Two and a Half

Where does time go? How is it that my little four pound baby boys are “little men” now? I’ve been wanting to write this update for awhile, and time hasn’t permitted—which is sad, because I’ve forgotten so many funny antidotes, sayings, and stories by now. Alas, at least I’m getting something written.

Let’s start with their relationship as brothers: it’s absolutely precious! They spend their days imagining various things with each other, bossing, chattering, laughing, and always side by side. Truth be told, they do a fair amount of arguing as well.

A recent Seth and Sam conversation in the car: Seth says, “Trust me Sam.” Sam replies, “No! You trust me Seth.” Seth’s comeback: “NO! Trust ME!” And Sam ends with, “No, Seth, you trust me. Nay Nay and Holly trust me.” Ben and I dissolved into laughter. Where in the world would he get the concept to persuade his brother to trust him because his aunt and uncle do? Silly boy. One of my favorite things the boys told me the other day, “Mommy, your earrings are farkly” (aka sparkly). The “sp” sound still alludes us.

They love playing music with pretend instruments. Recently we’ve been teaching them about worship music, so now when they sing, they tell me that they are singing to God. I’m sure He loves their joyful noise. They continue to love books and are sponges with language, characters, and plot lines. Reading has helped their imagination expand to great levels. They love sports and are obsessed with their jerseys; however, we only have three jerseys in their wardrobe rotation, which causes quite the stir when they aren’t clean. They love their family: especially their uncles and aunts, grandparents and cousins. They LOVE their daddy and greet him at the door each evening with a sweet knocking, hugging, and laughing routine. They love to pretend to drive cars and planes. They think all planes go to Germany. They love to color—but only color “fire.” I told Ben that this concerns me with the possibility of them being obsessed with fire in their later years :). They can spell Sam’s name, but are quite concerned that Seth doesn’t have a “m” in his name. They can also spell “stop.” They love puzzles, especially big floor ones. They love blocks and build vehicles with them. They love reading their kids’ atlas nightly with Ben, with their favorite countries being Italy and Germany…this thrills Ben because he is loves maps so much and they are following in his footsteps.I know a lot of parents with two year olds will hate me for saying this, but they love sleeping in. They get up around 8:30 or 9, and then head to bed between 7 and 8, depending on if they take a good afternoon nap or not. They eat HUGE amounts of food and recently have told us that their favorites are pizza and french fries.

  “Say ‘cheese’ Seth.”

Seth and Sam: cowboys in Lakeview.

Seth, Sam

Such buddies

Seth: This boy has recently became our stinker. (If you’ll remember, Sam has been the more difficult of the two for about a year now. Seth was our “squeaky wheel” as a baby. We were told that twins will periodically do this “switch” regarding who’s most difficult…and it sure has come true in our household!) Seth has really taken a liking to arguing and correcting. Whatever we say, he responds with, “No, its…” It doesn’t matter if he knows the truth, he’d rather just argue. Especially with Sam, because it always bothers Sam. It drives me crazy. He responds to any instructions or reproofs with, “Cuz, cuz…” and an explanation of why he needs to do that particular thing. He’s gotten a bit more aggressive and we’ve caught him snatching toys from Sam quite a bit bringing on another favorite phrase: “I not doing anyting.”

Even through his stinkyness, he’s such a wonderful and loving child. Seth loves to laugh and tease. He does well sitting at an activity for a long time, and is really good at puzzles (he can do a 12 piece all by himself!) He is less social than Sam, and a bit more shy; although he does have a coy, flirty smile he gives the ladies every once and awhile. He LOVES sleeping in and lingering in bed, and hates falling asleep at night (wonder if this will continue in life?) Seth told me today that his favorite animals are “coseroses” (rhinoceros) and peacocks.

Sam: Sam’s emotions have seemed to settle down a bit the past couple of months. It’s no longer such a struggle of wills every evening at bedtime over little things like what blanket he wants, or how many extra kisses, etc. We made a great effort on potty training him these past two weeks, but finally aborted the mission yesterday, as he was still have 2-3 accidents (#2 yucky ones) a day, and I just couldn’t handle that anymore. However, he is fairly competent, but currently unwilling. Maybe try again after Christmas.

Sam’s our boy who you’ll usually find playing with friends first. He still LOVES basketball and is always shooting hoops and having pretend games. And sports are all about the gear and the presentation. He notices the teams’ uniforms, helmets, etc. Which means that each sport he plays must have the proper attire as well. Very intense. Sam loves his stuffed animals and sleeps with about 10 of them. He also sleeps with four different blankets in his crib and changes daily to which is his favorite. He loves to sing and do songs with motions. His recent favorite: “Twinkle, twinkle, little star.” He thrives off special alone time with Ben or I, and usually wakes up in the morning before Seth making this possible. My favorite word that he misspeaks, “Blown” instead of brown. His favorite animal: the lion.