Commentary

The little boys are very talkative these days. They're running commentary on everything is constantly cracking me up.

Many of their communications still consist of shouting loudly for things they want, e.g.:

Duncan (running for the shed): Lawn MOW-er! Ride it!

Tristan (belatedly signing "please" with both hands): Yogurt! PINK! PINK! . . . . . . pleassss . . .

Both: Draw! Draw! Pink mar-ker. Pink mar-ker!

They've also started to express more complicated ideas. Here is a particularly sweet example: I woke up to the sound of crying a few nights ago, then I heard Tristan calling, "Mommy! Mom-MEE! Mom-MEEE!" I stumbled my way to the bottom of the stairs, opened the nursery door, pulled Tristan out of his bed, and slipped back into the living room. I was breathing a sigh of relief that I hadn't woken Duncan, when a completely chipper Tristan tried to leap out of my arms, pointed back to the nursery door, and shouted, "Duncan! Duncan!" I shook myself out of my stupor, retrieved a bedraggled and drool-stained Duncan, and gave Tylenol to the proper child. Good thing his brother was looking out for him.

On a less benevolent note, both boys have very strong opinions about fashion. Their favorite color at the moment is pink. Due to my complete failure to anticipate this preference, they only own one shirt that is pink, a rugby-style polo shirt from Ralph Lauren. Seriously. Duncan tried to rip it off of Tristan on Monday, saying simply, "Want pink shirt." I managed to stop him from killing his brother by giving him a shirt with a tiger and Korean writing on the front, which is, honestly, pretty hip. This resolved the problem completely. Everyone we saw that day was greeted by Duncan pointing at his chest and saying proudly, "Tiger shirt!" Tristan meanwhile has been running around not only in the Ralph Lauren polo, but also in a quilted vest from Tea Collection. Everyone who saw him in this vest oooo-ed and aahh-ed helplessly. The attention didn't go unnoticed. Yesterday, Duncan came to me when it was time to leave the house and said, "Me vest. Tris jacket." So, Duncan snagged the vest, and Tristan was relegated to wearing Duncan's jacket -- also from Tea Collection, also with a TIGER.

This is probably an important point to mention that I only buy them second hand clothes. Thanks to Craigslist and thrift stores, they have some pretty sweet stuff. Apparently, they know it. As I was putting on Dunan's pants yesterday, he gave me an approving look. "Corduroy pants," he said. "Nice."

They're also both counting. They can't get higher than two. Their favorite things to count are lights, trucks, and nostrils. As in, "One, two, NOse . . . HOLES!"