At lunch time Wil asked, "Can we pretend we having picnic?" "Of course," I said. He picked up his sandwich crusts and said, "Thee my carrot stick." Elizabeth didn't want her sandwich to be carrot sticks, so I told her she could pretend they were something else. She thought for a minute then said, "My sanwich ih cookie!"

We did puzzles this morning. Lots and lots of puzzles. Or rather Elizabeth did. She'd finish one and go on to the next. Wil would finish one then do it again. Then again. And again. He can put a puzzle together about twice as fast as she can.

Laylee, Elizabeth's favorite doll, got tired of puzzles after her first attempt. "Laylee tired. I go lay Laylee down." Elizabeth put Laylee in her crib, closed the door and layed down on Sean's Thermarest beside Laylee to hold her hand. Every so often she'd open the door and say, "Momma (or Wil) if you nee help, juh ax. I lay down wih Laylee."

Eventually Wil wanted to get in on the game. He put LarryBoy and Junior in the crib with Laylee. Once Elizabeth got everyone situated, she opened the door again to remind me "If you nee help, Momma, juh ax."

Did you know you can watch "The Little Mermaid," (or "Ariel" as Elizabeth calls it,) in under an hour if you fast-forward through the Ursula parts?

Wil was sweet this morning first thing, he came and crawled into bed with me and got under the covers. He brought his veggies. He thought that was pretty fun. Then he said 'Let's go watch a video.' He got me my socks and slippers. Sweet boy.

After that, it was tv coma over 'The Little Mermaid' for both of them. Elizabeth said she didn't want to give me a hug and kiss. Sheesh.

When I say 'I love you' Wil has recently started replying 'I love you, too, Daddy.' And Elizabeth has picked it up.

Yesterday we ran an errand together and I said 'Let's go home and see our girls. I love our girls.' and he said 'I do, too.'

Sweet boy.

I was reading a story today in which Michael's dog is unnamed. Elizabeth very much wanted to know the dog's name and wasn't satisfied with "What do you think the dog's name should be?" So when I read "Michael enjoys making things..." she asked "Ih the dog name Joys?"

I made an amazing discovery today. The twins can match rhythm. I kept it pretty simple like 'clap, clap, rest, clap,' but they got it. Cool.

I called from Charlotte to check on the twins. Elizabeth gave me a detailed account of all they'd been playing. "We pay on the train. Furse Laylee ride. Then I ride. Then Nic ride...." You get the idea.

My conversation with Wil was briefer: "Hi, Momma." "Hi, sweetheart." "Momma, I wan to go home." "We'll go home tomorrow." "Oh, OK." Then he went back to playing.

My mom had to fly home a day ahead of my dad. Last night at supper Wil said, "GampAl sad. He miss Giji." Today after we dropped Dad off at the airport, Wil said, "GampAl go see Giji."

I woke the twins up from their nap to take my dad to the airport this afternoon. Elizabeth realized on the way home that she wasn't wearing shoes. She's been talking about it all evening. Her solution is, "The neh tie we puh on shoe, we go to airpor to fy to Giji how to see Giji and Baby Ty-yer and GampAl."

Wil had to be disciplined yesterday for kicking. I asked him to say he was sorry for kicking me. Then I told him I forgave him. In tears he said, "I forgive you too Momma." He may not understand the particular meaning of "sorry" and "I forgive you," but it was clear he wanted to be reconciled. Sweet boy.

I tried on a black dress I needed my mom to alter while she was visiting. Wil came in from the kitchen to see what we were doing. He stopped and smiled. Then he looked at me again and said, "Momma, wah you dress up as?"

Yesterday was my day off. Wil was sick and couldn't go to Mother's Day Out, so I stayed home with him.

We had a nice time. At one point he was busy playing, so I went to the study for a minute.

He came in and said 'Daddy, i puh stuh ih dee egg.'

Not sure what that meant, I said okay and followed him to the kitchen.

'Oh, you put stuff in the eggs.'

'Uh huh.'

He had climbed up to the counter on his stool, grabbed Christine's Nescafe Capuccino mix, and poured it on the egg container they play with. It wasn't much of a mess, so I wasn't put out. I started to clean it up. He got down, climbed up the steps my dad made him, and very casually picked up the paring knife off of the counter. I took it away and made a mental note to be more careful about what sits on the counters.

I gave him some Kix and Cheerios to pour in his egg container. Since he hadn't had much lunch, he started to eat them. We sat down on the kitchen floor and had a snack. The can of pineapple was at eye level, so he asked for some. I happily obliged him. But his not-clean pajama feet kept getting too close to the can, so I kept scooting back. After the second time he said 'I scoot up.' He just wanted to be nearer to his daddy, so I stopped scooting back (but I kept an eye on his feet).

A little later we watched all of Disney's Robin Hood. He has an amazing attention span for movies. After about 90 minutes, when it was over, he said 'I wahn to wah Wobah Hoh again.' No way, but you're impressive.

We had a nice time.

And today when he came for their Valentine's Party, he wanted to be held and snuggle with me a lot, which was great.

My boy...

If you're concerned about the lack of posts about Wil, it's because he hasn't had much to say this past week. He's been sick and his contribution to our time together has mainly consisted of "I wan to wa Dragon Tales."

It snowed again so we played outside for about half an hour Wednesday morning. Kiki, Elizabeth's imaginary kitten, reappeared to run around with us and have her picture taken. She came inside and then disappeared again until this morning just before our playgroup's Valentine's Day party. She always shows up for the things Elizabeth is excited about. "Kee-kee cay ba!"

Elizabeth on Discipline:

I tell her I love her and that's why I can't let her behave certain ways. She says, "Momma, can you go?"

When I tell her she can't have something she wants, she says, "I sad. I nee Gamma Sue."

The other day (night?) I said to Elizabeth:

'I've got an idea' at which she opened her mouth and raised her eyebrows in joyful anticipation. 'Let's get you dressed.'

'I got a idee' said she. 'Let's eat.'

Unbelievable.