One of my favorite Elizabethisms: Golma Grahams [Golden Grahams].

Here's a sound I can't believe we don't use in English: 'fw' (at least I can't think of any occurrences, can you? Any other languages that you know of that use it?) Wil uses 'fw' in place of 'sw'. So, when he talks about Swiper the fox from Dora the Explorer he says 'Fwiper', as in 'Fwiper, no fwiping.' I love it.

He has trouble with 'sp', too, as in Spud the Scarecrow on Bob the Builder. He says 'Fud'. I love that, too.

Here's a long overdue Zoo report. I don't remember much of what the twins said, but it was a great evening and I wanted to record some of the things they did and saw, as well as the animals' names so we remember them the next time we go to the zoo.

Member's Appreciation Night at the Tulsa Zoo was May 16 this year. It was an overcast, but lovely evening. We brought the kids' new umbrellas and at first all they wanted to do was use their umbrellas. But they soon lost interest once we got started on the Behind-the-Scenes Tours. These tours were a wonderful addition to last years' Docent Talks.

First we went to the Elephant Barn where we met Gunda, the oldest inhabitant - person or beast, at the Tulsa Zoo. Her keepers told us how they care for her and showed us how she's learned some "tricks for treats" that help them do their jobs, like presenting a foot or opening her mouth for cleaning. We also got to go into the "barn" to see where the elephants stay when they aren't in the yard. The twins especially liked going in all the animals' "houses." They also learned the other elephants' names are Suki and Sneezy and that a male is called a bull.

On to the Aldabra Tortoises.... if you haven't seen one of these enormouse tortoises before it's worth a visit to your nearby zoo. They're fairly interesting. The kids and I have often stopped to watch them slowly munching grass or making their way to a shadier spot in their yard. This time the twins were invited into the yard to PET the biggest one! And, believe it or not, Elizabeth was the first one across the fence! The keeper showed her where "Al" likes to be scratched and how to pet him. She did a really good job following instructions.

In the African Savanna we went into the giraffes' house. The twins were most interested in the baskets that Sam and Georgina eat out of. There is also a basket only 6 feet up were there to ever be a baby. Wil and Elizabeth loved that idea and wanted to know where the baby was. They are very interested in babies of all types and like to play baby or care for their "babies" at home. Later in the evening we waited in line to see the baby kangaroos. They thought that was neat, though I'm not sure the wait was worth it.

For the first time ever we got to see the lions when they were active. They were roaring up a storm. It was pretty amazing.

We also got to go into the polar bears' cages and outside into their pool area. Elizabeth, and maybe Wil too, wanted to go swimming. The polar bears names are Frosty and Marushka.

It was also the first night of "Wings of Wonder," the butterfly exhibit. Even now, a month later, Wil sometimes talks about seeing the butterflies at the zoo. We will definitely want to go back to it again before the exhibit closes in October.

Other highlights included ice cream, popcorn and, of course, riding the train. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Zoo is one of the best things about Tulsa.

Christine and I make a lot of lists. So Elizabeth does, too. She gets little pieces of paper and writes on them. She and I came across one of these lists tonight.

E: Oh, my list.
S: What's the list for?
E: For the grocery store.
S: Oh, yeah? And what's on it?
E: Cheese sticks [string cheese].
S: Right...anything else?
E: Carrots.

Go figure.

Since we're moving in a week, the house is in total disarray. After going to the garage many times in the same day to get screwdrivers, I finally just left them in the house (and haven't used them since).

Wil got up from his nap that day (Thursday) and came to sit on my lap while I was working on the computer. He saw the screwdrivers (one flat, one Philips) and smiled a big smile.
W: Daddy, can I share your screwdivers?
How could I refuse? I said 'Sure.'
W: Daddy, we are sharing your screwdrivers together!

The twins are doing great imaginative play together. But sometimes it's hard to keep up with who's who and what's what. Monday in the car Elizabeth was playing with a little pink ball.
E: Momma, see my baby sib?
M: Oh, your baby Fib? [From an episode of VeggieTales which they'd been playing earlier.]
E: No, my baby SIB?
M: Elizabeth, I don't know that word. Can you tell me more about it?
E: It go in the water.
M: Your baby ship? [Could be VeggieTales, a Bible story or Spot.]
E: No, my baby SIB? [moving it around]
M: FISH!

Typical conversation around our house these days:

Daddy: Elizabeth, could you get in your chair, please?
Elizabeth: No, I Emmy [from DragonTales].
D: Wil, could you get in your chair, please?
E: No, he Max [from DragonTales]. Daddy, can you be Ord [from DragonTales]?
Wil: Nooo. I no want Daddy to be Ord, I want him to be my daddy.
E: No, you have to be Ord.
D: You twins are driving me crazy!
E: No, I Emmy.
D: Elizabeth, you need to answer to Elizabeth.
E: No, I no want to be Elizabeth. I Emmy.

*Daddy puts himself in timeout.*

We saw Veggie Tales Live with Josh, Ms Kathy and Mr Shawn last Saturday. I loved watching Wil bounce in his chair along with the music. He really enjoyed it until they changed their "Dave and the Giant Pickle" story. Larry-Boy is in the video but wasn't in the live show. Wil cried. Then at the end when Elizabeth realized it was over and Laura hadn't appeared, she cried. Both kids were crying about the Veggies that weren't in the show as we left the theater. However, Wil was able to talk about the parts he liked while we were driving home, and before the night was over Elizabeth was able to tell us she liked the "pink girl" (stage manager) and the dancing.

Elizabeth is generally shy around strangers, but she is becoming more social lately. Yesterday on her date with Sean a man asked her, "What's your name little lady?" She responded, "I not a lady. I a girl." Not polite, but cute. And I'm surprised she said anything at all.

Then this morning in the grocery store she was singing and the cashier commented on it. Elizabeth gave the woman her prettiest smile and sang louder. She was making up a song about the Banana Nut Muffins we were purchasing, so that was funny too.

I usually wear a robe in the morning, but the other day I took it off before breakfast. Wil said, "Now Momma isn't Momma anymore."

Wil playing with pretend coins: "I'm going to the gas station to get some money."

11 am - It's Elizabeth's turn with the stomach virus. She's thrown up twice in the last two hours. So far she's fairly cheery about the prospect of being sick. Wil is napping. Sean is home on his day off. She's got both parents' attention. She remembered that Wil got to watch whatever videos he wanted. We needed to wash her hair after this last episode so she's playing in the bathtub right now. A big treat in the middle of the day. What a day!

Elizabeth didn't nap the past two days. The result was that by six o'clock last night she was in trouble. I put her in her crib for some time out. A couple minutes later when I checked on her she had taken off her skort and underwear. When I asked her why she did that she said, "Because it time to get ready for bed."

Later, after I'd put the twins to bed, Elizabeth took off her nightgown. She didn't have a reason but I let her sleep in a t-shirt anyway.

They've been doing a lot of role playing. Wil will be Buzz Lightyear and Elizabeth will be Woody or Princess Mira Nova. Or Wil as Max and Elizabeth as Emmy from Dragon Tales. If Wil is Peter Pan, then Elizabeth is Wendy, etc. Usually when the latter is the case I'm asked to be Mrs. Darling.

Elizabeth: "Mrs. Darling?"
Momma: "What is it, Wendy dear?"
Elizabeth: "Will you do something with me?"

Someone came to the door. Wil answered it with me. "Hi! I Buzz Lightyear."

The past two days have been exhausting, but Wil seems to be better. I started jumping up every time he coughed. Yesterday afternoon he said to me, "Momma, I need you," then gave a little cough. I snatched him up and ran to the bathroom with him. He cried, "I nee you! I dohn nee to be sick!"

Wil wanted to play with his blocks yesterday. It became apparent that I had pulled out the wrong set when he told me, "I wan the blocks that Josh build a train." Like I know which set that is!

Elizabeth was playing with one set of blocks in the living room and Wil was playing with another in their bedroom. I told Elizabeth she had to pick up her blocks before she could go play with Wil but she escaped while I was cleaning the kitchen. They were playing so nicely together that I had mercy and picked up the blocks for her. Awhile later she remembered, "Come on, Wil, leh go clean up." When she got to the living room she ecstatically exclaimed, "Momma clean up the blocks! Thank you, Momma!" It was worth it.

It's 4:15 pm and I've lost track of how many times Wil has vomitted in the last 11 hours, how many loads of laundry I've done and how many videos we've watched. I know 'Peter Pan' was on twice because Wil slept through it the first time.

Poor Wil. He threw up in his crib about 530a and came to bed with us. He didn't seem very tired, or very sick. Then he threw up again just before 7. Time to get up. He seemed better after that, watching 'Robin Hood' pretty happily. We decided it's our favorite.

Elizabeth and I had a little tiff yesterday. I told her I was going to go to the park and play Frisbee with some big boys while she took her nap. She seemed okay with that. Then, when I got the Frisbee, she said she wanted to go outside and play with it. Great. We went out. That's when I realized she thought we were going to the park. She was very distraught.

It wasn't until after I got to the park that I thought I could have taken her with me. She could have skipped her nap. Besides, none of the big boys showed up anyway (it's a semi-standing game of Ultimate). I rode my bike and played a few holes of Frisbee golf, then rode home.

So when she asked me after her nap if we could go to the park, I said sure. Christine thought I was out of my mind. And she didn't want to go. So I took Wil and Elizabeth by myself.

We did go to the park, but we didn't go to the playground. I thought it'd be fun to go down by the pedestrian bridge and the fountain. And we had a pretty good time. I showed them where I crashed my bike in november (which we talk about quite a bit, especially because of the very-visible scar on my wrist). We walked around. They ate goldfish. They really wanted to fish like the other people. I kept explaining that we didn't have poles. We played with the Frisbee a little on a patch of grass. They looked up at the flag on top of a very tall flagpole.

They were pretty crabby by the time we got home. I was, too, I guess. I hope it was worthwhile. At any rate, that's what we did.

We were watching our video of the twins after 1 year last night. My coworker, John, thought I was a genius because I could understand them. I thought it was easy...

then.

Now, I can't understand a lot of it. I sure am glad we repeated most of what they said on camera. They had 50 words at their 18 month checkup (that was on the video). Not sure I'd recognize many of them now.

About a week ago, Elizabeth and I were hanging out closely. I had just had Honey-Nut Cheerios and burped. She inhaled deeply, then said 'Daddy, you have too much Cheerios.'

This morning she said it again, but I think she was just referring to smelling my breath (French Vanilla Cappuccino), and knew I made a big deal out of it last time. I don't think she could really smell the Cheerios.

Elizabeth also tends to use 'l's in place of 'b's and 'v's, thus:

video=leelow
bicycle=like

This can also be very confusing.

Elizabeth wanted to read one of our books about Jesus tonight at bedtime. As she stumbled over his name, "Jee... Jee... Jee," this look of enlightenment came over her face. "Giji and Jesuh have the same name!"

Wil talked a lot about GranPaul and Granma Sue today. Almost first thing this morning he said, "I nee to call GranPaul." He picked up his play phone to talk to him. Their conversation included Wil asking, "What you say?" This afternoon he asked me, "Can I go to Gamma Sue house by myself?"

I put the twins to bed about 15 minutes ago. Elizabeth is still playing and singing/chanting, "Who is ready for breakfast?" Wil finally replied, "I not ready for breakfast. I need my Daddy."

Wil was sitting with me in sunday school yesterday. Elizabeth was absent, and he'd finished his doughnut, so he took a bite of hers. I said 'Isn't that Elizabeth's doughnut?'. He said 'I just take one bite.' The kids in my class laughed and Wil smiled. I said 'Those kids think you're funny.' He smiled again and declared 'I am funny.' They laughed even more.

So when we all went out to lunch, Wil tried to get their attention: 'Hey kids, I funny. Can you laugh? Hey, kids....' Sweet.

Elizabeth transposes some final consonants. Two notable ones:

bohmuh - bottom
goh - dog

That dog one will really confuse you when you're trying to break the code.

The twins are experimenting with personalization and distantiation.

Wil has taken, after hearing a story, to repeating it in the first person: 'I open window. I need sockies.' or 'We walk down road. Bad men see us. They hit us. They take our pennies.'. Cute.

Elizabeth has taken to talking about herself in third person as 'the baby', usually when refusing to do something: 'The baby no want to.' Crazy-making.

Where do they get this stuff? Preschool humans are amazing.

Josh came over last night and brought a copy of the "Meet Joe" Blue's Clues special. Elizabeth guffawed the first time Joe asked for help, but after that she warmed up to him. "Where Joe?" she asked if he wasn't on the screen. However, she still went searching for her blanket when Steve announced he was leaving. Wil sat looking very concerned all the way through Part 2, but then declared, "Joe ih my fwend." When Steve announced he was going to college, Wil decided he was going to take Larry Boy to college. The show wasn't even over before he'd put on a cap like Steve's (really a spoon from their play kitchen) and began parading up and down the hall saying, "I'm going to college." Josh and Elizabeth quickly followed suit. All in all a successful transition.

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.