to make when they sit on their little potty. Unfortunately, they seem to think that they can "shh-shhh" anywhere as long as they're sitting on a chair. Needless to say, we have put potty-learning on hold for the time being.

Caleb and Joshua LOVE to play outside. This recent cold spell has not sat well with them. They would bring me their shoes and their coats and say "Bye-bye? Bye-bye?", begging me to take them outside to play on the rain and snow-soaked earth. We are anxiously waiting for global warming to hurry up and do its thing so we can return to our daily outdoor romps.

Descending the stairs & Turning on the Xbox

Lately Joshua has learned how to come down stairs the safe way- sliding on his tummy. When he first caught on about a week ago, he did this over and over and over again, proud of his new skill. Caleb can do it if we closely monitor and coerce him, but as with most other things, he still prefers to do exactly what he sees the grown-ups doing, which would be walking down stairs on his feet. 

This past week Joshua and Caleb have teamed up to acheive a rather undesirable new skill- turning on the TV and Xbox to watch a Baby Einstein DVD! Joshua will push the eject button on the Xbox, push it back in (with the DVD already loaded) while Caleb turns on the TV. Then they will clap and marvel at their accomplishment as the Disney logo and intro music exudes from the TV. We usually let them watch only one half-hour movie per day, so if they start to get carried away we'll flip the swtich on the power strip so that they can't turn anything on. Hopefully it'll be a while before they figure that out! Joe remarked that this is probably only the beginning of the many great accomplishments they'll acheive working together as a team.

Brushing off Dirt... I am a Snowman... and Pushing

Caleb is a very clean boy... he does not like to get his hands dirty! The first few times Caleb fell outside and got dirt on his hands, he studied his palms, gravely concerned. He was anxious to get the dirt off, but not quite sure how to do this without Mommy's help. So I taught him to brush his hands together to make the dirt fall off, and he caught on immediately. Now every time he falls and gets his hands dirty, he will brush his hands together and look at me proudly. That's my sweet clean boy!

The boys are both learning so many new things. They can locate the following body parts: Nose, eyes, ears, mouth, hand, and foot. Caleb also thinks that he is a snowman. One day I was reading him a book that had a snowman in it, and I pointed to the little snowman embroidered on the bib of his green overalls and said "snowman!" Well, ever since then, whenever I read to him about a snowman, he will carefully and proudly point to his chest. He is always so proud of himself for remembering this and I just don't have the heart to tell him the truth- that he's not a snowman!

While Caleb is very interested in carefully admiring his environment... art, flowers, books, Joshua is all about action. He loves running and jumping onto the couch, and he loves to push and move things. He will push their little walker wagon, their big riding wagon, laundry baskets, the tall chairs at Halmoni and Grandpa's house (we're not too fond of the noise that makes), doors, and even his brother! Today I spent an extra half hour outside with Joshua after Halmoni took Caleb inside, just so he could push their big red wagon all over the yard and up and down the sidewalk. Every time I tried to guide him into the garage, he started to cry- genuine big tears, as if I were interfering with an important mission. At one point he was having a difficult time pushing the wagon up a grassy hill, and oh my did he grunt and strain, exerting every ounce of energy his little body could exude! Suspecting that his cap was perhaps getting in the way of his pushing, he even paused to remove it from his head mid-push. I eventually had to force him to take a break from pushing and carried him into the house kicking and screaming. Joshua is one determined (and strong) little man!

An outing to the National Gallery of Art

Today we took the boys downtown to the National Gallery of Art, since Caleb has expressed an unusual interest in art. He would express more interest in some pieces than others, and would let us know when he was ready to move on to the next painting. When he lingered particularly long at one painting, I asked Joe "what's this one called?" and he said "I don't know" so I looked, and it was Joshua commanding the Sun to stand still upon Gibeon, 1816 by John Martin. We feel that it's more than a coincidence that this painting featuring the eponymous Biblical Joshua and Caleb was the one that our young art enthusiast seemed most drawn to!

We also encountered this sculpture, c. 500-480 BC, depicting the legendary twins Remus and Romulus nursing from their mother the she-wolf, a scenario that strikes rather close-to-home for us! The similarities are striking, aren't they? ;) There's a photo of Joshua and me standing next to this in the museum in the March '07 gallery.