Today Caleb and Joshua went to the doctor’s office for their 2-year checkup. Both boys are healthy and on-track developmentally. When Dr. Russell saw that they could read the letters on the cover of a dinosaur book in the examination room, he was impressed and referred to the boys as ”smarties”, which we take as a compliment from a man whose career accomplishments have ranged from English professor to pediatrician! We also like Dr. Russell because (unlike some other doctors we’ve seen) he doesn’t raise a stink when we bring the boys into their appointment wearing cloth diapers (he cloth-diapered his own kids), when we tell him that the boys are still co-sleeping with us, and when we opt out of the non-required vaccines. Why bother? Last year all 4 of us got the flu shot, only to be rewarded with a nasty case of the flu!

Anyway, on to the stats: Caleb is 34″ long (70th %tile), weighs 28.5 lbs (65th %tile), and has a head circumference of 19.75″ (90th %tile). Joshua is ever so slightly bigger than his big brother. He is 35″ long (75th %tile), weighs 29 lbs (70th %tile), and has a head circumference of 19.5″ (80th %tile). It’s pretty interesting that the boys have always been virtually the same size ever since they were born… always measuring within a few ounces and quarter-inches of each other. I think that’s pretty good evidence to support our new theory that they are monozygotic (identical) twins.

The boys are saying all kinds of new words and 2-word phrases these days. Some new phrases are “Cool car!”, “Cool bike!”, “good grief”, and “oh crap!” (we are trying to encourage them to replace the latter with “oh brother!”. They also like to point out whenever they see 2 of anything: “2 eyes! 2 B’s! 2 flies!” etc. Caleb seems to have inherited my penchant for pointing out bugs, although he seems to be less terrified of them than I am. One time he pointed to a cricket and said “bug!” and looked absolutely horrified when I proceeded to vacuum it up (later to be released back out in the wild, or into the hands of our neighbor Lily who is obessed with adopting “pet” crickets). Joshua’s leg is doing so much better now, and he is even running again. We are so thankful for good health.

Today Joshua took his first steps since having his cast removed! We have been pretty sure that he was physically capable of walking all along, but his mind had convinced him otherwise. Or maybe he was just waiting for Mimi and Papa to come back from their vacation? Who knows. He started off with a hobbling limp, but his stride is becoming smoother with each step. After he woke up from his nap, he seemed to have forgotten that he’d walked earlier in the day, and went back to crawling. But it wasn’t long before he was up and walking again. Thank God!

Joshua and Caleb have decided on a new name for their Wolf grandfather, previously known as “Grandad”. Ladies and gentlemen, introducing “Babo”! Once again, we have no idea where they came up with this name. They have yet to decide on a new name for “Granny”. We’ll see… maybe she will be the only grandparent who gets to keep her original name!

Caleb and Joshua are 2 years old today! Happy Birthday boys It’s hard to believe that only 2 years ago today our family size doubled and our lives changed drastically… for the better, of course! The boys continue to fascinate us with their similarities and differences. We are still torn over whether they are monozygotic (identical) or dizygotic (fraternal), with Joe thinking the former and I the latter. Joshua seems to be the leader and inventor. He is usually the first one to come up with a new silly word or antic, then Caleb will copy him and add embellishments. Caleb loves to draw, Joshua loves to sing. Caleb is fascinated with studying and learning new things, and while Joshua appears more nonchalant about academic pursuits, he picks things up on the sly, always keeping up to pace with Caleb. They are some of the most hilarious people we know, and there is rarely a dull moment in our house. We are so thankful that God gave them to us on this day 2 years ago!

Joshua had his cast removed today! The X-ray showed that his bone has healed! Praise God! While we were waiting to have the cast sawed off, one of the other mothers who was there with her son (who was getting his 3rd cast in 2 years), noted the dearth of girls among the patients at this pediatric othopaedic doctor’s office… boys are so much fun, aren’t they? Joshua’s leg is still sore so he can’t really walk yet, but this everning he was absolutely delighted to get his first shower in 3 weeks. Our whole family is thankful that the cast episode is finally over!

These days whenever the boys see a picture of corn on the cob, like in one of their books, they’ll blow on it as if they’re trying to cool it down to an appropriate eating temperature. If one of the boys sees a photo of himself, he will point to it and say “brother!” They also like to call Daddy by his first name. If they think Daddy will be coming home soon, they’ll stand at the front door and yell “Joe! Joe! Joooooe!” I think it’s cute, but Daddy wishes they’d just stick to “Daddy”!

They also like to make letters of the alphabet out of everyday objects such as drinking straws and spaghetti noodles. They’ll fold it at a 30-degree angle and say “A” then flip it upside down and say ”V”, then they’ll widen it to a 90-degree angle and say “L”. They also like to say “bye!” to everything, including letters that they read on food packaging at the grocery store. As we proceed down the aisle, they’ll say “Bye, S! Bye, P!” etc.

The boys’ ability to communicate verbally seems to have doubled in the past couple weeks. These days they can be heard saying things such as:

• “Ooooh, nice!” when they see something they like.
• “Hi Mimi!” when we are pulling up in to Mimi and Papa’s driveway.
• “Bryce! Car? Bye-bye?” when they want to get in the car and go visit their friend Bryce.
• “Mimi! Papa! Car? Bye-bye?” when they want to go to Mimi and Papa’s house.
• I can ask them if they have a poo and they will say “Yes” or “No”, usually giving the correct answer. Sometimes Caleb even tells me “poo!” before I even ask. Maybe we can start potty training after Joshua gets his cast removed.
• They say “eat!” if they are hungry and “all done” when they’re done eating.
• New favorite words include “bus, car, Bible, Jesus, sky, guitar, up, down, cracker, hello”.
• They also can say most of the letters (”W” has proved to be quite challenging) and numbers. Sometimes I’ll catch them spouting out a random string of words, letters, and numbers. I predict they’ll be speaking sentences any day now.

The boys like for us to pat their backs when they’re coughing, usually during a meal. Sometimes if we don’t pat their backs in time, they will pat their own chests. And sometimes if one boy is coughing and having his back patted, the other will fake a cough so that we’ll pat his back, too! I told you, they’re quite talented actors.

Joshua has made incredible progress with his cast. He is almost as mobile now as he was before the accident, he’s just not as fast. He can stand up without holding onto anything and walk. It’s tricker on smooth surfaces but he does really well on carpet. It occurred to us the other day that for all Joshua knows, his cast is a permanent fixture. Considering how depressing that prospect would be, he is an amazingly cheerful and optimistic boy. He’s really just as happy now as he ever has been. We think that’s pretty remarkable.