We've got Elizabeth pretty well confined to her bed. Wil is up and down a couple times a night. Last night he came to bed and I was too tired to take him to his bed. Then he had to get up to pee. Then he said 'Let's go sleep in my bed.' Then I went back to my bed to sleep, after he got up with Gramma Jan. It's ok for now. At least Christine isn't so discombobulated as she was. We'll see if I need to make a change or not.

I just read Sean's comments over on Collaboratory about Elizabeth on Halloween. I laughed out loud. It's such a great description:

Elizabeth, on thurs pm in the neighborhood, did her best Emmitt Smith impersonation: head down, hit the hole, run by the big people, ask for treats. she wasn't trying to be pushy, just direct. she was great.

We went to the zoo again yesterday. It was a beautiful day. Our friends Karen and Connor went with us. They had never been in the Rainforest and we hadn't been in awhile. It was great. Many of the animals in there are free-ranging, so we got up close to marmosets and lots of colorful birds. The Scarlet Macaws were the kids' favorites. One of them kept saying "Hello," which the kids thought was hilarious. Elsewhere, we saw one of the baby snow leopards for the first time and three baby kangaroos. When we arrived a zookeeper was setting out food for the chimpanzees, so we went back later to watch them eat. The kids are amazed that chimps eat lettuce and sweet potatoes and Cheerios just like they do.

We did it. No more kids in our bed. Elizabeth is still pouting about it, but we haven't seen her in three nights. However, this morning I gave her breakfast in bed at 5:30. Wil still comes to get Sean when he wakes up in the morning. He has to go to the bathroom and it's not easy getting that footed-sleeper off. Today it was pretty early, 6:30ish, so we let him get in bed with us for a little bit. He pretended to paint our hands so we could make turkey handprints like they made last night at church. Then he and Sean got up and ate breakfast together.

That's enough. This nighttime wandering has got to stop. It just makes everybody crabby.

Probably what we should do is say the kids can't come to bed with us anymore. They can lay quietly on the floor or ask us to come sleep with them. But this free-for-all is not working. Agreed?

Aunt Erin and Uncle Jeff came for a short visit this weekend. Wil and Elizabeth enjoyed them. Wil, especially, connected with Uncle Jeff, asking him to carry him sometimes. We're grateful for their visit.

The last two times I've come to church without him, Wil has sent his sword with me. He really likes to put it in my 'pocket' [belt] for some reason. I asked him if he didn't want to keep it because I was going to be gone all day and he said no.

Here's an update on Sean's post below: Wil cried almost all morning about Bob and Larry. At 11:30 we had lunch and then he and Elizabeth played before naptime. Elizabeth announced that she had to poop and Wil nonchalantly said, "I poop in my pants. Now we have to take a Veggie away." I couldn't believe it! He said goodbye to Junior.

The twins are backsliding on potty training. Ugh.

So first Christine instituted a cold bath to get cleaned up if you pee in your pants. This woke Elizabeth up. It didn't bug Wil at all.

Wil has especially been pooping in his pants. This is driving Christine mad, as it would any sane person. Last night we were at a sunday school Halloween party and he did it again. It was close, so Christine ran him home. She had had it. So wanted to get through to him. So she decided to start taking away Veggies. He loses one everytime he poops in his pants. He gets one back everytime he poops in the potty. He lost Bob last night.

He lost Larry this morning. He was inconsolable. He said stuff like 'I'll never get Bob and Larry back. Bob and Larry don't want to play with me. Momma took all of my veggies away.'

I feel bad for him, but we really have to get through to him. This is crazy. I support Christine 100%.

Wil came to our bed before 7 am this morning. He wanted Sean to get up with him so he could eat breakfast. He said, "Daddy, can you say, 'Wil, do you want to wake up?'"

"Can you say...?" developed as the twins' pretend play developed. One of them, usually Elizabeth, says, "Can you say...?" to keep the action moving. But now, it's turned into a way to get someone to do what you want. Last night Elizabeth wanted a piece of candy. She said to Sean, "I want a treat when we get home. Can you say 'Yes'?"

I'm liking the time change. The kids are getting up before 7 am, but they are also going to bed at a more reasonable hour. I was so giddy over all the time I had to myself last night that I didn't fall asleep until after 1 am. And I was still happy about it this morning when Elizabeth wanted breakfast at 6:35.

Wil cannot resist ropes. Or anything that resembles a rope - belts, ties, hooded sweatshirt strings, even socks. He uses them to connect things, tie them up, scale the castle walls, as seat belts or, in the case of socks, as slingshots. It's all fair game when you have an adventure to live.

The twins learned a Knock Knock joke from playing with their Little People City. This is their version:

Elizabeth: Knock, knock.
Wil: Who there?
E: Boo!
W: Boo who what? (starts laughing)
E: You don't have to cry about it.
Wil to audience: Can you laugh?

I enjoyed Math as a student and am delighted to report that Elizabeth is showing marked interest in numbers. It started around her third birthday when she learned the difference between two fingers and three. Now she can hold up the correct number of fingers in question (up to five) and ask, "Is it this many?" She knows it is, but she likes the confirmation.

So today we were practicing 6 through 10 and moved on to 20. 10 and 6 is 16, etc. She thought flashing two sets of 10 was a great joke. "I do two ten!" she'd squeal and then do it again.

Last week the twins made construction paper suitcases during our Wednesday night program at church that read, "God said I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go." From a myriad of construction paper clothes, Elizabeth picked out only pink clothes to go in her suitcase. Her teachers said she was the only child who did this. I'll take the blame for her loving all things Disney, but I'm convinced the pink-purple passion is hard wired and not something she was taught.

We went to HallowZOOeen last night. I love the zoo. It was dark and the animals were in their homes for the night, but we rode the train and got a glimpse of one of the elephants through an open door. We also played "Remember when we saw..." with Elizabeth.

Most of the kids were dressed in costume, including our friend Josh who we joined for the festivities. He was Bob the Builder. Elizabeth was a princess, sort of. She wore her dress from Aunt Erin's wedding over a turtleneck and leggings and under her coat. Sean carried her crown around for awhile and then we put it in the bag. Wil refused to dress up, though once he saw a little Buzz Lightyear he said, "I want to be Buzz Lightyear" repeatedly.

The highlight was, of course, the candy. Or "treats" as the twins quickly learned to say. They were so cute saying "May I have a treat please?" And Wil quickly learned that "May I have another treat please?" usually earned him a second treat as was evidenced by nearly twice the candy Elizabeth had when we sorted the bags this morning. (Elizabeth was looking for the ones she likes, ie chocolate. I was removing choking hazards, including a bag's worth of Jolly Ranchers.)

Last night Elizabeth said, "This was a good day at the zoo." And today it was, "I like going to the zoo in my costume."

It must be a twin phenomenon that our twins sometimes think they have to play in imaginary pairs. A frequent argument between them goes like this:

Wil: "I can't be LarryBoy without somebody to be Alfred."
Elizabeth: "I can't be Jenny without somebody to be Oliver."

We didn't sleep much last night. The twins had Mother's Day Out and didn't nap until late. Therefore, they were up late. We finally gave up and let Elizabeth come to bed with us.

We should not have done that. We weren't sleeping very well anyway. Then Wil came in (I don't know what time). Pretty shortly after that, Christine left to sleep elsewhere.

Then Elizabeth woke up and missed Christine. I sent her to the guest room. She came back distressed because she couldn't find Mama in there. I checked and she was right. I guess that bed was covered with something else. That meant Christine had to be in Wil's bed, so I walked Elizabeth down there.

Wil woke up around 5 and rolled around for an hour. I did not sleep during this time. Then he decided to go to his own bed.

I don't know what transpired then, but Elizabeth came back to sleep with me shortly thereafter.

I woke up at 8:45 and thought 'I've got to get to work.'

Ugh. Next time, maybe we should lay with Elizabeth until she falls asleep. We need a better system here, somehow. A blind man could tell you that.

I was working on a project last night (a job with paper), and I gave Elizabeth one of the scraps, about 8 1/2" wide and 3" high. She drew on it a little bit and then said 'I want to make something. Maybe I will make a crown.' I said 'Maybe you could make a crown for Sonya Lee.' Christine said 'Or maybe you could make a crown for Laylee.' I said 'Well, I thought about that already, and I think it's too small.'

We went on to the next activity, which was singing. Elizabeth and I were singing some songs, when suddenly she disappeared. Oh well, that happens. I went on to something else in the living room.

Suddenly she reappears and says 'Daddy, you were right, this crown is too small for Laylee.'

I laughed out loud. It slays me (and drives me crazy) that my children feel the need to confirm everything I say. I'm a little defensive about it now, frankly. These days, in response, I'm saying 'You know honey, Daddy's right about a lot of things.'

When we arrived at Aunt Erin's house on Wednesday, Erin said to Wil, "I'm so happy to see you!" Wil said, "I so happy to see my GramPaul!"

I took the twins to our college's Homecoming parade and Renaissance Faire on Saturday. They didn't seem interested in the parade at the time, but Elizabeth has enjoyed talking about the knight and horses and seeing the Homecoming king and queen. According to her we had a nice picnic at the fair, and they both liked seeing the Chinese dragons. Wil's favorite part was getting a foam stick that says "Go Knights!" He immediately started using it as a sword. In general, Elizabeth likes seeing and doing new things. It gives her more to talk about. Wil lives and plays so much in his imaginary world that he doesn't really seek outside experiences. But I was glad I took them and will do it again.

Driving through a rural Iowa town yesterday, Elizabeth asked, "What in I-wa-a is this?"

Something to tide you over: Christine told me they were at the parade and Wil laid down in the street and said he wanted to go back to GramPaul's house. They changed venues after that.

In case you've been wondering, there haven't been any posts because Christine and the twins have been in Iowa for Wartburg Homecoming. They're on their way home right now. I'm really looking forward to seeing them. And I really appreciated the break.

But Wil and Daddy are round according to her. In actuality Wil is shaped more like a stick.

What about Daddy?! Is Daddy round?!

Boo hoo hoo.

We've been watching a lot of Rolie Polie Olie. Elizabeth came in and asked, "What shape am I?" Olie is round and Billy is square. I told her she was potato-shaped. She didn't think so. So I suggested curved and she agreed. But Wil and Daddy are round according to her. In actuality Wil is shaped more like a stick.

It got cold enough last night that we put Wil in his footed, fleece pajamas. After struggling a moment he said, "My feet are stuck in there."

The little kids choir (3-5 year olds) sang in church this morning. Wil didn't make it through practice. Elizabeth was very cute the first service despite looking around to make sure we were watching her first. But then the second service she repeatedly asked from the front of the church, "Momma, can I tell you something? Where's Daddy?"

When I dropped the twins off at Sunday School this morning their teacher asked Wil if he wanted to join the circle for storytime. He sat down in a chair at the table and proclaimed, "I sad and sad a lot!"

Elizabeth fell down and split her head open at church this morning. If we were doing stitches we'd probably do one, but it's not worth the aggravation for one stitch. She's doing ok.

Sheesh. Wil was throwing up yesterday, maybe just from too much allergy drainage. Christine hasn't been sleeping because of her allergies, so she's on her last nerve. We need a break.

When we arrived at church yesterday morning, Elizabeth said, "I want to get a drink from the water fountain before we see the Prince." She was talking about Sean.

We had a nice time at Jonah. The kids did great. They really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it too. It was well-done and focused on compassion and showing mercy. In this way it was less moralistic than many of the VeggieTales videos. The handled the story nicely, too. They just left Jonah crying in the dust. The kids listening in the other plot-line said 'Didn't he learn anything?' to which the storyteller replied 'The important thing is: What did you learn?'. That's right.

(Incidentally, Jonah finished 6th at the box office this weekend, according to estimates, despite showing at fewer than half the theaters of any other movie in the top 8. Good show. They have certainly garnered a loyal fan base.)

Wil started chair-dancing pretty early in. That's when we realized we didn't take him to the bathroom before we went in. I kept asking him if he needed to go to the potty. Of course he said no. I thought there was a pretty good chance he was going to have an accident. But he didn't and we made it to the potty afterwards without event. That's where I realized he was quoting from the movie on one hearing 'Something touched me!' (lampooning 'Jaws'). Wil's amazing in attention and recall, when he's interested. We're similar that way. It's not intentional. I can't turn it on and off, and neither can he. It didn't work for me in Hebrew and Greek, but I can quote you all of 'Raising Arizona'. It can be maddening when he has such perfect recall of things he likes but can't and won't listen to Christine and me and often will reply, when questioned, that he doesn't know what we just said.

Elizabeth went to the potty during the movie. She liked the movie, though she was afraid of the whale (she said). Come to think of it, she was pretty scared going into the movie, too - it was pretty dark. I pointed out all of the kids and I think that calmed her down a little bit. Afterwards she was horrible and really misbehaved. Oh well.

We're going to the VeggieTales movie Jonah tomorrow. We were going to go today, opening day, but Christine has something else she had to do. This will be the twins' first movie in a theater. I expect them to do really well. I'm looking forward to it.

Last week at Mother's Day Out, Wil asked the teacher if he could play with "that little girl Jenny." He was pointing to Elizabeth and totally confused his teacher. She asked me later what is his nickname for Elizabeth, which confused me. I eventually figured it out and explained that it's a game they play where he is Oliver and she is Jenny.

Similarly at the first day of choir Wil started to introduce himself as Larry-Boy. He stopped and instead said, "I Wil. But I pretend to be Larry-Boy." I love their imaginary games.

Elizabeth and I have been making "wish lists." Hers includes a doll stroller, Noah's Ark puzzle and pirate ship. When she asked Wil what he wished for he said, "I wish for my GranPaul to come."

I've been singing a lot of 'Change Your Mind' by Sister Hazel lately. For some reason Wil really loves it and loves to sing it with me. You can broadcast on that chorus anyway, and I do, and Wil likes to as well. It is so fun to hear and watch him sing it at the top of his voice.

If you wanna be somebody else
if you're tired of fighting battles with yourself
if you wanna be somebody else
change your mind.

This morning I was singing it and he said 'Daddy, can we sing that song?'. That's my boy!

We had a lot of fun today throwing nanees [blankets] (cue any song by 'Throwing Muses').

At one point Wil and I were running and I hid in the guest room and said (didn't shout) 'Boo' when he walked by. He was really surprised, and it was pretty funny to see his very physical reaction, though I think any more surprise and he would have cried. I said 'I surprised you.' and he said 'No, you scared me.'.

He and I were recapping this to Christine at lunch and Elizabeth asked if we could play that game at our new house - where we run and then I hide and say 'Boo.'. I said sure.

Yesterday Elizabeth was playing with Laylee. She left the room and said something and I didn't really get it (I was watching football). She knew by the non-response and got my attention:

'Daddy, will you keep an eye on Laylee?'

'Sure, I'll keep an eye on Laylee.'

She was going to get some pretend medicine or something. She came back and sat down in the little rocking chair and put Laylee on her lap and said 'Daddy, thanks for keeping an eye on Laylee.'

That girl's fun(ny).

I was singing the song 'We Delight' by Caedmon's Call on Saturday:

We delight in the Law of Your Word
We delight in the Son who was perfect from birth
We delight in the day He's returning to earth
Alleluia!

Elizabeth said 'What's earth?'.

I said 'Remember that picture of earth in the Clifford book where it looks like a ball? That's the planet we live on.'

She said 'I see a earth on your shirt.'

And she was right. By chance, I had a shirt on with an earth on it.

We talked about how Jesus will come back some day, connecting it with the Cinderella stuff from the last post. I asked her if she wanted to listen to the song and she said yes. So we played it and danced and had a great time.

(This second coming thing is not something we've been pushing. It's just kind of happened this way.)

After Bible Study yesterday I asked the twins what they learned. "We talk about God." "And Jesus." "God made butterflies." "God made the whale!" (That was from last week, but it's Wil's favorite part of the Creation story. I think it's because he's got Jonah on his mind. The VeggieTales movie premier is Oct 4.) Then Elizabeth asked me, "Why you learn about dreams?" I didn't know what she meant. "From Cinder-gella," she explained. (Last week I showed the video clip from Disney's Cinderella, "A dream is a wish your heart makes.") I told her that just like Cinderella was waiting for the prince to come and take her to live in his castle forever, Jesus is our Prince and we are waiting for Him to come back so we can live with Him forever in Heaven. I asked her if she wanted to live with Jesus forever. She said yes. Smart girl.

Two big announcements:

Elizabeth can write her name! E - l - i - scribble. I didn't even know it until she came home with a drawing on Tuesday that she'd written the letter E on three times. She also drew a picture of Adam and Eve and a couple of really good ones of Bob the Tomato.

Wil has grown an inch in the last two months! I thought he seemed to be getting bigger rather quickly, so I measured him and Elizabeth today. He is now a half inch taller than she is. He might actually grow out of his 2T clothes someday!

Wil had a tough night last night, but it ended nicely for us.

I was at church until about 9. When I got home he was crying about bedtime, and had been for an hour. Elizabeth was asleep and we decided to go ahead and get him up. He watched some football with me. He hung around me for awhile, sitting on my lap or standing by me. Then he started to play. At about 10 we told him he could stack his puzzle pieces one more time and then it would be time to go to his bed. Well, he stacked his pieces and then went and climbed into bed on his own. I couldn't believe it. He said 'Daddy, I want you to come lay down with me' which I was only too happy to do. I was lying on my belly playing Alpha Centauri on my laptop on the floor. When I do that, he pretends he's watching a video on the screen, usually 'Peter Pan'. He wanted to sit up and I told him he had to lie down, but that if he wanted to lay on me so that he could see the screen, that would be fine. He chose to and lay full out on top of me. Then he asked for covers, so I put all of his covers on top of him on top of me. It wasn't hot because I had the fan on. And he fell asleep like that. That was a nice time for me. We talked some, but I think we both like just hanging out together, being in touch. We're both in our own worlds conceptually, and I think that's ok with both of us.

When we were in Charlotte Elizabeth and Wil watched 'Aladdin' with Ali and Rian. Since then, Wil has been playing Abu, the monkey. 'Daddy, let's play Aladdin.' 'Who should I be?' 'Aladdin' 'And who should you be?'

And this is the best part: he pronounces 'Abu' 'Cebu', like from VeggieTales 'Song of the Cebu'. It is totally hilarious. Everytime he says it I'm in position to tip out of control.

So, while we're out of town for a week, there will be little or no posting here. But we'll try to keep track of notable vacation incidents.

See that last post about 'Oliver'? My brother Ryan's middle name is Oliver. He and his wife had a son last night and named him Oliver James. We're leaving tomorrow to fly out to visit them. Elizabeth thinks Oliver is a funny name for a baby. Uncle Ryan's going to have some 'splaining to do.

Wil is busy these days reenacting scenes from "Oliver and Company." He told everyone at church yesterday, "I a orange kitty named Oliver." (Elizabeth pronounces it, "Ah-ber.") Mostly this means Wil wants to pounce on Elizabeth, lick her, and climb on everything.

Both twins like to tell "remember when" stories. The memory might be an hour old or six months or something they just came up with. Last night as I was putting Elizabeth to bed she said, "Remember when I was sleeping on my mattress and I cried, 'Momma! Momma!' and you came to me and you pick me up and we sleeped in the big bed together?" Yes, I remember. "Can we do that again?"

Elizabeth was very excited to start naptime today. It made me suspicious. She also wanted to close the door by herself. Very suspicious. So I went and checked on her a few minutes ago. She's got all of her Little People arranged on her mattress, (which is on the floor as we begin the transition to a 'big kid bed,') and is playing quietly. So long as she is quiet, I think I'll let her play.

Wil got into a lot of trouble yesterday mostly revolving around not eating. At some point in time he had to have a spanking. Then he had to have another. After the second one I started to say something like, "Wil, I love you and I don't like to spank you but you must learn to obey me and Daddy." He yelled, "I dohn love Jesus!" Which comes from the rest of what I usually say about Jesus wanting us to be more like Him and to obey Him because He loves us and wants what is best for us. This time all I said was, "Jesus still loves you." Wil yelled, "I dohn wahn to learn to love Jesus!" I let him finish his fit and then he came out of his room to find me. He was sorry and needed to be held a lot. Being 3 is hard.

I don't know how it happened but the twins have half a dozen toothbrushes a piece. Therefore choosing a toothbrush can become a lengthy process. Elizabeth has a new system. Tonight after supper she looked down at her shirt and said, "Hmm, what color do I have on? I want this white one to match my white shirt."

Last friday night Christine went scrapbooking and the twins and I went to the new Burger King with the 'slide'. It was a train wreck. They didn't want to go on it because they were afraid of 'big kids', of which there were none. Christine defends them saying they're been traumatized too many times. I grant that, but I want them to get over it soon and not be so fearful.

Christine's scrapbooking tonight, too, and you can be sure we're not going to the 'slide'.

Elizabeth is very into the moon these days. She can spot it amazingly well. She's been able to see it a lot before it's full dark, and that amuses her. I tell her it's because it's summer in the northern hemisphere. She looks at me like I'm making a joke. Yesterday we were talking about it. She said 'Daddy, I hope I can see the moon when the sun is out. That silly!'

When I got back from riding my bike yesterday, Elizabeth asked me 'Which like did you ride, the yellow or the gray?'

We ran errands all morning. By the time we got to Target Wil was tired, hot and cranky. He couldn't stop crying in the car on the way home. In an amazingly sweet and rational moment, he asked us to pray for him. I did and things were a little better after that.

Elizabeth woke up around 12a calling out for Daddy. That doesn't happen very often any more (the Daddy part; it's usually Momma.) and I was still up, so I went to check on her. She said her belly hurt. I brought her to bed with us. Couldn't do much to comfort her, so I suggested we talk about a story she picked Ahdiss (Alice in Wonderland). We talked about it as we fell asleep. I'd start to nod off and she'd ask for another installment. Finally, we both drifted off (somewhere after the Mad Hatter's Tea Party).

She slept with us all night which meant fitful sleep for all. Then Wil came and tried to fit in around 7 and he was all over the place. Elizabeth finally suggested we watch a video, to everyone's relief (especially Christine's, who stayed in bed. She sleeps the worst when the kids are in bed with us. She really needs to just go sleep in the guest room in such cases, as she said this morning.). She got to pick, and she picked Ahdiss. Fun.

When Elizabeth pulls that kind of pronunciation middle ground, I try to encourage her, saying something like 'That's better'.

Another one is 'buhnilla bah'.

'Is it 'buhnilla bah' or 'granola bar'?

'Guhnolla bah.'

'That's better. Good job.'

Wil update: He and I (Sean) went to get haircuts last night. He was having trouble sitting still in the chair. I got up to be closer to him and saw the big red mark on the left side of the crown of his head from where he fell off of the bed. Poor boy! He had another mark in back, too. It makes me sad, but I'm glad he wasn't hurt worse. None of it really seemed to bother him. He never complained about his head hurting.

We're working on Elizabeth's pronunciation.
Elizabeth: Mih Kathy got a new lan.
Sean: Is it lan or van? [With emphasis on the 'v' sound.]
Elizabeth: Ban.

Wil fell off the top bunk this morning. Very traumatic. He was sitting up there with his back to the edge and got too far back. He wasn't hurt, but was very scared. He jumped right up and ran to Christine, who was right there. They called me and left a voicemail saying Wil wanted his daddy, which was pretty sad. Since I wasn't available, Wil said 'We need to go to church now.' In the end, he decided watching a video would help him feel better, so he watched Dora and Jonah. They still came to church for lunch, and he was doing much better. I'm glad it was nothing more serious.

A lot of things are happening 'by theyselves' these days.

For example, Elizabeth broke some sunglasses last week. Then she talked to me on the phone. She said 'They broke by theyselves.'.

In the background, Wil said 'Eh-yi-beh bwoke huh gwasses.'

She said 'No, they broke by theyselves. I talking to Daddy now, Wih-uhl.'

She went on to tell me that she had 'tortilla and egg and big cheese and it was weel messy.'

I said 'You're messy sometimes.'

She said 'Yeah.'

Last week it rained some, which was great. Sometimes it rained pretty hard. We were eating breakfast and Elizabeth said 'Daddy, can you watch me talk about the Itsy Bisty Fider?'. I said sure.

*with actions*
'The itsy bitsy fider went up the water fout.'
*point to rain pouring off the roof*
'Down came the rain and washed the fider out.'

According to Wil, Mondo Mouse is his new favorite superhero. Which if true would mean that Mondo Mouse had supplanted Larry-Boy. But Wil is in a stage where he's experimenting with new concepts like favorite, forever and fair. Larry-Boy doesn't have anything to worry about.

The dragon fire post below made me think of the rules of play that I have made for Wil that were never part of my childhood because girls typically play differently than boys. For example:
*You may not point your laser at friends.
*You may shoot arrows only at trees and castles.
*Good dragons don't blow fire on people.
And the latest - DON'T ROAR at your sister or her babies!

Wil informed me today that he wants to be a dragon "forever." Earlier this week he was blowing "dragon fire" at Elizabeth and I asked him if he was a good dragon or a bad dragon. I hoped (assumed?) he would say 'good' because then I could explain that good dragons don't blow fire at people, like on Dragon Tales. He said 'bad.'

Elizabeth loves to help cook and clean. It's delightful when she comes in and says, "What can I do, Mom?"

I've been frustrated lately with Wil's lack of response when I ask him a question. Tonight I said to Sean, "Do you think he's ADD? He acts just like Kyle." Wil who had not yet made any response to let us know he was paying attention said, "I just like Kyle."

Sean and I were laughing about something at supper tonight that didn't include the kids. Attempting to be included, Wil said, "I have an idea. Let's talk about Mondo Mouse."

Elizabeth and Wil like flashlights. We have two of those cheap little booklights that Visa will send you if you pay postage. They love to play with those. We try to steer them toward bigger flashlights. We're starting to go through batteries pretty fast, so we're thinking about rechargeables. One of the biggest issues with flashlights is heft, since Wil invariably hits with them (though not maliciously). Another big issue is durability, since Wil invariably throws them.

I spent a lot of time with the twins on vacation. It was good. I felt closer to them, especially Elizabeth. She drove me crazy a lot, too.

Christine beat me to the 'why' post, but I experienced it first (because she was in Pennsylvania), and I was going to post about it. In one of these 'why' conversations, I made a distinction between 'angry' and 'mean'. They have a Larry-Boy video that teaches kids to let go of their anger. It's ok to be angry, but we shouldn't hold onto it. That's a pretty good lesson. I told them that people become mean when they hold onto their anger. Don't know if that's technically right or not, but it works in my mind. So, Christine, you can use that the next time you have to explain 'mean'.

Wil got in trouble this morning for throwing toys at Elizabeth and hurting her. He got a time-out. Later Elizabeth pushed him and he bumped the back of his head fairly hard. In the midst of his tears he choked out, "Elihbeh has to have time out now."

The twins' pediatrician told us that at 3-years-old kids start to ask 'why?' As if on cue, Elizabeth's quest for answers began. So far it's pretty fun and she seems to really want to know the answer rather than just using 'why' as a device to continue the conversation. Last night the two of us watched "The Little Mermaid" together. Mostly she wanted to know why Ariel's daddy was angry and why the sea witch was mean. The first one was easy - Ariel disobeyed. The second one was harder - some people are meaner than others, but we all do mean things sometimes. Later she asked "Why did Prince Eric throw his flute into the water?" That's more complicated, but I told her I'd try to explain. I could tell she still didn't understand and was concerned, so I told her that Ariel would probably give him a new one as a present after they got married. That made her happy.

Christine told me two cute stories about the twins last night.

Elizabeth was sitting on the potty. She sang 'It's Laura's fault [from VeggieTales].' Then she stopped and said 'Wait, Momma, can I tell you something? She started singing again, this time with different words: 'It's Junior's fault, he broke the plate.' She's my little comedienne.

Wil loves the parrot on the Candyland CDROM. If you give it the wrong colored berry to eat, it says 'Squak, not that kind.'. That just kills Wil. He, of course, pronounces it 'Fwawk'. One day he was playing with the program, and it was nap time, and that made him mad. So Christine went and lay down with him. He was still mad. But he fell asleep, and then a smile came to his face. And Christine knew he was dreaming about that parrot. Sweet.

I saw my Back Yard Burgers receipt in my car. It reminded me of when Wil and I went on our date about two weeks ago. We went to lunch. I asked Wil what he wanted. He answered 'french fries'. I'd been wanting to try BYB, so that's what we did. Then we went to Lowe's. Then we went and got his hair cut. I told him if he sat still he could have a treat, and he was good, so we went to Albertson's and he picked out a donut. We had a nice date. I love that boy.

The other day when the twins and I were driving around, I happened to see some folks we know in their car. I said 'There's Pam and Joey in that car.' Elizabeth said 'Who's in that car?'. She concluded that I knew who everyone was in every car.

Elizabeth likes for someone to hold her hand while she poops. Tonight she said 'Daddy, do you do hands when you poop?'.

I said 'No.'

She's also trying to figure out what makes the big poops come out. Is it when she grunts? Is it because she bends over? She's not sure.

We went to the JCPenney Home Store today to look at lamps. We told the kids we were going. I told them we might see 'Lampy', a character from 'Larry-Boy and the Angry Eyebrows'.

First we had to go to Virginia's, through Tulsa horse country (north of Jenks).

I asked 'Do you think we'll see a horse?'.
Wil asked 'Do you think we'll see Lampy?'.

I went to breakfast with Bryan early this morning at Krispy Kreme. I'd forgotten my wallet, so I stopped by the house on the way to work. Wil had just wakened, so we greeted one another with hugs. Elizabeth slept with us in the big bed last night. Don't know if she was already awake, but she heard us and showed up. I couldn't bring donuts home today because Wil has been pooping in his pants and we think he's sick or something and just doesn't know what's happening until it's too late. So he's on the BananaRiceApplesauceToast diet until he successfully puts poop in the potty. When I left I got kisses from everyone (not a given with Elizabeth) and gathered my stuff. Christine asked for another kiss, and they both did, too, so that was nice.

There's a "terrible twos" story coming, so let me say something good about the twins' 3rd birthday party first. No one cried, no one fought, everyone had fun. Maybe I'll find a good photo to post. Maybe one where Sean is wearing Clifford ears.

Albertson's has grocery carts with little cars on the front that are only big enough for one child to sit in. The only time I've seen parents with more than one child use them, it was a disaster. This evening the twins saw them for the first time. We weren't going to be in the store long, so I decided to take the risk. We made it to the checkout line, then I had to carry my screaming, crying son to the car while dragging Elizabeth behind us. Somehow the bagboy kept up.

Okay, I'll try to write daily, and I'll just write the best thing that comes to mind within a reasonable amount of time.

The twins and I were feeling the same way. I was home last night, but left before they got up this morning. And I was missing them. I was going to call and ask if thy could come by work (which is now about 2 miles away) to say hi. Then Christine called to say the kids were asking about me and could they come over and see me. It was a short visit, but it was nice. And I'm off tomorrow (I get thursdays off and work sundays), so we'll have some more time together.

I don't exactly know why I haven't been updating here. Because Christine hasn't? Because I've been playing too much Civilization 3?

Scott shamed me into it. Yesterday was the twins' birthday. As Kathy has noted, we had a bunch of little kids over Saturday morning. Christine did an amazing Clifford theme. There was a Clifford cake. Wil said, while they opened presents, that it was his best birthday party ever.

Yesterday, we had Merritts muffins and opened presents. The kids got skates and protective paraphernalia. I think they enjoyed it.

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.