While Joshua is happily kept preoccupied with the usual boyhood interests of trains and cars, Caleb’s interests tend to be much more eclectic. One of his chief obsessions is signs. When we go to the playground, he makes a beeline for the playground rules sign. The swings, slides, and sandbox are all secondary to this glorious sign that evokes such deep passion, causing Caleb’s eyes to widen with wonderment and his limbs to twitch gleefully as he studies it intently. When we are out on a walk, we must stop and examine every sign… crosswalk signs, stop signs, no parking signs, you name it. They all command Caleb’s immediate attention as he demands to know what each sign represents before performing a celebratory prance around the pole. The grocery store is yet another venue offering a plethora of signs for our information-thirsty toddler. The other day we were strolling down an aisle at Whole Foods when Caleb stopped dead in his tracks and exclaimed with grave concern, “Uh oh! The sign is missing!” We looked up, and sure enough the sign that should have been displayed above the yogurt section was absent, leaving only the sign-hanging apparatus dangling lonesomely in its place.

If Joshua and Caleb’s need for my attention is urgent, or if they perceive that we are in a place where I am not uniquely “Mommy”, they will drop all formalities and call me by my first name.

“Katie! Ewww, there’s a big spider!” About 75% of the time when I hear the boys call me by my first name, it’s because they have happened upon a malicious-looking bug, usually a spider or a cricket, and want me to come resolve the situation immediately. If it’s an ant, they will simply stomp on it, if it’s a mosquito they will try to slap it, if it’s a bee they will (unwisely) swat at it. But spiders are Katie’s responsibility… lucky me!

When we are at a playground where there are lots of other kids with their moms, they have figured out that it’s easiest to get my attention if they call for “Katie!” instead of “Mommy!” I personally think it was pretty smart of them to have figured this out.

They also like to call their daddy by his first name on occasion. A lot of times it’s when they can hear him approaching the front door after being away at work all day. They will hear his keys jingling at the door and will happily call out, “Joe! Joe! Joe!” in eager anticipation of Daddy’s arrival.

Not that the boys don’t enjoy Summer’s bounty of peaches and plums, but when you consider the juicy mess factor, crisp Fall apples are the preferred fruit for our little chowhounds. So this morning I was thrilled to see that bulk bags of organic Fuji apples have made their seasonal debut at our local Trader Joe’s.

When we got home from the grocery store, the boys played outside while snacking on their apples. I was amused to hear the following “conversation” between Joshua and a bird perched atop a nearby wire:

“Bird, want some apple?” asked Joshua, offering his partially-eaten apple with his arm extended into the air towards the bird on the phone lines high above. No response from the bird. “Why not?” Joshua demanded to know. Still no reply from his avian friend. “Tweet tweet, bird, want some apple???” Joshua asked again, becoming exasperated with the bird’s indifference. He then offered some apple to the neighbor’s cat “Kitty, want some apple? … why not?” etc.

I thought it was generous of Joshua to offer his delicious apple to his animal friends considering how heartily he seemed to be enjoying it. He even ate the stem and half of the core, then proceeded to devour Caleb’s discards!

The other night we were driving home from Mimi and Papa’s, and Caleb was upset because the amount of time we had allotted for him to attempt to buckle his seat belt had not been sufficient, and we were forced to buckle it for him. Our strong-willed son proceeded to scream and holler the whole way home. Along the way, we passed a couple of churches, and as we drove past Caleb continued his defiant screaming while Joshua, upon noticing the crosses on the church buildings, earnestly exclaimed, “Thank you, Jesus!” We couldn’t help but giggle at the stark dichotomy between the two boys at that moment. Joe remarked that the boys should henceforth be referred to as “the king and the priest”.

I know I’ve mentioned before how strong-willed Caleb can be, but sometimes it is just too much! The other day he threw a fit because I wouldn’t let him wear his red Crocs in bed during his nap. So of course naptime was postponed a good hour while he screamed in protest, despite all of my best disciplinary efforts. When he woke up from the nap, he hadn’t forgotten about the red Crocs, but unfortunately by this time Joshua was awake and already wearing them. I won’t get into the gory details, but let’s just say that Caleb’s nap was merely a brief respite from another full-fledged red Croc tantrum. Remind me never to get the boys non-matching shoes again!

Caleb has a sweet side, too. We have finally gotten the boys to sleep in their own bed at night, granted that bed is still juxtaposed right up against ours, and they usually insist on “holding Mommy’s hand” as they drift off to sleep. Well, the other night I decided I’d had enough of the double-hand-holding and wanted to fall asleep in a normal non-contorted position. So when Caleb begged to hold Mommy’s hand, we did not cave in. “Caleb, do you want to hold Mommy’s toilet paper, instead?” Joe offered. “Ok!” chirped Caleb as he accepted the roll of toilet paper which I had in the bed in lieu of a box of Kleenex. Then Caleb proceeded to cuddle the roll of toilet paper and coo, “Aww, do you love it toilet paper? Awww, so sweet…” and he fell asleep clutching it in the cradle of his arm.

Joshua has recently decided to assume the role of Mini-Mommy in our household. No, he does not do laundry, cook, or maintain this website. Instead, he focuses his energy on bossing around his big brother!

This morning the boys picked out the shirts they would like to wear today and were each holding a shirt while waiting for me to help them get dressed. Caleb dropped his shirt on the ground. Joshua sternly instructed his brother, saying “Caleb [insert dramatic pause], pick up your shirt”. Caleb picked up his shirt. Joshua somewhat reluctantly offered his approval of Caleb’s obedience with a mildly enthusiastic “good boy”.

This was not an isolated incident. If Joshua perceives that Caleb is eating too fast during a meal, he will point his finger at his brother and sternly say, “Caleb, chew.” If Caleb is throwing a tantrum, Joshua will tell him, “Caleb, stop screaming. Do you want to go to your room by yourself?” The thing that amuses me most is the tone of voice Joshua uses when he’s dishing out these commands. His voice drops a few decibels and he utters his commands and threats in a firm monotone. I guess that must be what I sound like to the boys when they perceive that I mean business!

Sweet Caleb has been humoring his brother’s Mini-Mommy tendencies pretty well. Although, I do wonder if Caleb’s occasional outbursts against Joshua are partially rooted in his frustration with always being bossed around by his upstart little brother…

Joshua got the idea in his head that when he doesn’t want something, whether it be a half-eaten plum or Skarloey the train, he should hand it to someone else and say, “Want it!” He would become very frustrated when we didn’t understand why he would claim to want something he clearly did not seem to want. We eventually figured out that he probably got this idea because I would often offer him a piece of fruit or whatever and say, “Want it?” Maybe he thought that every time I offered him something, it was because I didn’t want it? Who knows.

We naturally corrected him each time he professed to want something he didn’t want. “Want it!” Joshua would whine. “Say, ‘I don’t want it’” would be our rejoinder. This went on for several weeks. Now, whenever Joshua gives us something that he doesn’t want, he will rehash this oft-spoken conversation, even mimicking our tone of voice when we correct him, saying, “Want it. Say, I don’t want it!” And as you might imagine, we are reluctant to correct him yet again for fear that he might start saying, “No, don’t say want it say I don’t want it, just say I don’t want it” every time he doesn’t want something!

The boys are always counting things these days. In their fervor, however, they usually will either skip a few of the items they’re enumerating or count more items than actually exist. For example, Joshua was in the habit of counting 2 fans when in fact we only have one. We would correct him each time, saying “No, one fan.” So now, whenever Joshua feels the urge to announce the number of fans we have in our house, he always says, “Two fans… no! One fan.”

The boys love going to the pool. Caleb will often bring me a pair of his swim diapers, hold them up to his crotch, and beg “pool? pool? swimmy pool, Mommy?” Upon arrival at the pool, the boys only get so far as the through the gate and onto the deck before they hurriedly kick off their shoes and make a dash for the pool’s edge. Our tradiiton is to first go in the “big pool” and then when break is called, we migrate (reluctantly, and often not without a screaming fit), to the “baby pool”.

Joshua started off the Summer as the more adventurous fish-like twin, but at this point Caleb seems to have surpassed him. In fact, Caleb doesn’t even like for us to hold his hand when we are in deep water. Instead, he prefers to have us help keep him afloat by grabbing the back of his swim suit, leaving his arms free to paddle and his legs free to kick. Joshua will tolerate this, too, but generally prefers to have us hold his hand while he treads water. Neither of them are yet comfortable with being fully submered, although they do love being splashed in the face.

Today we discovered that the boys are tall enough to stand in the shallow end of the big pool, making my job significantly easier, since juggling two squirmy 30-something pound toddlers in the water is not an easy task. They can climb out of the pool all by themselves, and are learning to jump in by themselves, too. When we are in the baby pool they will put their hands on the bottom of the pool and practice kicking their legs behind them, and are very proud to show off their skill. If we can only teach them to not swallow water when they put their heads under, I am optimistic that they will be swimming before the end of Summer.

Yesterday I was lounging on the couch when Joshua pounced on me unexpectedly. “Oww!” I exclaimed, “you gave Mommy a boo-boo!”

Upon hearing this, Caleb scurried over, planted his hand on me, and with the utmost confidence said, “In Jesus’ name, be healed!”

What you may not know is that when Joshua and Caleb were infants, Pastor Steve prophesized that they would be like bold lions, and that they would lay hands on their parents and they would be healed. So, in a small way, prophecy was fulfilled yesterday, and I’m sure it’s only just the beginning!