Lately Caleb has been very preoccupied with what size clothes he is wearing. He reasons that since he is 6 years old, he should only wear size 6, 6/7, or S(6/7). A few weeks ago I bought him an Angry Birds shirt and a Lego Star Wars shirt. My little fashion icon was bursting at the seams and couldn't wait to wear them until he checked the tags and discovered that they would in fact not burst at the seams if he wore them. Silly me, I should have known better than to buy my tall six-year-old a size M(8) shirt. And so the shirts hang, unworn and forlorn, in the boys' closet.
Caleb also insists on folding up his sleeves if they even so slightly cross the threshold of his wrists. This morning as he was getting dressed, I thought I'd appeal to his tendency to pay attention to aesthetic detail and pointed out that if he folded his sleeves as usual, the NFL logo of his Redskins sweatshirt would be covered. I thought this might be a good way to convince him not to fold his sleeves, since they honestly were not too long and looked kind of ridiculous folded. After agonizing over this dilemma for a couple minutes, Caleb figured out that he could instead tuck his sleeves inward, thereby not obstructing his view of the NFL logo. And it's not that he really cares about the NFL or even knows what it is. You see, today was "Sports Team Spirit Day" at school, which is why I had them wear their Redskins sweatshirts for the first time, and when I asked them if they knew what sport the Redskins play, Joshua was at a complete loss and Caleb hesitantly guessed "basketball". I guess this is what happens to boys whose fathers couldn't care less about professional sports (not that I'm complaining)!
In other news, Caleb and Joshua have recently become obsessed with knowing which presidents of the United States were good and which ones were naughty. While Joe and I have been able to offer relatively educated judgements about the moral integrity of the founding fathers as well as the presidents who have served during the past 80 years or so, we have been at a loss when the boys ask us whether James Polk and Rutherford B. Hayes were good or naughty. The boys have a U.S. Presidents book that they like to consult in their quest to determine the goodness or naughtiness of each president, but the internet has also proven to be helpful. I was amused to overhear the following conversation between the twins a couple days ago:
Joshua: "Was JFK a naughty president or a good president?"
Caleb: "He was naughty."
Joshua: "Why was he naughty?"
Caleb: "Because he was not faif-ful to his wife."
Joshua: "John-John and Caroline's daddy was not faif-ful? Oh, that's too bad."
Caleb: "Yeah, and Bill Clinton was not faif-ful to his wife, either. Hey Mommy, what does 'faif-ful' mean?"
So if you were to ask the boys which presidents were naughty and which were good, they would probably tell you that George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, and the George Bushes were good guys. They'd tell you that Harry Truman, JFK, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton were naughty. And that Jimmy Carter was not necessarily naughty, but that he just made some stupid decisions. I'll refrain from passing judgement on our current commander-in-chief, although I'm sure the boys would be happy to offer their humble opinions if you'd care to ask them.
Moses, meanwhile, has been too busy drawing and writing to care about presidents. When I pick him up from school, he begs me to take him home so he can draw. He'll say, "Mommy, I want to go home and draw you a picture because I love you". Recent drawings have portrayed cowboys riding horses, flowers, our house, our new van, and carrots growing in a garden being eaten by the Easter bunny. I'm reluctant to say this, but his drawings are actually probably better than those of one of his older brothers (who shall remain nameless), probably because in his 3 short years he's dedicated more time to drawing than his brother who is twice as old as him. Whoever said practice makes perfect wasn't kidding.
And now for a few quotes...
Uncle Charles: "Branden! You can't run around in the parking lot! That car almost hit you!"
Moses, gesticulating sternly: "That wasn't a car. It was a truck."
Joshua, after he refused to participate in swim practice without his twin, who was at home sick: "I'm sorry I didn't swim, Mommy, I made a mistake. I'm so sorry, sweet Mommy. It's all my fault, I won't do it again."
Caleb: "Mommy, you are the best cooker because you just made me kale!"
Joshua: "Can I have some more kale?
Moses: "I love kale!"
Moses: "I see a fallabella! It's so small and cute."
Me: "Yeah, it's small and cute just like you, Moses!"
Moses: "No, I am big!"
Me: "Maybe we should give away the bunnies. They're so destructive."
Boys: "Noooo!"
Me: "We could get a pet fish instead."
Boys: "Ok! Yaaaay!"
Caleb: "Or maybe we could get a gun instead of a fish."
Boys: "YAAAAAY!"
Friday, March 30, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Our St. Patrick's Day Splurge
Some people have been puzzled by how we've managed to survive as a family of 5 in a 5-passenger car for the past three years. Since it seems like a lot of folks buy a minivan as soon as they find out they're expecting baby #2, I guess it might seem odd that we held out for so long. Honestly, it didn't really become an issue until the twins graduated to booster seats about a year ago. Whenever I took the boys somewhere in the car, I had to block out an extra 5 minutes dedicated exclusively to fishing around in the narrow crevice between the booster seat and Moses' carseat in a frustrating attempt to buckle the their seat belt one-handed. Times two.
So when Joe's friend and fellow guitar-player on the church worship team announced that his wife was expecting their third child a couple months ago, Joe decided that it'd be nice if we could give them the Santa Fe, a considerable step up from the 20-something-year-old Camry that his wife was currently driving. Their baby is due in August, so we figured we had all Summer to find a nice used van that fit our budget to replace the Santa Fe.
Then while we were visiting Granny and Babo over St. Patrick's Day weekend, they offered to watch the boys while we went out for a test-drive or two. It seemed like a good idea since neither of us had ever been behind the wheel of our top two contenders- the Odyssey and the Sienna. We assured the boys that we were just going to look at cars, and that we certainly would not buy one that day. Upon arriving at the Honda dealership, we soon found ourselves test-driving a souped-up 2010 Odyssey, but balked in discouragement when we learned the price. It just seemed like a lot of money for a used vehicle. Next, we looked at a 2012 Odyssey that cost slightly less than the 2010, but didn't have leather seats. My sincere attempt to be open-minded could not overcome the fact that I'd had my heart set on leather seats for the longest time. All of our couches are leather, and for good reason- I can only imagine the amount of destruction that three boys would wreak on fabric upholstery.
So, we cut to the chase and told the head honcho at the dealership to show us the cheapest 2012 Odyssey with leather seats that they had. He asked us what color we wanted, and I told him we didn't care about the color, all we wanted was leather seats and a low price. So he said, how about this one, and gestured toward the showroom model right beside us. "Sure," we said. What I didn't tell him was that it was the exact same Smoky Topaz color that I'd picked out on Honda's website when I "built my own" Odyssey online just for fun a few weeks earlier!
We were so unprepared to buy a car that day that amid negotiations, Joe had to leave the dealership and drive to the nearest branch of our bank and use the ATM to check the balance in our checking account so we'd know exactly how much we could put down. In the end, they offered to sell us the brand new showroom model, with leather interior and only 5 miles on the odometer, for the same price as the used 2010, which was nearly $4K less than MSRP. With the monthly payments working out to be just a little more than what we were saving each month from our recent mortgage refinance, we were sold!
The boys have been just as excited about our new van as we are. Caleb has written about our new van in his journal almost every day at school since we got it, each day discussing a new feature, such as its 8 seats or the fact that it is "zero years old". They fight over who gets to push the buttons that open and close the doors, and get a big kick out of talking to Daddy on the phone via the van's bluetooth technology. The salesman had assured us that the person on the other end would only be able to hear front-seat passengers, but our boys are apparently a loud exception.
At first we installed Moses' carseat in the middle row and the twins' booster seats in the back row, but Moses sulked and begged to sit next to his brothers. We thought he might enjoy a reprieve from being flanked by his big brothers in tight quarters, but apparently not. One of the countless nice things about the 2012 Odyssey is that the middle row of seats can be adjusted not only front to back, but also side to side. So we now have all three boys across the middle row of seats, and there is plenty of room in between each seat for the twins to buckle themselves in. So now, a task that used to consume 5 minutes every time we got in the car takes me no time at all because the boys can do it themselves! And in the mornings as we're heading out the door to school, the boys can open the sliding doors with the push of a button from inside the house. I used to give them the Santa Fe key and tell them to go unlock the car and get in, hoping that they wouldn't lose the keys somewhere between the house and the car, and if the keys did make it to the car, that no one would get knocked in the head by a swinging car door. As you can imagine, our mornings are much less stressful now.
And as fond as we are of our new Odyssey, parting with the trusty Santa Fe was bittersweet. It was the first car that we'd purchased together as a married couple after Joe's Taurus drowned in Hurricane Isabel. It had been with us through four moves and brought home our three babies. And it really was in good shape, with 100K miles down, and according to other 2003 Santa Fe owners, at least 100K more miles to go. But any sadness that we might have felt was washed away on Monday evening when we saw the huge grin sweep across our friend's face as she drove it away into the sunset.
So when Joe's friend and fellow guitar-player on the church worship team announced that his wife was expecting their third child a couple months ago, Joe decided that it'd be nice if we could give them the Santa Fe, a considerable step up from the 20-something-year-old Camry that his wife was currently driving. Their baby is due in August, so we figured we had all Summer to find a nice used van that fit our budget to replace the Santa Fe.
Then while we were visiting Granny and Babo over St. Patrick's Day weekend, they offered to watch the boys while we went out for a test-drive or two. It seemed like a good idea since neither of us had ever been behind the wheel of our top two contenders- the Odyssey and the Sienna. We assured the boys that we were just going to look at cars, and that we certainly would not buy one that day. Upon arriving at the Honda dealership, we soon found ourselves test-driving a souped-up 2010 Odyssey, but balked in discouragement when we learned the price. It just seemed like a lot of money for a used vehicle. Next, we looked at a 2012 Odyssey that cost slightly less than the 2010, but didn't have leather seats. My sincere attempt to be open-minded could not overcome the fact that I'd had my heart set on leather seats for the longest time. All of our couches are leather, and for good reason- I can only imagine the amount of destruction that three boys would wreak on fabric upholstery.
So, we cut to the chase and told the head honcho at the dealership to show us the cheapest 2012 Odyssey with leather seats that they had. He asked us what color we wanted, and I told him we didn't care about the color, all we wanted was leather seats and a low price. So he said, how about this one, and gestured toward the showroom model right beside us. "Sure," we said. What I didn't tell him was that it was the exact same Smoky Topaz color that I'd picked out on Honda's website when I "built my own" Odyssey online just for fun a few weeks earlier!
We were so unprepared to buy a car that day that amid negotiations, Joe had to leave the dealership and drive to the nearest branch of our bank and use the ATM to check the balance in our checking account so we'd know exactly how much we could put down. In the end, they offered to sell us the brand new showroom model, with leather interior and only 5 miles on the odometer, for the same price as the used 2010, which was nearly $4K less than MSRP. With the monthly payments working out to be just a little more than what we were saving each month from our recent mortgage refinance, we were sold!
The boys have been just as excited about our new van as we are. Caleb has written about our new van in his journal almost every day at school since we got it, each day discussing a new feature, such as its 8 seats or the fact that it is "zero years old". They fight over who gets to push the buttons that open and close the doors, and get a big kick out of talking to Daddy on the phone via the van's bluetooth technology. The salesman had assured us that the person on the other end would only be able to hear front-seat passengers, but our boys are apparently a loud exception.
At first we installed Moses' carseat in the middle row and the twins' booster seats in the back row, but Moses sulked and begged to sit next to his brothers. We thought he might enjoy a reprieve from being flanked by his big brothers in tight quarters, but apparently not. One of the countless nice things about the 2012 Odyssey is that the middle row of seats can be adjusted not only front to back, but also side to side. So we now have all three boys across the middle row of seats, and there is plenty of room in between each seat for the twins to buckle themselves in. So now, a task that used to consume 5 minutes every time we got in the car takes me no time at all because the boys can do it themselves! And in the mornings as we're heading out the door to school, the boys can open the sliding doors with the push of a button from inside the house. I used to give them the Santa Fe key and tell them to go unlock the car and get in, hoping that they wouldn't lose the keys somewhere between the house and the car, and if the keys did make it to the car, that no one would get knocked in the head by a swinging car door. As you can imagine, our mornings are much less stressful now.
And as fond as we are of our new Odyssey, parting with the trusty Santa Fe was bittersweet. It was the first car that we'd purchased together as a married couple after Joe's Taurus drowned in Hurricane Isabel. It had been with us through four moves and brought home our three babies. And it really was in good shape, with 100K miles down, and according to other 2003 Santa Fe owners, at least 100K more miles to go. But any sadness that we might have felt was washed away on Monday evening when we saw the huge grin sweep across our friend's face as she drove it away into the sunset.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Happy 3rd Birthday, Moses! And a Bunny Massacre
Moses is 3 years old! In the past year, Moses has learned to use the potty (he even wipes his own butt), he taught himself how to swim, and most recently, he's even figured out how to legibly write his name. He's a smart kid, and he knows it. His precociousness has enabled him to elude many of the disciplinary toils that his older brothers endured when they were his age. For example, one day last week I told Moses to do something, and he defiantly replied, "no!" When I scolded him for saying "no" to me, his countenance softened and he calmly retorted, "I didn't say 'no', I said 'I know'". Then, instead of correcting him for lying like I should have, I found myself speechless, marveling at his quick and clever manipulation of the English language. His language-delayed older brothers, on the other hand, used to stubbornly (and silently) ignore my requests until I spanked them for the 100th time. The twins have turned out to be sweet boys, though. I hope I'll be able to say the same for Moses when he is the twins' age!
Moses celebrated his actual birthday by staying home all day with Mommy and his brother Caleb who was suffering from an ear infection. I had hoped to do something fun with him while his brothers were at school, but watching movies, drawing pictures, and eating popsicles proved to be a pretty fun day after all. Then he and Joshua went to Mimi and Papa's house while I stayed home and rested with Caleb. The next day, we had a small celebration of February birthdays with Mimi, Papa, and Sooja Emo, where Moses enjoyed popping kim baps into his little mouth to his heart's content. Then this past weekend, we threw Moses a horse-themed birthday party with some of his preschool-aged friends. As it turns out, non-girly horse-themed party decorations are pretty hard to come by, so I found myself tracing and cutting gender neutral horses into the wee hours of the morning in the nights leading up to the party. It was a labor of love for my little horse-lover.
Looking back over the past year, I remembered a couple of little things that I'd forgotten to write about. This past Fall, when Moses was a little over 2 and a half years old, he and I were on the trampoline in the back yard when suddenly he burst into tears and exclaimed, "Oh no! Somebody killed all these bunnies!" Confused, I asked him what on earth he was talking about, and he scooped up a handful of little brown, fuzzy balls. I think they were seed pods of some sort that had fallen from an overhead tree, but in Moses' eyes, they were obviously baby bunny tails. Sure enough, copious amounts of little fuzzy balls were scattered all over the trampoline, so from his 2-year-old perspective, it appeared to be the scene of a bunny massacre. I assured him that no bunnies were harmed in the production of these little brown fuzz balls, but Moses continued to insist that they were "bunny tails" all season long.
Also during the Fall months, Moses collected lots of double acorn tops--just the tops that were missing the nuts, if that makes sense. He called them "angels", presumably because they resembled angels' wings, and frequently presented them to me as gifts, proudly saying, "here Mommy, I got an angel for you!" I'd forgotten about Moses' angels until recently when I found one in the basket where I keep my hair dryer. So sweet.
In the last couple months leading up to his birthday, Moses started to take an avid interest in drawing. Like his big brother Caleb (who has actually eased off from his artistic pursuits as of late), Moses spends most of his free time drawing. When he holds a pencil, his grip is impeccable--I don't think the twins held a pencil so well until they were at least 5 and a half. Moses' impressive fine motor skills have enabled him to produce an ever-increasing portfolio of representational art. They are rarely simple still-life drawings, though. Moses' drawings tend to tell a story, and he will often narrate the story aloud as he draws it. For example, today I overheard him singing a made-up song: "Noah's ark, Noah's ark, Noah's ark..." so I looked over and saw that he was drawing Noah's ark. Then he picked up a blue marker and began singing, "Here come the waves, the bad guys are drowning, here come the waves..." while drawing chaotic, sweeping blue waves beneath the ark, over top of the "bad guys".
Somewhere along the way, Moses developed a habit of folding up his drawings into little wads of paper which he calls "gift-day cards", which I believe he contrived as a cross between "gift" and "birthday cards". He'll say, "I made a gift-day card for me and all my friends". I have been trying to gently convince him not to fold his beautiful artwork into these little wads, so lately he's compromised by folding them just once, calling them "books," and then asking us to read his "books" to him. If I'm lucky, I'll pluck a particularly impressive drawing away from him before he transforms it into a "gift-day card" or a "book", and will convince him that it's best suited unfolded, taped prominently to the dining room wall or hanging on the fridge.
Moses celebrated his actual birthday by staying home all day with Mommy and his brother Caleb who was suffering from an ear infection. I had hoped to do something fun with him while his brothers were at school, but watching movies, drawing pictures, and eating popsicles proved to be a pretty fun day after all. Then he and Joshua went to Mimi and Papa's house while I stayed home and rested with Caleb. The next day, we had a small celebration of February birthdays with Mimi, Papa, and Sooja Emo, where Moses enjoyed popping kim baps into his little mouth to his heart's content. Then this past weekend, we threw Moses a horse-themed birthday party with some of his preschool-aged friends. As it turns out, non-girly horse-themed party decorations are pretty hard to come by, so I found myself tracing and cutting gender neutral horses into the wee hours of the morning in the nights leading up to the party. It was a labor of love for my little horse-lover.
Looking back over the past year, I remembered a couple of little things that I'd forgotten to write about. This past Fall, when Moses was a little over 2 and a half years old, he and I were on the trampoline in the back yard when suddenly he burst into tears and exclaimed, "Oh no! Somebody killed all these bunnies!" Confused, I asked him what on earth he was talking about, and he scooped up a handful of little brown, fuzzy balls. I think they were seed pods of some sort that had fallen from an overhead tree, but in Moses' eyes, they were obviously baby bunny tails. Sure enough, copious amounts of little fuzzy balls were scattered all over the trampoline, so from his 2-year-old perspective, it appeared to be the scene of a bunny massacre. I assured him that no bunnies were harmed in the production of these little brown fuzz balls, but Moses continued to insist that they were "bunny tails" all season long.
Also during the Fall months, Moses collected lots of double acorn tops--just the tops that were missing the nuts, if that makes sense. He called them "angels", presumably because they resembled angels' wings, and frequently presented them to me as gifts, proudly saying, "here Mommy, I got an angel for you!" I'd forgotten about Moses' angels until recently when I found one in the basket where I keep my hair dryer. So sweet.
In the last couple months leading up to his birthday, Moses started to take an avid interest in drawing. Like his big brother Caleb (who has actually eased off from his artistic pursuits as of late), Moses spends most of his free time drawing. When he holds a pencil, his grip is impeccable--I don't think the twins held a pencil so well until they were at least 5 and a half. Moses' impressive fine motor skills have enabled him to produce an ever-increasing portfolio of representational art. They are rarely simple still-life drawings, though. Moses' drawings tend to tell a story, and he will often narrate the story aloud as he draws it. For example, today I overheard him singing a made-up song: "Noah's ark, Noah's ark, Noah's ark..." so I looked over and saw that he was drawing Noah's ark. Then he picked up a blue marker and began singing, "Here come the waves, the bad guys are drowning, here come the waves..." while drawing chaotic, sweeping blue waves beneath the ark, over top of the "bad guys".
Somewhere along the way, Moses developed a habit of folding up his drawings into little wads of paper which he calls "gift-day cards", which I believe he contrived as a cross between "gift" and "birthday cards". He'll say, "I made a gift-day card for me and all my friends". I have been trying to gently convince him not to fold his beautiful artwork into these little wads, so lately he's compromised by folding them just once, calling them "books," and then asking us to read his "books" to him. If I'm lucky, I'll pluck a particularly impressive drawing away from him before he transforms it into a "gift-day card" or a "book", and will convince him that it's best suited unfolded, taped prominently to the dining room wall or hanging on the fridge.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Hey Mommy, Daddy got a new woman!
Moses: "Hey Mommy, Daddy got a new woman!"
Me: "What? Where is she? I'm gonna beat her up."
Moses: "No, Mommy. She is not on the Earth. She is on the iPhone."
Moses was referring to the "Temple Run" game on my iPhone, in which Joe recently bought a new female character.
Moses, looking at a picture of us at the beach: "Mommy carried Moses because I didn't want to fell in the water because it was so so so frickin big and so so so frickin cold."
Moses: "Mommy, I can reach!"
Me: "Wow, Moses, you turned on the faucet all by yourself without standing on the stool? You're getting so tall!"
Moses: "Yeah, I'm so frickin tall."
Me: "There must be something better to do than play Temple Run on the iPhone all day long."
Joe: "Ok, let's go to Ikea."
Boys: "Yay!"
Joshua: "What's Ikea?"
Joe: "It's is a magical place of whimsy."
Joshua: "Oh, I love whimsy!"
Last week Caleb brought home a Kipper book from the library and when he started to read it, he asked me, "Why does it say 'Tiger' instead of 'Ti-gah'?"
Moses, admiring my swimsuit coverup: "Mommy, you look so cute! You look like a princess!"
Joe: "What was your favorite part of our vacation?"
Caleb: "The bedroom!"
Joshua: "The waterpark!"
Moses: "Eating at Chick-fil-a!"
Joshua: "Mommy, I will take care of Caleb." Joshua was so upset and in tears when we temporarily lost Caleb at the waterpark. The prospect of losing him truly broke his heart, and when we finally found him after 15 minutes (that felt like 15 hours), Joshua solemnly vowed that he would "take care of" his twin brother from now on, and ever since then he's been extremely concerned about keeping our family close together and not losing any of us whenever we go out somewhere. For example, yesterday at church Joshua wandered around for about 10 minutes holding my coat and purse, crying because he couldn't find me. It turned out I was sitting at the very next table. Sweet Joshua.
Me: "What? Where is she? I'm gonna beat her up."
Moses: "No, Mommy. She is not on the Earth. She is on the iPhone."
Moses was referring to the "Temple Run" game on my iPhone, in which Joe recently bought a new female character.
Moses, looking at a picture of us at the beach: "Mommy carried Moses because I didn't want to fell in the water because it was so so so frickin big and so so so frickin cold."
Moses: "Mommy, I can reach!"
Me: "Wow, Moses, you turned on the faucet all by yourself without standing on the stool? You're getting so tall!"
Moses: "Yeah, I'm so frickin tall."
Me: "There must be something better to do than play Temple Run on the iPhone all day long."
Joe: "Ok, let's go to Ikea."
Boys: "Yay!"
Joshua: "What's Ikea?"
Joe: "It's is a magical place of whimsy."
Joshua: "Oh, I love whimsy!"
Last week Caleb brought home a Kipper book from the library and when he started to read it, he asked me, "Why does it say 'Tiger' instead of 'Ti-gah'?"
Moses, admiring my swimsuit coverup: "Mommy, you look so cute! You look like a princess!"
Joe: "What was your favorite part of our vacation?"
Caleb: "The bedroom!"
Joshua: "The waterpark!"
Moses: "Eating at Chick-fil-a!"
Joshua: "Mommy, I will take care of Caleb." Joshua was so upset and in tears when we temporarily lost Caleb at the waterpark. The prospect of losing him truly broke his heart, and when we finally found him after 15 minutes (that felt like 15 hours), Joshua solemnly vowed that he would "take care of" his twin brother from now on, and ever since then he's been extremely concerned about keeping our family close together and not losing any of us whenever we go out somewhere. For example, yesterday at church Joshua wandered around for about 10 minutes holding my coat and purse, crying because he couldn't find me. It turned out I was sitting at the very next table. Sweet Joshua.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Moses vs. The Croup
One night a few weeks ago Moses went to bed without eating dinner, then woke up at around 2 AM with a high fever, barking like a seal in between labored gasps for air. Every time he breathed in, his chest became alarmingly concave in. I had never experienced anything like this with the twins, and was honestly pretty scared. It didn't help that I had been up sick for much of the night with a case of food poisoning. Joe and I wondered if we should take him to the ER, but since we're the kind of people who go to the hospital only as a very last resort (especially at 2 AM in the middle of winter), we just held Moses, prayed like we've never prayed before, and coaxed him to take a few licks of a popsicle before he drifted back to sleep.
In the morning Joe called and left a message with our doctor, who later called back, and upon hearing my explanation of Moses' symptoms, determined that he had croup. He first suggested we try a homeopathic phosphorus treatment, but when I described the way Moses had been listlessly laying on the couch all morning with no interest in playing or even watching TV, the doctor urged us to go ahead and take him to urgent care. Moses actually perked up a little on the way to urgent care, because apparently cold air is good for the croup. Once we arrived, Moses was given a nebulizer treatment. At first he resisted and cried, but upon realizing that the nebulizer made him feel better, he relinquished his fight and decided to cooperate. After we'd been at urgent care all afternoon, the doctor decided that we should play it safe and continue on to the hospital for the night.
So we drove home, packed our bags in anticipation of an overnight stay, and dropped the twins off at Mimi and Papa's house. By this point it was about 5 PM and big fat flakes of snow had been showering down steadily all afternoon. Naturally, traffic was a nightmare, and we had to go all the way to Fairfax Hospital since Alexandria doesn't have a pediatric unit. When we finally arrived, Moses settled into his room and enjoyed watching Madagascar from his bed while doctors and nurses gave him steroids, Tylenol, Motrin, another nebulizer treatment, and a popsicle. We were so thankful when they told us we were free to go home that evening at around 9 o'clock. Moses slept soundly that night, and when he woke up the next morning, he ate an entire slice of toast slathered with peanut butter and jam. He normally doesn't even like peanut butter, but his brothers had left this behind at breakfast and I guess Moses was so hungry that he was willing to eat the first thing he could get his hands on. I was so happy to see him eating again that I just sat there and savored watching him savor every bite.
Before this ordeal, I had been totally unfamiliar with croup, thinking it sounded like one of those old-fashioned ailments from the days of yore, but apparently it's quite common among children under age 5. We found out from Granny that both Joe and Uncle Patrick suffered from frequent bouts with the croup when they were little, and the diagnosis paperwork from the urgent care office informed us that croup is an ailment that tends to run in the family. So between this brush with the croup and Moses' episode with the hydrocele when he was a newborn, I guess it's safe to say that Moses did inherit some of his genetic material from his Daddy's side of the family after all! ;-)
In the morning Joe called and left a message with our doctor, who later called back, and upon hearing my explanation of Moses' symptoms, determined that he had croup. He first suggested we try a homeopathic phosphorus treatment, but when I described the way Moses had been listlessly laying on the couch all morning with no interest in playing or even watching TV, the doctor urged us to go ahead and take him to urgent care. Moses actually perked up a little on the way to urgent care, because apparently cold air is good for the croup. Once we arrived, Moses was given a nebulizer treatment. At first he resisted and cried, but upon realizing that the nebulizer made him feel better, he relinquished his fight and decided to cooperate. After we'd been at urgent care all afternoon, the doctor decided that we should play it safe and continue on to the hospital for the night.
So we drove home, packed our bags in anticipation of an overnight stay, and dropped the twins off at Mimi and Papa's house. By this point it was about 5 PM and big fat flakes of snow had been showering down steadily all afternoon. Naturally, traffic was a nightmare, and we had to go all the way to Fairfax Hospital since Alexandria doesn't have a pediatric unit. When we finally arrived, Moses settled into his room and enjoyed watching Madagascar from his bed while doctors and nurses gave him steroids, Tylenol, Motrin, another nebulizer treatment, and a popsicle. We were so thankful when they told us we were free to go home that evening at around 9 o'clock. Moses slept soundly that night, and when he woke up the next morning, he ate an entire slice of toast slathered with peanut butter and jam. He normally doesn't even like peanut butter, but his brothers had left this behind at breakfast and I guess Moses was so hungry that he was willing to eat the first thing he could get his hands on. I was so happy to see him eating again that I just sat there and savored watching him savor every bite.
Before this ordeal, I had been totally unfamiliar with croup, thinking it sounded like one of those old-fashioned ailments from the days of yore, but apparently it's quite common among children under age 5. We found out from Granny that both Joe and Uncle Patrick suffered from frequent bouts with the croup when they were little, and the diagnosis paperwork from the urgent care office informed us that croup is an ailment that tends to run in the family. So between this brush with the croup and Moses' episode with the hydrocele when he was a newborn, I guess it's safe to say that Moses did inherit some of his genetic material from his Daddy's side of the family after all! ;-)
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Daddy, why did God make your hair fall out?
Overheard in the Wolf household in the past month or so...
Moses, watching me wrap Christmas gifts: "Who's that present for?"
Joe: "It's probably for someone whom Mommy loves very much."
Moses: "Is it for Jesus?"
"Oh my gosh, guys, Caleb probably needs to burp." -Caleb
Joshua, asking about Mr. Popper's Penguins: "Does this movie have people in it?"
Joe: "Yeah."
Joshua: "Then I don't think I will like it. I only like movies that have animals."
Joe: "But this movie has penguins in it."
Joshua: "Are the penguins in Antarctica?"
Joe: "No, I think they're in New York City."
Joshua: "I only like movies about penguins that are in Antarctica."
Joshua: "When I grow up, I will become a man and then I will find a woman to be my wife. Maybe Hana will be my wife. Then Hana will have a baby in her belly and I will be his Daddy and you will be his Mimi and Daddy will be his Babo."
Me: "What did your teachers talk about at school today?"
Caleb: "We talked about Martin Luther King!"
Me: "Oh, wow! Who was Martin Luther King?"
Caleb: "He was brown. I colored his face brown."
Me: "Ok, and what did he do?"
Caleb: "I don't know."
Joshua: "He had really short hair."
Joshua: "I ate lunch with Jory and Keira today."
Caleb: "Jory? I think she looks kind of Korean."
Me: "Yeah, I guess she might be Korean.
Caleb: "Like Mimi and Yoojin and Yejin."
Me: "That's right. You boys are a quarter Korean, you know?"
Joshua: "Does Korean mean our skin is just a little yellow and brown?"
Joe, talking to the twins: "I'll give the iPhone to the first boy who can tell me what 3 plus 3 equals."
Moses: "six!"
Joe: "I guess Moses gets the iPhone."
Me: "Would you want to have another brother?"
Moses: "Yes. I want a baby sister and a baby brother. And then there will be five brothers."
To give you some context, Joe and I had just been talking about large families, and how people we know who come from large families seem to enjoy having many siblings despite the sacrifices their families had to make to accommodate them. So, we asked the boys their opinion on the matter, and this is what Moses said. By "brothers" we are sure that he meant "siblings", a word he is not yet familiar with. Anyway, we are pretty impressed with his quick mental math skills.
Joshua: "Daddy, when did your hair fall out?
Joe: "It started to fall out in college."
Joshua: "But why did God make your hair fall out?"
Joe: "I don't know."
Joshua: "Maybe so that Mommy would think that you looked nice and good."
Joe: "Yeah, it did work, didn't it?"
Moses, watching me wrap Christmas gifts: "Who's that present for?"
Joe: "It's probably for someone whom Mommy loves very much."
Moses: "Is it for Jesus?"
"Oh my gosh, guys, Caleb probably needs to burp." -Caleb
Joshua, asking about Mr. Popper's Penguins: "Does this movie have people in it?"
Joe: "Yeah."
Joshua: "Then I don't think I will like it. I only like movies that have animals."
Joe: "But this movie has penguins in it."
Joshua: "Are the penguins in Antarctica?"
Joe: "No, I think they're in New York City."
Joshua: "I only like movies about penguins that are in Antarctica."
Joshua: "When I grow up, I will become a man and then I will find a woman to be my wife. Maybe Hana will be my wife. Then Hana will have a baby in her belly and I will be his Daddy and you will be his Mimi and Daddy will be his Babo."
Me: "What did your teachers talk about at school today?"
Caleb: "We talked about Martin Luther King!"
Me: "Oh, wow! Who was Martin Luther King?"
Caleb: "He was brown. I colored his face brown."
Me: "Ok, and what did he do?"
Caleb: "I don't know."
Joshua: "He had really short hair."
Joshua: "I ate lunch with Jory and Keira today."
Caleb: "Jory? I think she looks kind of Korean."
Me: "Yeah, I guess she might be Korean.
Caleb: "Like Mimi and Yoojin and Yejin."
Me: "That's right. You boys are a quarter Korean, you know?"
Joshua: "Does Korean mean our skin is just a little yellow and brown?"
Joe, talking to the twins: "I'll give the iPhone to the first boy who can tell me what 3 plus 3 equals."
Moses: "six!"
Joe: "I guess Moses gets the iPhone."
Me: "Would you want to have another brother?"
Moses: "Yes. I want a baby sister and a baby brother. And then there will be five brothers."
To give you some context, Joe and I had just been talking about large families, and how people we know who come from large families seem to enjoy having many siblings despite the sacrifices their families had to make to accommodate them. So, we asked the boys their opinion on the matter, and this is what Moses said. By "brothers" we are sure that he meant "siblings", a word he is not yet familiar with. Anyway, we are pretty impressed with his quick mental math skills.
Joshua: "Daddy, when did your hair fall out?
Joe: "It started to fall out in college."
Joshua: "But why did God make your hair fall out?"
Joe: "I don't know."
Joshua: "Maybe so that Mommy would think that you looked nice and good."
Joe: "Yeah, it did work, didn't it?"
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
The Snowman Wus Shivrring
I have quite a backlog of quotes from the past month:
"Samson ate lots of healthy food and became really strong". -Joshua
"No thank you Caleb, I don't wanna get fat". -Moses, politely declining a snack.
"No, Owen, Santa Claus is just a character. He's not real". -Moses, correcting his big brothers' friend's claim that Santa would come down his chimney. I quickly intervened and assured Owen that Moses was mistaken.
"Look, I drew a bat and a ice cream cone for my parents. Look, Mom, your son drew this for you." -Moses, showing me his artwork.
"Oh, praise God, Joshua! You drew a very nice snowman. That's a very good job!" -Caleb
"Ding ding ding! I made my snowman". -Joshua
"This place is very impressive!" -Joshua, upon arriving at the Christmas Tree farm.
"I had a bad dream about a peanut butter pizza that turned into an animal and started chasing me." -Joshua, in a state of consternation just after waking up.
"Is this soup?" - Joshua, referring to his Thanksgiving school lunch of turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes smothered in gravy.
"I want a baby sister. I have too many brothers." -Moses, wishfully thinking.
"And a very, very, very metal tree." -Caleb and Joshua's interpretation of "And a partridge in a pear tree."
"See the green Christmas trees, growing up the pine. See the green Christmas trees, this one will be mine." -Joshua's seasonally appropriate version of a song they learned in school: "See the yellow pumpkins, growing on the vine. See the yellow pumpkins, this one will be mine."
Of course, this is just a tiny sampling of the billions of things the boys say each day. Moses talks so much when it's just me and him at home during the day that I sometimes want to just tell him to be quiet! Since the twins had language delays and were relatively reticent 2-year-olds, I am not accustomed to all of this talking, and it honestly wears on my introverted self. I've even resorted to begging him to watch movies just so that I can hear myself think.
Upon noticing a dearth of quotes from Caleb in my collection, I initially felt kind of bad for not recording more things he's said. but I actually think it's a reflection of the fact that he generally spends less time gabbing away than his brothers do. Caleb is probably the most introverted one of the bunch, and spends much more time drawing than the other two do. He continues to mass-produce drawings on a daily basis, his current obsessions being gingerbread men being chased by foxes, as well as snowmen assuming different occupational roles, such as a cowboy snowman or a policeman snowman.
Moses has followed Caleb's lead and has actually shown himself to be a pretty decent artist. He has drawn things like faces, horses, and skull-and-crossbones that are surprisingly recognizable, considering they were created by a two-year-old. Moses is also eager to emulate his big brothers' writing skills and has even written the word "MIMI" although I don't think he knew what he was writing. His favorite letters to write are "H", "I", "M", "O" and "E". He doesn't seem interested in writing his name, but I guess I can't blame him since those "S"s are pretty daunting. He also insists that his name is spelled "M-O-E-S". Moses has a stubborn streak and trying to convince him that he's wrong is usually a futile effort.
Unfortunately, Moses also seems to think it's his job to correct his friends and tell them they're doing everything the wrong way. After living in the shadows of two older brothers for his entire life, I guess he's realized that preschool is his long-awaited opportunity to be the boss, even though he's actually one of the youngest kids in his class. Even though I have been horrified to witness this behavior on more than one occasion at school and at play dates, the other children thankfully don't seem to mind Moses' bossy nature, and he is never at a loss for friends who want to play with him.
Unlike his bossy little brother, Joshua is most focused on discussing the virtues of kindness and striving to be a "model student." We've been amused to witness the inclusion of phrases such as "that was so kind of you" and "I am very impressed" into his everyday speech. And Joshua not only talks the talk, but he also (usually) walks the walk. It is no wonder that his classmate Hanna told him today that she is going to marry him! Joshua is also becoming a more confident reader and writer. The other day when I was volunteering in his classroom, he wrote the following narrative: "The snowman wus shivrring. He wus so so cod." Translation: "The snowman was shivering. He was so, so cold." It's cute to see that Joshua writes the same way he talks. I was also pleased to see that he finished his assignment early and had plenty of time for free play afterwards. During the first couple months of school, when the children's task had been to write a letter of the alphabet several dozen times and then color, cut, and glue a worksheet pertaining to that letter, Joshua would drag it out and barely finish the assignment in time to head to lunch. Clearly, he is much more motivated to do creative work, and understandably so.
The boys are very excited about the impending arrival of Christmas in a few days. Ever since we put up our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, Joshua has regularly proclaimed, "this will be the best Christmas ever!" Even though we've reminded the boys over and over again that Santa Claus is just a character, they still seem to partially believe that he really will come down our chimney and bring them presents. This doesn't bother me, it's actually kind of endearing, and at least they'll never be able to claim that we lied to them. Trying to keep Christ in Christmas has been more of a challenge this year than in years past, since the twins' public school Kindergarten curriculum would lead one to believe that gingerbread houses and gingerbread men are the centerpiece of what should be a celebration of our Savior's birth. I suppose it could be worse; at least the boys have come home with Christmas tree crafts and a lesson about the Dutch tradition of leaving shoes out for Saint Nicholas to fill. And this past weekend, all three boys bravely stood in front of the congregation and sang about Baby Jesus in our church's newly-formed children's choir: "What did the donkey at the manger say, to Baby Jesus in the hay? Hee haw, hee haw, Baby Jesus we love you."
"Samson ate lots of healthy food and became really strong". -Joshua
"No thank you Caleb, I don't wanna get fat". -Moses, politely declining a snack.
"No, Owen, Santa Claus is just a character. He's not real". -Moses, correcting his big brothers' friend's claim that Santa would come down his chimney. I quickly intervened and assured Owen that Moses was mistaken.
"Look, I drew a bat and a ice cream cone for my parents. Look, Mom, your son drew this for you." -Moses, showing me his artwork.
"Oh, praise God, Joshua! You drew a very nice snowman. That's a very good job!" -Caleb
"Ding ding ding! I made my snowman". -Joshua
"This place is very impressive!" -Joshua, upon arriving at the Christmas Tree farm.
"I had a bad dream about a peanut butter pizza that turned into an animal and started chasing me." -Joshua, in a state of consternation just after waking up.
"Is this soup?" - Joshua, referring to his Thanksgiving school lunch of turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes smothered in gravy.
"I want a baby sister. I have too many brothers." -Moses, wishfully thinking.
"And a very, very, very metal tree." -Caleb and Joshua's interpretation of "And a partridge in a pear tree."
"See the green Christmas trees, growing up the pine. See the green Christmas trees, this one will be mine." -Joshua's seasonally appropriate version of a song they learned in school: "See the yellow pumpkins, growing on the vine. See the yellow pumpkins, this one will be mine."
Of course, this is just a tiny sampling of the billions of things the boys say each day. Moses talks so much when it's just me and him at home during the day that I sometimes want to just tell him to be quiet! Since the twins had language delays and were relatively reticent 2-year-olds, I am not accustomed to all of this talking, and it honestly wears on my introverted self. I've even resorted to begging him to watch movies just so that I can hear myself think.
Upon noticing a dearth of quotes from Caleb in my collection, I initially felt kind of bad for not recording more things he's said. but I actually think it's a reflection of the fact that he generally spends less time gabbing away than his brothers do. Caleb is probably the most introverted one of the bunch, and spends much more time drawing than the other two do. He continues to mass-produce drawings on a daily basis, his current obsessions being gingerbread men being chased by foxes, as well as snowmen assuming different occupational roles, such as a cowboy snowman or a policeman snowman.
Moses has followed Caleb's lead and has actually shown himself to be a pretty decent artist. He has drawn things like faces, horses, and skull-and-crossbones that are surprisingly recognizable, considering they were created by a two-year-old. Moses is also eager to emulate his big brothers' writing skills and has even written the word "MIMI" although I don't think he knew what he was writing. His favorite letters to write are "H", "I", "M", "O" and "E". He doesn't seem interested in writing his name, but I guess I can't blame him since those "S"s are pretty daunting. He also insists that his name is spelled "M-O-E-S". Moses has a stubborn streak and trying to convince him that he's wrong is usually a futile effort.
Unfortunately, Moses also seems to think it's his job to correct his friends and tell them they're doing everything the wrong way. After living in the shadows of two older brothers for his entire life, I guess he's realized that preschool is his long-awaited opportunity to be the boss, even though he's actually one of the youngest kids in his class. Even though I have been horrified to witness this behavior on more than one occasion at school and at play dates, the other children thankfully don't seem to mind Moses' bossy nature, and he is never at a loss for friends who want to play with him.
Unlike his bossy little brother, Joshua is most focused on discussing the virtues of kindness and striving to be a "model student." We've been amused to witness the inclusion of phrases such as "that was so kind of you" and "I am very impressed" into his everyday speech. And Joshua not only talks the talk, but he also (usually) walks the walk. It is no wonder that his classmate Hanna told him today that she is going to marry him! Joshua is also becoming a more confident reader and writer. The other day when I was volunteering in his classroom, he wrote the following narrative: "The snowman wus shivrring. He wus so so cod." Translation: "The snowman was shivering. He was so, so cold." It's cute to see that Joshua writes the same way he talks. I was also pleased to see that he finished his assignment early and had plenty of time for free play afterwards. During the first couple months of school, when the children's task had been to write a letter of the alphabet several dozen times and then color, cut, and glue a worksheet pertaining to that letter, Joshua would drag it out and barely finish the assignment in time to head to lunch. Clearly, he is much more motivated to do creative work, and understandably so.
The boys are very excited about the impending arrival of Christmas in a few days. Ever since we put up our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, Joshua has regularly proclaimed, "this will be the best Christmas ever!" Even though we've reminded the boys over and over again that Santa Claus is just a character, they still seem to partially believe that he really will come down our chimney and bring them presents. This doesn't bother me, it's actually kind of endearing, and at least they'll never be able to claim that we lied to them. Trying to keep Christ in Christmas has been more of a challenge this year than in years past, since the twins' public school Kindergarten curriculum would lead one to believe that gingerbread houses and gingerbread men are the centerpiece of what should be a celebration of our Savior's birth. I suppose it could be worse; at least the boys have come home with Christmas tree crafts and a lesson about the Dutch tradition of leaving shoes out for Saint Nicholas to fill. And this past weekend, all three boys bravely stood in front of the congregation and sang about Baby Jesus in our church's newly-formed children's choir: "What did the donkey at the manger say, to Baby Jesus in the hay? Hee haw, hee haw, Baby Jesus we love you."
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