If anything is scary, Wil says he likes it on "my Rugrat video." (The only Rugrats he's ever watched that we know of is the preview before Blue's Clues.) So, for example, he'll say, "I like Barad Dur on my Rugrats video" or "I like Orcs on my Rugrats video."

A week or so ago Sean and the twins were reading about Elijah and how he was carried to Heaven in a flaming chariot. This got them talking about when Jesus ascended to Heaven and when He's coming back. Sean told them that everyone who loves Jesus will go to Heaven with Jesus to live with Him forever. Elizabeth added, "And believes in Him," then, "I believe in Him." Wil said, "I will believe in Him when He comes back." Too late, sweet boy, but at least for today there's time to change your mind.

Last Thursday I had a chance to peek into Wil's classroom at Mother's Day Out. Wil was presiding over a tea party with Connor, Jackson and Aurora's grandson Joshua. I nearly laughed out loud as Wil passed out sugar and offered milk and cookies. I'll venture to guess that it was the other boys' first tea party.

Elizabeth still has some concerns about moving to Iowa. Yesterday she told me, "I want to have my princess party (the much anticipated theme for her birthday in July) here. I think my girl friends don't know the way to I-wa-a."

As I sit here the twins and Sean are talking about and playing as characters in The Lord of the Rings. Sean is Gandalf, Wil is Bilbo and Frodo and the rest of the hobbits, and Elizabeth is Galadriel. Elizabeth said, "Maybe when I'm not being Galadriel, I can be Gandalf's daughter." She's also Goldberry when appropriate.

We were watching DragonTales the other day and Ord was sad that no one would play with him on him birthday (because they were working on a surprise party for him). I talk about stuff like that with them, so I said 'I'd be sad too if no one would play with me on my birthday.' Wil said 'Daddy, I would play with you if it was your birthday.' Sweet boy.

Time for an update. Sean's job was terminated (lack of funds) on the 28th. We decided to go to Iowa for a week. I asked the twins if they wanted to move to Iowa. Wil said 'no.' Elizabeth wasn't sure at first but then later she asked, "When are we going to Iowa to live there forever?"

Wil is really into Big Idea's "3, 2, 1, Penguins!" these days. He flies a toy coffee pot around like a spaceship and sings the theme song. Most days he answers to Midgel.

Elizabeth was sad to go to preschool today. It must be tough on her knowing the rest of us are at home together.

How do you like those new pictures? You like them, don't you...

Eeek! Christine wrote 'photographs made'. I know she grew up in the South and everything, but...

Hey, Scarlett O'Hara, in Iowa we say 'pictures taken'!

This no nap thing is really working for me; however, it's catching up to the twins. They both got up too early and were crabby almost all morning. They cried about everything, even when I was agreeing with them. So I announced that we would have naptime after lunch. Elizabeth threw a huge fit and finally cried herself to sleep. Wil said, "I like naptime this day."

While Elizabeth was throwing her fit, Wil and I were finishing our lunch. I asked him why he thought she was crying. He said, "I think Elizabeth is not happy on the inside. She can't be happy on the outside until she is happy on the inside." I was sort of surprised, so I asked him if he learned that somewhere or if he thought of it himself. He pointed to Sean's whiteboard in the breakfast nook. I asked, "Did you learn that from Jesus?" He said, "And from the crosses and Zacchaeus and the blind man who sat by the road and cried."

Wil brought some popcorn to Sean in his mouth fully expecting Sean to take it and eat it. Sean asked what they were playing. "You're Fagan and I'm bringing you a bone." Bone accepted. Wil proceeded to lick Sean's face twice.

All the boys wanted to be Space Rangers today at Mother's Day Out. Since there is almost no way to keep six little boys from shooting things, I told them okay but they had to work together and couldn't shoot each other since they were all Space Rangers. At this point Wil decided to be the enemy Zurg.

During snack time at Mother's Day Out, Wil bit off parts of animal crackers to make them into new animals. He ended up with a lot of sea horses and whales.

In the car this morning Elizabeth said, "When I am big like you and when I have my two children, I will put my girl one in my seat and my boy one in Wil's seat." Okay. "But where will I sit?" So I told her she might have a car to drive when she is a mommy. She thought that was a good idea and she added, "Daddy knows how to drive." Then she decided that if she and her children take a trip to Iowa, she will sit in the passengers seat. I'm not clear on who will do the driving.

The twins are 3-1/2 years old today. I took them to have their photographs made. Wil had a blast. The photographer kept saying, "He's so cute!" Elizabeth was surprisingly hesitant, like she didn't want to make a mistake. We didn't stay around for her pics to be developed, but Wil's turned out great. It was so hard to choose one, so I picked three!

Let's do it to it.

This has become the new family motto. I started saying it and Elizabeth picked it up and then Christine and Wil picked it up. Fun.

Well, Christine and the kids are off to Iowa. Christine wants a break, so she's going to take the kids to my folks' and go on a scrapbooking retreat. And my folks are glad to have them, so it works out well for everyone. I miss them, of course, but will relish the solitary time.

At preschool they are talking about Martin Luther King Jr and dreams. Elizabeth told her teacher privately that her dream was to be a ballerina. I thought the privately part was important because if you get a bunch of little girls going around the room saying what they want to be when they grow up they'll all say the same thing.

Two sweet moments from the day:

Wil cleaned up his own mess after lunch. I got out the whisk broom and pan for him, and he swept up all the noodles, ham and cheerios he had dropped on the floor. He put it all in the trash and then put the broom and pan away. I wish there was a way to capture the look of pride on his face when he was done.

Elizabeth said to me, "I need you to be with me by myself for a little while but Wil is in here." I told her we could sit in the recliner together and pretend Wil was somewhere else. She agreed and we all watched 'The Little Mermaid.' Wil eventually sat with us and she was okay with that.

The twins had an appointment today with our dentist. Both of them did great. They enjoyed having their teeth cleaned, going up and down in the chair, and using 'Mr Thirsty.' I think the best part for them was being told repeatedly how great they must be at brushing their teeth and such things. They beamed and readily agreed that they were good brushers. The truth is they're not. They must have inherited their Daddy's impermeable teeth. Thank goodnesss!

File under 'not a good day to be the daddy': both twins peed last night after falling asleep. First Wil comes crying out of his room around 9pm. We clean him up and put him to bed with us. Then Elizabeth comes crying out of her the guest room around 4:30 (she often sleeps in the guest room because one of us can lay down with her until she falls asleep). So, the guest bed's out of comission. Four of us in the big bed doesn't work. What to do? I suggest we sleep in Wil's bed and she starts to go to meltdown (The reactor core will go terminal in 5...4...). I tell her to stop it and then avert a meltdown by suggesting we go sleep on Wil's top bunk, which idea she loves. We sleep there until Wil comes in around 7:30. Christine couldn't believe I could sleep with her up there and not be totally worried, but I was desirous of sleep on a mattress under covers enough to manage it.

The interesting part of Elizabeth attending preschool is that it's here at church beginning at 9am three days a week, so I bring her two of those days. It's some nice daddy-daughter time.

Yes, the new sleeping schedule is wonderful. Christine and I have some time to ourselves and for each other in the evening again. It's revolutionary.

Preschool orientation went well yesterday, and today, Elizabeth's first full day at preschool, was good too. It's been difficult to get any real information from her though. Without the context, it's been hard for me to understand what she is talking about, and when she first got home she didn't want to talk at all. "I can't talk about it," she said. I was a little worried at first so I asked her if she wanted to go back tomorrow. She quickly agreed, so I think she must just be a little tired or overwhelmed. She and Wil have played really well together all afternoon.

The best part of the day for me was playing with Wil this morning. He's been so excited about staying at home alone with me. "Are you going to stay with me?" "I don't have to go to school!" I love having twins, but having just one child would be so easy for me.

Elizabeth is starting preschool tomorrow. It's time. She can write the first three letters of her name, knows all her colors, most shapes and most of the alphabet. She can count to 10, and add and subtract up to 3. The latter she figured out on her own. That's the kind of stuff they test for readiness for 1st grade. I know she will enjoy being in school. I hope being in a classroom setting will improve her enunciation. I hope the gap between her and Wil doesn't become too great. I hope Wil won't feel left behind. I hope he enjoys his one-on-one time with me. I hope we don't drive each other crazy this week before our own activities start the next. I hope I make good use of our time alone. We will see how it all unfolds.

We're giving up naps. The twins' sleeping schedule, and therefore mine, got totally out of hand during the holidays. Our first few days of the no-nap experiment went great. They both fell asleep before 8 pm. Yesterday we let Wil sneak a 45 minute nap. He was up until 11 pm. No more naps.

Yesterday was Sean's birthday. After he blew out the candles on his cake, the twins asked what he wished for. "I wish for Wil and Elizabeth to obey," he said. They must have thought that was a pretty good wish because today when they were playing birthday party, Elizabeth said, "Wil wished for Roscoe to obey and I wish for Mary Beary to obey."

We celebrated Christmas with the Linfoots last night. They gave Wil the latest LarryBoy video and Dress-Up Mix-Up Larry. When Wil opened the video, he said, "It's what I always wanted!" The Dress-Up Larry is similar to Mr Potatohead. Last night Wil took it, all it's parts, and the box to bed with him. He's got Larry tucked under his arm as he naps now. Elizabeth got a Disney Princess tea set. We've had at least three tea parties since last night as well as a full meal including pork chops, soup, and "round bread." I'm pretty sure she and Laylee are having a tea party instead of a nap.

We've been busy. Busy preparing for Christmas and guests, busy trying to put the house in order, busy making cookies, busy wrapping presents, busy shopping. Elizabeth asked where we were going today. I said "The store." She said, "Again?" in her funny exasperated voice.

We've had fun together this morning. Wil came to my room around 7:30 carrying their new 'Oliver and Company' DVD. "Come on, Mom," he said, "Let's go to the TV room." But he crawled into bed and snuggled some first. Just when I thought he was going to fall back asleep he said, "Come on, Mom" again.

I called Elizabeth a silly goose at breakfast. She thought that was funny and wanted to reenact it over and over. "Can we play where you say 'silly goose' again?"

We put batteries in their new Little People Zoo and played with it. About half of their Little People migrated to the living room to visit the zoo today. That's a lot of Little People.

Now they're playing a combination of Veggies and Oliver. We never did watch the video.

It's no surprise that Christine immediately provided some Elizabeth pictures. She was posing this day. 'Take my breath away...' God, I can't believe how beautiful they are. (Note: she has had her hair cut ('a little trim') since then. Otherwise, this is how she looks these days.)

I sing 'you are so beautiful to me' to Elizabeth. I've sung 'you are so handsome...' to Wil a few times. This morning when I sang it 'you are so beautiful...' to Elizabeth, and then she sang 'you are so handsome...' to Wil. That was a pretty sweet moment.

Here's the latest picture of Mr Handsome Himself. Elizabeth wasn't posing that day - too crabby. More of her soon.

When we woke up this morning there was no snow. It was disappointing, but Wil was sick so it turned out okay. But later it started to snow, and it snowed, and it snowed. By the time Wil woke up from his nap, the yard was nicely covered. When Sean got home, Wil and I went out. He did some sledding, threw some snowballs and pulled his sled around. But the best part was riding in the sled together.

WIL FOUND HIS VEGGIES! And there was much rejoicing.
We went to my closet to get out my ski pants so we could go sledding. He crawled behind my dresses that hang to the floor, and there in the most remote part of the closet, he found his Veggies! He was so surprised and so happy. Sean took him with him to a meeting and Wil took all his Veggies. He wouldn't let Sean put them in the backpack. He carried all five of them to the car. What a relief!

I made a more concerted effort last night to put Wil to bed and to sleep in my bed, instead of in his. This seems to me like it will be best for everyone in the longterm.

And it worked like a dream. They didn't come to our bed until after 7:30 this morning.

Woohoo!

The wishlist idea is working very well for us. The kids see something they want. We ask them if they would like to put it on their wishlist. Plenty of times they say 'no', which shows it's a low priority right there. It helps push out the expectation of getting things right away.

Now if we could only get the daddy on such a program.

It didn't start snowing until this morning, so no sledding yet. It hasn't really accumulated enough yet, anyway.

Plus, Wil is sick. He got up and threw up a little bit this morning (but happened to be in the bathroom and threw up in the toilet). It looked like it could just be phlegm, and he has a lot of drainage, so I just let it go. I gave him some Gatorade.

But he threw up more after I left, so Christine is keeping an eye on him. No reason to worry yet. He even seems to be feeling better.

Hmm. Seems I'm back to taking baths with the kids - but now one at a time. I don't mind. It's actually a decent way to spend time with them individually. Last night Wil opted not to take a shower with me. He just wanted to stay in the tub and play. Since this does not require my presence, and I don't want to sit in there all night, I closed the curtain and rinsed off in the shower while he sat there and played. Then I got out and he kept playing in the tub. Fine by me.

It's suppose to snow tonight. We got a sled. It's orange. Elizabeth wanted purple but there wasn't one. Wil already has a plan for us to reenact part of VeggieTales' "The Toy That Saved Christmas." He's going to play Junior, Sean is Larry, and I get to be Bob. Elizabeth could be Buzzsaw Louie, but she is still pouting about not getting a purple sled. It's just as well. There's no way we're all going to fit in the sled anyway.

I was going to post yesterday that we seem to be in a season of lost things. Elizabeth thought she lost Laylee's headband at Target yesterday. She was so certain, I took them back into the store and we retraced our every step. No luck. Of course it was in the living room with her blanket when we got home.

For some reason, after working out pretty hard last night after work, I had a lot of energy. I was running around with the kids and hid and said Boo and scared them. They thought that was awesome and we took turns hiding and saying Boo until dinner, and then they played afterward while I did some dishes and let Christine go to the library (where did all of this energy and good will come from? I don't know.). They went to bed pretty well. Another decent day. Two in a row. Look out.

More sleep notes: Wil came crying down the hallway last night around 2(?) 'You are supposed to lay with me!'. OK I said and went back to sleep with him. At that point Elizabeth started crying for Christine. On our way by I told her she could go sleep in the big bed. When Wil and I got to his bed he said he wanted his doggie that he took to the big bed. So I went to look. Christine and Elizabeth were both still awake. I didn't find the dog. I said, sarcastically 'Let's just all get up and have a bowl of cereal.'. I had trouble falling back asleep after that. Wil got up to pee a little before 8 and we were off.

As I got dressed, after Christine got up, Elizabeth was still sleeping in our bed. She started to wake up. I have learned not to speak to her first because it often makes her contrary gear kick out crabbiness. She rolled around a little and looked and I just smiled. Her first words were 'nanny, nanny' [as in 'blanket']. We had fun talking with almost only the word 'nanny' for a while. At one point she said 'My nanny' and I said 'Bethy's nanny' and she thought that was pretty funny. She said 'Can you say Bethy's nanny again?'

Bedtime went pretty well last night, too. In fact, yesterday went pretty well. They didn't nap so we got to put them to bed early.

nb: 'Bethy' is my new dear-name for Elizabeth. It's said usually in response to 'Daddy' so it has the same amount of syllables and the diminutive. She's growing to like it pretty well.

Wil's Veggies are missing. Remember that box of packing peanuts from Wednesday? We think Wil hid his Veggies in it. The box went out with the trash on Wednesday morning. We noticed the Veggies were lost on Wednesday night but figured they'd turn up somewhere. The probability of their being in the box didn't dawn on me until this afternoon. When I asked Wil if he put his Veggies in the box, he cheerfully said, "I think so." We haven't told him the rest of the story yet. I've got a lump in my throat and a knot in my belly just thinking about it.

What would happen if Wil was left alone with a ball of string? It happened yesterday, unintentionally, and he wrapped string around every chair between the breakfast nook and living room. It was an impressive mess. Thankfully he mostly wraps instead of ties so it wasn't too hard to simply rewind the string onto the ball. Clean up still took a lot more time than I anticipated and he was no help.

Now can you guess what would happen if he was left with a box of packing peanuts? Clean up was easier. We played 'Scoop' and 'Muck' and had so much fun, they wanted to do it again. Especially Elizabeth. With a little direction, she's generally very good about cleaning up.

I better log something good.

Bathtime went ok. The other night Elizabeth wanted to take a shower with me. She did and it went fine and then, since I was in, Wil chose to take a bath with me and that went fine.

So, last night, Elizabeth chose a bath with me. Well, if I'm going to take a bath with her, I'm going to wear my swimming suit. First she wondered why, which I didn't explain. Then, she wanted to wear her suit. We compromised: she could put her suit on after I washed her body and before I washed her hair. 'This is going to be fun!' she said. And it was fine.

And then it was Wil's turn. So I washed him and then it was time for my shower and I asked him if he wanted to shower with me and he said yes. That went fine, too. When we do that I let him help me wash my hair. I'd say 'Are we done yet?' and he'd say 'No, not yet.'. So bathtime was pretty good.

Should I change the title to 'twin-sleep-log'?

Elizabeth asked if she could sleep with us last night. I told her no and she took it ok. I also told her we'd do it again some other time.

Wil, however, who didn't nap much yesterday, pulled out his 'little monster' act for bedtime. Christine had to ride herd on him from his room. I finally took pity on him and went in and laid down with him. At first he said 'God took everything away from me.'. Wholey mackerel! That's one of the last things I want my son to feel. He said God took away his family and his sister. First, I tried to reason with him - 'No, you have your family and your blanket...' To no avail. Then I just decided to divert. I asked him if he wanted to talk about a story. Of course he said yes. I forget which one. And I slept there with him all night.

What was my reward? Him waking up from a dream saying 'I don't want that little girl to hit me.'. Then 'I want pajamas without socks.', which I was not about to do for him first thing - little arbitrary whim demands. So he said he wanted Momma to sleep with him - thinking he'd get different pajamas - and that's a fine howdoyoudo after I'm the one who slept with him all night. Finally he said 'I want to go talk to Momma' and I said Fine! and left the bed and went and laid down with Momma and let her deal with him. Of course, he laid on my side and put his feet all over me, but it was tolerable. As usual, the thing that got me up was him starting to kick his legs. I said 'Do you have to pee?' and he said yes and off we went.

It was a crappy way to wake up this morning. I did not want to be the daddy.

Well, we caved on the new protocol: Elizabeth slept in our bed the whole night last night. Wil was already asleep. It was 10:30, and we were both too tired to want to go through the bedtime ritual with her.

She was sweet about it, in an innocent, sad sort of way. I asked her if she'd like to lay down with us and she said 'Yes, but only for a little while because you don't want me to sleep in your bed.'

That was so hard for me. In a way, I do want her to sleep in our bed. That time can be really sweet. It was last night. We snuggled. But it's not good for my sleep, and it's really not good for Christine's sleep, and, on a nightly basis it would be bad for our marriage.

So, we might have to fight the battle again to keep her out tonight. But that's ok. There are rules, and it's ok to have exceptions. She has to learn that, too. She can even ask for exceptions. But we get the final ruling.

Wil has developed a very-spotty, very-strange ... accent. I hesitate to type 'southern' accent, though that's what it sounds like. The word I know the best is 'mah' in the place of 'my', eg 'Where are mah covers?'. It makes me laugh out loud every time, of course, though it is very alarming. Where would he get such a thing? We don't even really know anyone who talks like that!

Sean was out of town for a couple days this week. The twins did really well in his absence until last night. Wil woke up at least once sobbing and he cried for Sean for at least 15 minutes this morning. Heart-wrenching sobs. "Daddy come back." He opened the front door and wailed, "Daddy I need you." Poor boy. He's watching 'DragonTales' right now, but we've done a lot of cuddling and tickling and squeezing today. "Can you squeeze me and say 'Mmmm'?"

My friend Kathy and I have discussed the disadvantage we are at when playing with our sons. We don't know how to make very good car sounds or any other engine noises for that matter. We're not very good at sword play because we can't get that "swish" sound right. We certainly never had any practice making the sounds of a laser being fired or an arrow slicing through the air. It must be genetic. Wil and Elizabeth are playing 'Mulan' right now and as Wil grunts and swishes through their attack on the Hun army, Elizabeth says, 'Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight."

The best word I can think of to describe Wil playing 'Mulan' is gleeful. He is in his element. Elizabeth lets him call the shots, so he gets to say, "Can you say...?" alot. She is Mulan and he is alternately Captain Chang Li and Mulan's horse. The Veggies are filling in for Mulan's family or the other soldiers. You can tell which part they are playing by whether or not they have pots and pans on their heads - Wil's good idea for helmets. Except for Laura the Carrot. Laura is a Hun, which doesn't make Elizabeth too happy. Occasionally she says, "I don't think Laura wants to be the Hun anymore." But Wil says she does and the game continues.

Wil and I read the Bible story of the 1 leper out of 10 healed who said thanks to Jesus. I asked him what he wanted to thank Jesus for. He said:

'For my Grampa. For my father named Daddy. For my Momma. For my Grampa called GramPaul. For my Gramma called Gramma Sue.'

Sweet, aye?

Wil's middle of the night request for the past several nights has been: 'Daddy, can we talk about 'Rolie Polie Olie: Great Defender of Fun?' Usually I humor him a little. The last two nights he's come and asked me this in my bed. To save Christine I take him back to his bed and we talk about it a little before we fall asleep again.

Elizabeth and I tried to bake a cake last night for my birthday. It was pretty bad. She spilled cake mix on the counter. We didn't have enough vegetable oil. Or frosting. Or enough of the right ingredients to make frosting. Then part of the spatula broke off in the batter. I think she had fun anyway.

Elizabeth wanted to dance with Sean this morning. "We're married," she said. "I the princess. You the prince." Then they went to the living room to dance. Sean sang, "Once Upon a Dream," from Sleeping Beauty, her current favorite song. What could make a girl happier?

VeggieTales 'Star of Christmas' DVD came in the mail wednesday afternoon. I knew we shouldn't show it to the twins that day because there wouldn't be time to watch it. So I put it in a bag and when Elizabeth woke up yesterday morning (Wil was already up), I told them I had a surprise and would they like to see it. Wil started quoting before the first showing was over. Bob sings about their big break (they're sort of portraying Gilbert and Sullivan), so Wil has Bob and Larry saying things like 'Let's go find out break.'. He started singing the song after the second viewing. The dude's amazing.

Oh, yeah. He wanted to watch it when they got home from Mother's Day Out, but he needed a nap. So he watched it immediately upon waking up.

And...they he was wanting to watch 'Rolie Polie Olie: Great Defender of Fun' on wednesday, so Christine decided it was time to go ahead and invest.

That's about all Wil wanted to tell my dad on the phone last night: that he got those two new DVDs.

We went to the Touchets' last night and kept the kids up too late trying to watch the extended Fellowship of the Ring, but pausing if they came in at scary parts.

When I laid down with Wil I had it in mind that I might just sleep in there the whole night. It seemed better than waking up, going to my bed, having him come in, and then going to his bed, and maybe going back to my bed another time.

I did sleep there all night and it went pretty well. At some point he woke me up demanding I irrigate his nose, which I could tell he did not need. I ignored him successfully, telling him we'd do it in the morning (if he remembered, which he didn't) and we both went back to sleep.

We woke up shortly after 7, but I didn't know that then. He always propositions me with reasons to get up. The can't-fail one is 'I have to pee.'. 'Let's eat some breakfast.' Is also pretty effective. 'I want to watch a video.' almost never works. I wonder if he has figured out this order of efficacy? I don't think so.

One more downside: I've had really bad allergies today. I think I'm allergic to a couple of different things in Wil's room - almost certainly the gold-colored blanket (but I really value being warm). Maybe the pillow, too.

Surprisingly, Wil fell asleep at naptime after Elizabeth. I think I can count the number of times that has happened on one hand. They both slept for a couple of hours and are playing very well together now. As best I can tell it's some combination of Ariel and Veggies. Laylee is Melody, Elizabeth is wearing a crown and answering to 'Mom,' and Wil is speaking for the Veggies. For example, Wil says, "Laura's mom, the Veggies are laughing," then he laughs for them.

Poor Wil.

He went to bed late last night. We were all up early for Christine's folks' departure, Wil rising around 6:30. He was tired and crabby in his class this morning. Went we went to pick him up he said 'That girl hit me.', though I don't think she had. She might have shouted at him, but I think we can all agree he needs to be a little more resilient than that, eventually. He cried when he found out I wasn't coming home until after naps, too. However, he's looking forward to playing with Connor's Larry-Boy tonight. Mainly, he just needs to take a nap.

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.