Wil is doing some typing on the computer. G is for Giji. P is for GranPaul. B is for bubbles and baby and Bob. That sort of thing. According to Elizabeth, Laylee starts with E. I'm trying to figure out how to make that work.

Today Yellow Baby got a name - Molly. Dinah, Elizabeth's first imaginary cat, got big. And her new imaginary cat - just Kitty, helped us paint outside with water. But she was very careful not to get wet, as Elizabeth repeatedly pointed out.

We had such an arts and crafty day. We painted with water outside, then inside with some pre-colored paint-with-water pages. After naps we made Three Little Pigs puppets and put on puppet shows, including one where Laylee meets a sad green frog who turns red and then is happy. By suppertime I was ready for a break, so I suggested we watch a video. They turned me down. That's got to be a first.

Yesterday morning when I was dressed to go to church, Wil said, "Momma, you look like a princess." Later, obviously still thinking about princesses and princes, he asked, "Are we going to go see Daddy? Are you going to dance?"

The twins got to watch Disney's Jungle Book for the first time at Granma Sue's house. Now they love to say to each other, "What we going to do?" "I dohn know. What we going to do?"

Elizabeth was very excited about Aunt Erin's wedding because she got to wear a crown with her "princess dress." When we got her dressed for the wedding someone said, "You look like a princess." Elizabeth wasn't wearing her crown yet, so she said, "I not a princess yet."

We've been in Iowa for Sean's sister's wedding. When the twins met the groom-to-be, I said, "You can call him Uncle Jeff." Elizabeth replied, "Maybe after the wedding."

Wil doesn't like it when Sean and Elizabeth change the words to songs, but he uses a lot of creative license in his own games. A couple examples:
"God sent Junior to the Seven Dwarves."
"Larry Boy is fighting Scar."

Wil on grandparents: "GampAl and GranPaul are my friends. Ih Giji and Gamma Sue you friend, Elibeh?"

The twins' best friend Josh and his mom came over a couple times while Sean was gone. The first night ended with Wil crying, "I wan Josh to go home now!" (Josh had a toy Wil didn't want to share.) The second night with, "I nee my Josh!"

Sean was gone the past few days, but one would have thought it'd been a month with all the reminiscing the twins did. "Remember when we went to this store with Daddy." "Remember when Daddy said this about that." "Remember when Daddy did this."

The twins' first link on a nonMeade weblog! (click this link)

We went to the mall to shop for shoes this morning. Elizabeth wanted "sparkly" shoes but we were there to get tennis shoes and sandals. I told her maybe she would get some to wear with her princess dress at Aunt Erin's wedding. She asked, "Duh An-Eh-Eh have sparkly shoe too?"

(Necessary information: we're trying to teach the kids that when they don't like part of a video (often for some very arbitrary reason), they DONT HAVE TO WATCH. They can look away. They can go in the other room.)

The twins were watching Lion King this morning while they ate their breakfast. I had the remote and was fastforwarding through the scary parts.

Elizabeth: I like Scar.
Me: Well I don't like Scar.
E: Well then you can go to church.
Me: laughed out loud

This morning we had a birthday party for the Veggies. After we sang "Happy Birthday" and passed out cake, Wil said, "Now it time for WarryBoy," in his best LarryBoy/Batman voice.

Wil is having a hard time making the transition to warm weather clothes like t-shirts and shorts. (Elizabeth went through the same thing last year.) Today he told me, "I nee somethin to wear on my arms."

I love music and I want to give the twins every opportunity to love it, too. So I got my guitar out again yesterday. Mostly I wanted us to sing together. Mostly they wanted to play it and sing their own songs. They get to hold the pick and strum and I can finger chords if I want to. Elizabeth sang 'Part of Your World'. Wil sang 'Larry-Boy'.

In the car yesterday morning Elizabeth said 'I see purple tree.' That's the Oklahoma Red Bud and they're beautiful this time of year. So we've been calling them out.

I was preparing to wrestle Elizabeth into her pajamas. She said 'No thank you.' I stopped. I was stunned. I honored her request. We demonstrated how it worked to Christine. Then it became a game with us for the next day or so. I'd ask her to do something and she'd shout 'No thank you!'. I'd say 'Yes please' and she'd say 'No thank you!'. We had fun. More developments as they arise.

The twins like to sing the Cheshire Cat's song:

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe…

Thanks, Gail, for the text.

Last night in her crib Elizabeth was singing to herself loudly and continuously. She started doing 'Old McDonald'. I couldn't understand all of the animals and their sounds, but I really enjoyed the monkey.

One of the best things we did this Easter weekend was borrow some wooden figures from our church to act out the Easter story. The twins love telling and retelling Jesus's entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, His Last Supper with his friends, praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, even dying on a cross and being buried. From one of our Bible stories books, Wil quotes, "Some bad men didn't like Jesus. They put Him on a cross and He died. What a sad day." More than anything Elizabeth's favorite story is when Jesus appears to Mary after His Resurrection. She acts it out without our help and always ends it with Mary saying to Jesus, "I love you too."

Wil entertained the neighbors this evening with his rendition of "Good Morning George," a VeggieTales tune, while sitting on top of a giant Easter egg. Then he repaid their attention by chasing their dog. Both he and Elizabeth are nervous around barking, jumping dogs, but they like getting licked by them.

Elizabeth pedaled her tricycle by herself this evening! She enjoyed it so much and was so proud of herself. I am very proud too.

Two of the things in Elizabeth's Easter basket were a small watering can and a Disney Princess mirror. It's too difficult to transcribe exactly what she said, but the gist of it was that she wanted to take her mirror outside to watch herself watering the flowers. We let her do it and the pictures should be quite amusing.

This morning the twins are playing "good fairies" from Sleeping Beauty. In addition to baking a cake and cleaning, they get to argue "Make it pink," "Make it blue!" It's similar to the "Is not," "Is too" argument they like to reenact from Dragon Tales. When one of them says the first line, the other cannot resist responding.

Josh was over here playing tonight and something upset him. He started crying. Then Wil started crying. I tried to get the story out of Wil. "Can you tell me what happened?" I asked. Still crying Wil said, "Josh cry at me."

Last week we were watching Disney's Sleeping Beauty and Wil said, "A pox on the mean dragon!" Later he was playing and he said, "I hitting the mean dragon wih my sword!"

Elizabeth had some great questions tonight about Jesus like "Where is Jesus now?" and "What's His Daddy's name?" But the best was when she said, "I wan to see Jee-suh." When we read that He is coming back someday, she said, "Yea!"

We're reading stories about Easter this week. I thought Wil wasn't paying attention tonight. Then he put Larry Boy "behind the stone."

After baths I wanted to comb Wil's hair. We have this baby comb that Wil pretends is the Rumor Weed. He didn't want me to comb his hair with it. "No, not the weed. The other comb," he said. I said, "Let's pretend this is the other comb." He agreed.

Yesterday when Sean was coloring a picture of Dizzy from Bob the Builder for Elizabeth, Elizabeth insisted that Dizzy's wheels were orange not black. They looked at a picture we have and Dizzy's wheels are black. Elizabeth said, "Well, I think on the lee-lo (video) they are orange."

Elizabeth's imaginary kitty reappeared at bathtime. Kitty has a name now: Dinah. We learned this after Wil threw Dinah out of the bathtub.

We were talking about brothers and sisters today. For example, "Cousin Tyler's brother is going to be called Zachary." Elizabeth said "Hannah's brother too." Hannah is a little friend from church. Smart girl. "Who is your brother?" I asked her. Then Wil, of course, wanted me to ask him who his sister is. Then he asked me, "Who your sister, Momma?" Elizabeth answered, "Baby Tyler's momma." Who is Daddy's sister? "An-Eh-Eh" Who are Daddy's brothers? "Ky-Ky, Co-Ree." Then Elizabeth was stumped. "Uncle Ryan," Wil said. "And anuh-nuh Ryan," said Elizabeth. She means Ryan Myers.

While Sean's parents were visiting, we went shopping. Granma Sue was looking for a dress. Elizabeth wanted to look for a dress for Laylee too. We made a quick stop at Old Navy too so Granma could get some Spring clothes for the twins. I showed a pair of pink shorts to Elizabeth and she exclaimed, "For Laylee!"

Sean: Great play by Chris Duhon, the pride of Slidell. 'I'm going to Slidell for to find my joy. You took my joy and I want it back.'
Wil: I didn't take your joy.

Wil and Elizabeth preached their first sermons last night to an audience of four including Laylee. Wil's was about Jonah - very dramatic. Elizabeth's was about Baby Jesus in the Manger and was accompanied by "Away in the Manger," first and third verses.

Wil is watching 'Robin Hood' again. He loves it. I'm in the study and he just came in and gave me an update 'The Sheriff of Nottingham's on, Daddy.'

As Christine noted yesterday, his favorite line in the whole movie is 'Death to tyrants!'

Guess he's kind of like his old man. I started watching the Disney 'Robin Hood' when I was 12 or so (when we got our first VCR) and have been a fan ever since. It still makes me laugh to this day.

'Crash!' Wil says in the other room. 'It gon be ok.'

Lady Cluck starts running and Wil runs up and down the hall twice.

'Daddy, stand up. Stand up and play swords.'

'They dancing Lih-beh. Are you so happy?'

The last time we watched Robin Hood, Elizabeth asked, "What Maid Marian being?"
"A bride like Momma," Sean told her. (We looked at our wedding picture the night before.)
"And like me?" Elizabeth asked.
"Are you a bride?" Sean asked her.
"Not today. But someday I be a bride," she said.

Wil likes Robin Hood. His friend Joshua is partial to Star Wars. It makes for interesting play. Last night when we told Wil that Josh was coming over Wil gleefully said, "Josh play hit wih me!" Josh went for their sticks soon after arriving. "I have the green lightsaber and Wil have the blue," he told his mom. Wil came back with "Death to tyrants!"

We played outside before naptime and, as usual, Elizabeth wanted Laylee to come too. However, she didn't want Laylee to go out in her pajamas because they might get dirty. I explained that we didn't have any other clothes for Laylee. Elizabeth said, "Momma, ih okay, we can share." So she took Laylee to another doll and had Laylee ask, "Can I wear tha? Okay? Okay." And the other doll got stripped to provide a blue dress for Laylee. "Momma, we share!"

Elizabeth is getting to be able to use the potty very well. I might be most proud of her ability to follow her guide for how much toilet paper to use (a four sheet long graphic that hangs from the roll).

It seems a little strange to be proud of such a thing, but it isn't objectively strange, and I keep feeling it, so I'm sticking with it. If you're proud of your kids, best not to explain it away.

Elizabeth and Wil spent most of yesterday morning taking Laylee and LarryBoy to the potty. I'm taking this as a good sign since Wil has been very resistant to my suggestions that he learn to use the potty. "I pee in the potty for pretend," he said yesterday, which is an improvement from "No! I dohn wan to pee in the potty!"

Elizabeth has also been very particular about Laylee's cleanliness. Laylee wasn't allowed to sleep in Elizabeth's crib after our trip to the zoo because Laylee's pajamas were, in Elizabeth's estimation and objectively, too dirty. We have since washed them, and Laylee as well, so she's back in the crib.

No one showed up for playgroup, so we went to the zoo. It was great. Maybe the best visit ever. (I'll warn you now, this is going to be a long report. There are a couple of entertaining quotes, but mostly I just want a record of our visit. The zoo is possibly my favorite thing about living in Tulsa.)

We spent a long time watching the chimpanzees. They'd just been given "enrichment toys" that they had to shake to get food out of. The toys are suppose to simulate activities the animals would perform in the wild. The twins loved watching. One chimp came right up to us to show us what he found. Wil kept saying, "Wha you eat, monkey?" Then the chimp would point at us like he was mimicing people pointing at him. Elizabeth said, "He play game wih me." and "Tha monkey like Laylee."

We also went on a search for a peacock. On our last visit we crossed over a bridge and ran right into one, so Wil wanted to do that again. I was about to give up when Wil found one sitting under a bush. For some reason they decided the peacock was sad and wanted his momma. The llamas were in a pen across from us which solved the peacock's dilemma. "There your momma. There your daddy," they told the peacock.

The twins were thrilled with the baby dwarf goats and baby sheep at the Petting Zoo. But they considered pumping water from the well an even bigger treat. Usually there are too many bigger kids pushing each other for a turn.

We saw a lot of our usual favorites, too, like the tiger, lions, sealions, flamingos, giraffes and elephants. The brown bear and black bears were also out and active. But the best was the cheetah running alongside the train as we passed. We'd never seen that before.

Everyone stayed in a good mood and as we were getting ready to leave Elizabeth said to me, "I luh you Momma." "I love you, too, Elizabeth."

On the way to playgroup this morning, the twins were chattering away in the backseat. Then they both start saying, "Momma, Elihbeh tole a joke." "What's the joke?" I asked. Elizabeth started explaining, but they both burst into giggles so soon that I never understood what she was saying. Something about Larry Boy. When Elizabeth tells a joke, she puts her hand over her mouth and nods her head. It looks like a pantomime but I think it's for real. Very cute.

Yesterday Sean was singing, "It's been a long time since I rock 'n rolled...." With authority Elizabeth said, "Tha from Ses-mee Stree, Daddy."

Time to defend myself.

I thought Wil was saying 'Larry Boy is going to take out the Fib!'. As far as I knew, it was on the video. If that's not what he was saying, it was an honest mistake. Christine accused me of polluting him with my questionable euphemisms. In this case, it was an accident.

"Larry Boy ih going to tay ow the Fib!" Who said that?

One of the twins' favorite videos right now is Rolie Polie Olie, especially an episode where they go to an ice cream planet. Today Elizabeth wanted to read a book about the ice cream planet. I explained that we didn't have a book like that. She said, "When we geh home I will wry a leh-ler to Giji and she will make me a book a-bow the ie keem pla-neh and a lee-lo (video) wih Dora." When we got home the first thing she did was get out paper and pencil to write a letter to my mom.

Wil made a drinking fountain out of his workbench and xylophone. You've got to see it to believe it, but trust me it's amazing. He even thought to hook it up to a water source.

In the store yesterday -
Elizabeth: Tubby-tubbies! (Teletubbies.) Can we ha them?
Momma: No. You know Daddy doesn't like Teletubbies.
Elizabeth, defiantly: We wah Tubby-tubbies at Gamma Sue how.

Elizabeth didn't take a nap yesterday, and actually did pretty well with it. When she hadn't fallen asleep by 430, having gone down around 3, I went to get her up. Christine and I were previewing Disney's new repackage 'American Legends' to make sure it was appropriate for preschoolers (which it was). First think she said was 'Daddy, what you watch?' Those kids have xray ears for videos.

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.

Sometimes instead of reading a book one of the twins will ask us to "talk" about something. Usually it means telling a story we saw on a video or heard somewhere, but sometimes it really means just talk. Tonight Elizabeth asked me to talk about Laylee, her baby doll. So I talked about how Laylee and Elizabeth like to ride in the car together and go to church together and read books together. I said Laylee likes to eat cupcakes and drink milk. I said when Elizabeth is tired, Laylee likes to lay down in Elizabeth's crib with her so they can talk and sing. Elizabeth beamed. She hugged Laylee and hugged me. She said, "Laylee ih my fren."

We discovered the perfect "cookie" recipe for 2-year-olds. Spread mini pretzels on a greased cookie sheet. Top with a Hershey's Kiss. Warm for 2-3 minutes in the oven at 275F. Move pretzels to a tray to prevent little hands from getting burned. Press an M&M in the center of each. Cool in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes. We made a whole batch of these tonight for our playgroup's Valentine's Day party. The twins loved counting out the pretzels and unwrapping the Kisses. The M&M part was a little messy, but not bad. Elizabeth wants to make them again tomorrow.

Just a fun day. We dropped Sean off at work then went to St Louis Bread Co for "breakfast cake," ie muffins. We sat at a table by the window to watch the rain. They splashed in the puddles on the sidewalk. We sang "Winnie the Pooh" and "The rain, rain, rain fell down, down, down" about 100 times a piece. Wil was still singing the rain song as he fell asleep at naptime.

Hmm. Which story to tell?

Wednesday night Elizabeth was in her crib singing 'Away in a Manger'. She finished...'the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.'. Wil said 'Ehlibeh, you asleep on the hay.' She said 'No, Wil, I asleep on my nanee [blanket].'

The table has turned. Wil woke up first this morning. "Wake up, Lih-beh. 1... 2... 3...." Elizabeth mumbled something. "Wake up like me! Wake up like me!" he hollered. "I don't want to," she said.

Elizabeth has mixed up a mealtime prayer song with "Where Is Thumbkin?" She's in her crib singing,
"God our Father
God our Father
once again
once again
we thank you for for blessing
run away
run away."

I laughed so hard I've got tears in my eyes.

Wil and Elizabeth are into "Dragon Tales" now. They spent their time at home today reenacting episodes like connecting dots and pretending to be Ord stuck in a hole. Their favorite episode, though, is when Max and Ord dress up like kings and build a pillow fort, while Emmy and Cassie dress up like doctors. The only problem is we don't have nearly as many pillows as they do in Dragonland where pillows grow on trees.

While watching football some time ago, Sean chanted "Can't stop the run." Wil replied, "I dohn wan to stah da wuh."

Pink Baby has a name now, "Baby Lay-Lee." Not to be confused with "Baby Lay-YEE" the dog.

Wil to Elizabeth: Duh Kee-kee ha a nay yeh? (Does Kitty have a name yet?)
E to W: No, juh Kee-kee.

Kitty ran away at naptime. "Momma, Kee-kee ran away! I nee to geh ow an geh Kee-kee!" I went in once to get Kitty and put her back in Elizabeth's crib, but when Kitty ran away again I got suspicious that this might be a new stall tactic.

They still play "party" a lot. This morning Elizabeth said, "Will you come to my par-ee? I ha eh-eh-thing reh-ree: my bowl, a cuh an a bah-bah." (cup and bottle)

Gramma Jan and Gramp Al completed our VeggieTales collection over Christmas. One of the tapes the twins got was 'God wants me to forgive them?'. In the second episode, a take-off of 'Gilligan's Island', Larry makes a mistake that causes them to be shipwrecked and everyone's so upset that they won't forgive him. So he runs away

I told you that to tell you this.

We drove back to Tulsa from Lake Charles on december 28th. We left around 230p. The twins went to sleep pretty shortly after we left. Wil woke up first, but played quietly in his seat for about an hour. He talked and sang, too. Then his tone changed. We turned around and he was crying, two crocodile tears rolling down his cheeks. Come to find out, he was replaying the episode I described above in his mind and came to the part where Larry ran away and he was sad. What a sweet boy! It makes me think of the movie 'Little Man Tate': 'It's not what he knows, it's what he understands.'

We went to church to eat supper with Sean since he has a meeting tonight and won't be home before bedtime. When we were driving away, Wil was puzzling out the problem of leaving Daddy behind. His monologue went something like this. "We can't go back in to church. Daddy is sad. Daddy has to go to meeting. Daddy can't come home. We leave Daddy. We not see Daddy anymore. Daddy is sad." It was so sweet.

Kitty likes french fries and root beer.

Momma to Wil: Did you ever get a clean diaper?
W to M: Did you hear the one about Alfred?

On Monday Elizabeth conjured up an imaginary kitten. She carried "Kitty" with her everywhere - to the store, to church, in the bath, to her crib for a nap. "Kitty tired. Kitty nee to way down." The best was after naptime when I got her out of her crib. She said Kitty wanted to get out too, so I leaned over, put out my hands and said, "Here Kitty." Elizabeth laughed and said, "No, Kitty by the purple cup."

Kitty reappeared briefly on Tuesday to get out of bed and be introduced to friends. Then we didn't see Kitty again until today. The twins and I were playing in their "fort" which was doubling as Granma Sue's house at the time. Elizabeth was reading to her doll when Kitty reappeared to hear the story. "Kitty wuh ow-sai Gamma Sue how." She cuddled Kitty for a bit and then announced it was time to take Kitty home.

When we got back from our Christmas trip I meant to do a Christmas update about the things the twins did and said and got. Oh well. In summary, we had a great trip, my parents loved taking care of the kids though Mom has said multiple times she doesn't know how I get anything done, and everyone got great gifts. Elizabeth is having fun with her Little People Van, but one of her favorite gifts wasn't really a gift at all but a hand-me-down doll that was mine. "Leh-low Baby," she calls it because it was wearing a yellow dress when she first saw it. Likewise, Wil has enjoyed playing with a Playskool workbench that was mine. It goes very nicely with his new toolbox. "Tuhl-bah! Daddy gah a tuhl-bah too!"

At some point during my birthday celebrations, Elizabeth said 'I need more cake.' I said 'Sweetie, you have all of that yellow cake.' She said 'I all done with my brown cake.' I said 'Sweetheart, the brown part is frosting, not cake. She said 'I no want to call my brown cake frosting.' Sheesh.

The twins love Fisher Price Little People. I wanted to give "Sarah Lynn" to Elizabeth for Christmas. Sarah is Eddie's twin and we already have Eddie. Sarah Lynn comes in one playset which, I now know, cannot be found in any store in Tulsa. Elizabeth is going to get the "Family Van" instead. She was with me yesterday when we went to Toys R Us to pick it up, so I let her hold it in the car. I told her when we got home I would wrap it to take to Giji's house and she could open it on Christmas day. Amazingly that worked. She says, "We go to Giji how an I oh-oh my preh-preh. Furse we geh reh-ree to go to Giji."

If anyone asks the twins about Christmas, they always get the same response. Whether the question is "What do you want for Christmas?" or "Are you excited about Christmas?" or "What's the best thing about Christmas?" they always answer, "Id baby Jee-juh bir-day!"

When Sean opened a bottle of wine the other night Elizabeth said, "I wan one tay." Then to me she said, "I geh one tay, theh you can dree, Momma." Sean gave her a drop off his finger. She made a face.

My Secret Santa gave us You Are My I Love You. Thank you.

Thursday was a tough day. They had a tough time napping and a tough time going to sleep. Christine went out, so I put them to bed by myself. Wil didn't want to go to bed. He fussed for a long time - various complaints. Then he cried out 'Grampa, come back. I need you. Gamma Sue, come back. Elibeh need you. An Eheh (Aunt Erin), come back. I need you and Elibeh need you.' (Mom and Dad and Erin had visited over the weekend and left tuesday). It was pitiful, but sort of funny.

We're in party mode having gone to our playgroup's Christmas party this morning and getting ready for a Homemade Gourmet party at our house tomorrow. Wil and Elizabeth spent almost an hour this afternoon exchanging little sheets of paper and saying to each other, "Will you come to my party?"

Going to the grocery store is a very popular game in our house these days. This morning the twins were writing "lists" on scrap paper. "I nee my lih," Wil says.

In addition to lists, Elizabeth made "gift tags." She'd write for awhile, then hold up a scrap of paper covered in scribbles as if she was examining it and say, "Fum Momma an Da-da."

I sell Usborne Books for children and often when I go to a home show I tell the kids I'm going to see if anyone wants to buy my books. We recently borrowed You Are My I Love You, by Maryann Cusimano, from the library. Elizabeth was "reading" it to herself and said to me, "Can we buy thih book?" It's a beautiful book so I added it to our amazon wishlist.

Wil and Elizabeth are so worn out from Granma's and Grampa's visit that they asked to be put in their cribs less than two hours from when they got up. Wil is reading I Spy Little Letters and Elizabeth is pretending to drive to the grocery store.

Also yesterday: by happenstance, Dad and Wil and I got left in the living room. I said to Wil 'The boys are in the living room. Daddy and Grampa and Wil are the boys.'. And Wil said 'And Mama, Eh-beh, Eh-Eh [Aunt Erin] and Gam-ma Sue are. the. girls!' And I said [glowing] 'That's right! What a smart boy!'.

Long time no update. Sorry.

Mom and Dad and Erin have been visiting, which is always a great time for stories.

Yesterday, when Dad and I were home with them, Elizabeth was explaining a photo-ornament to Wil and said 'That Baby You, Wil.'.

Elizabeth and I have come up with a great way to transition to naptime and bedtime.
After I put her in her crib, cover her up, give her water, etc. we agree that I'll go
clean up the kitchen and then come back to check on her. Sometimes she is awake
and sometimes she's not. Today she told me to go clean the kitchen before I even
thought about it. "Furse keen kih-kih. Theh come ba." It works like a charm.