I Want Something Special

This is Anna code. It means she wants something sweet, like chocolate ice cream or cake or a candy bar. But she gets very coy about it, and won't say the word "chocolate". Now I know exactly what she means, but if I tease her and give her something else, she'll say: "That's Not Special!"

But lately I have been trying to get her to say the word chocolate. A few weeks ago I coaxed her; I cajoled her; I told her she had to say the word if she wanted any.

So she told me she wants something "dark and brown"...

We're In Rochester

Some quotes from Anna:

• Jack and Thomas both have colds, and Jack has an ear infection. As I wipe Jack's nose for the umpteenth time Anna exclaims:
  
  "There's boogers everywhere!"
  

• Looking at a photo of her and her brothers: "That's Thomas--he's the fat one."
  
• Anna asks Nana what state she lives in. Nana tells her. Anna says: "Well... I want to live by Jamaica."
• Jack is sleeping. Anna is playing with Thomas, looks up and says: "Where is the other baby in the family?"
• Anna wants to play outside but I have to come inside to take Jack to the doctor. She's not happy but has a solution: "We need to go find another mom to do it..."

And finally, my favorite. As we finally pull away from our building in NYC 2 hours after we actually wanted to leave and I contemplate at least 6 hours of driving, Anna shouts from her car seat:

"Yeah Mom!"

In her best "You Go Girl" voice. :)

How Old Are You Grandma?

Grandma: "58."

Anna: "That's a pretty big number"

Pulling Nemo Magnets Out Of Diapers

Yep, this happened.

Anna plays with Nemo magnets while she sits on the potty.
Earlier today she lost a few of them.
20 minutes later I see her fishing around in her diaper and, sure enough--out they come.

One Cool Cat

It's Jack.

I Guess We Say 'No' To Jack A Lot

Jack has three words.
Well, sort of. He has been saying "da da da" for some time now, and recently "ma ma ma" was added. But I'm not so sure that they're really connected to anything as concrete as Dad and Mom.

And then two mornings ago...
Jack crawls over to the stove and tries to turn the dials and I hear: "na na na na"
Jack crawls over to the outlet in the dining room and starts to touch it: "na na no no"
Jack crawls over to the dishwasher panel and starts pressing the buttons: "no no no no".

That's right--Jack can say 'No'. And he thinks it means stove and outlet and dishwasher and any other number of things not safe for him to play with.

And now whenever we say 'No' he crawls right over to the stove, outlet, or dishwasher, looks up at us and smiles.

Not so fast...

Anna has been getting a lot of wonderful cards lately.
This morning, we opened one from Aunt Lyn. It has fishies on it. (Nice work, Aunt Lyn.)

Anyway, after she got over her initial fishie excitement, Anna realized that Aunt Lyn had also put some money in the card. Anna has been very interested in money ever since she started playing with the cash register in preschool. She now has a wallet with play money in it. And a library and Metro (subway) card, of course.

Anna was thrilled to see the currency and started to run to the toy cubbies to put it in her wallet. I had visions of Thomas crawling around with it in his mouth and said something to the effect of "Well, why don't you let me keep it in my purse so it will be safe..."
At which point Anna fixed me with a very even stare and asked:

"Is it my money Mommy, or is it yours?"

Wow. Got me...

Happy Birthday A!

Big. Girl. Bed.

At long last! A big girl bed with 3 sides (and one temporary rail) and fishie sheets. Also included are 2 Winnies, 2 Dr. Seuss books, 1 sippy cup and 1 Heffalump. Nitey-night!

WARNING: Potty Talk

Lately, we have gotten a lot of mileage out of the old "Anna is a big girl but the brothers are babies" routine. We keep pointing out all the cool things she gets to do because she's big, which of course includes using the potty.

And lately, Anna has been doing fantastic with the potty. I have not changed a #2 diaper in at least a week, and she regularly does #1 on the potty as well. Basically, I ask her to sit on the potty many times a day, and she does. And almost always, something comes out. Her Pull-Ups are still wet at times, but she is definitely to the point where that makes her uncomfortable and so I think she would rather just go in the potty.

She doesn't regularly tell me she has to go, however. Sometimes, but that is not the norm.

Anna has had a red potty for maybe a year and a half. But yesterday I was at the baby store and saw this fantastic, attractive contraption that is both potty and step stool and even has a place for toilet paper and wipes. Given all the toy accessories she requires while she is doing her potty thing, this would be a real bathroom space saver. Eureka! I had to have it.
(I mean, Anna had to have it.)

We gave it to her last night. And she LOVES it. It is a bit larger than other potty chairs, and I think she is mor comfortable on it.
She was on the potty at least 6 times today. She wiped herself. She dumped the bowl herself (frightening, I know). She flushed. She washed. She dried. Wow.
The only negative was that she was in there so much that Thomas was truly aching to see what was so very interesting and tried particularly hard to crawl into the bathroom. At the time, my attention was focused on Anna dumping her "output" into the real toilet. Anna saw him first and attempted to squish him with the door. Details.

So. (twiddling thumbs) What to do? What to do? Right now I am just hoping that eventually she stops going in her Pull-Ups all together, and then I buy her underwear. Or do I buy her underwear first and then hope that it all clicks? I fear for my furniture. I fear for my sons!

Send me your potty training stories! Clearly, I could use the help.

How Boys Spend Their Time

Jack

• is beyond pulling up; he can do pull-ups.
  
• pushes the walker like a pro.
• pushes Anna in the walker.
  
• walks all around while holding onto something; has completely let go once.
  
• is obsessed with the remote control.
• loves to bounce on his knees.
• is really good at So Big.
• is now into Peek-A-Boo.
• wants to climb anything and everything.
• steals everything from Thomas.
• points at what he is getting ready to steal.
• has gone under once in the bath tub. Slippery fellow.
  
• will ransack the toy cubbies and throw every single item out of them. Just because.
  
• has gotten his head stuck in the handle of Anna's purple plastic shopping basket.
  

Thomas

• loves to sit and read his books.
• can pull himself up.
• is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to change and clothe.
  
• will sit, wave a shovel, try to drink from a bucket and otherwise play in water for long periods of time.
  
• enjoys hollaring at other children as they pass by in the park. And just hollaring in general.
  
• likes to clap. A lot.
• is really, really good at Peek-A-Bo.
• does the 1-arm version of So Big, ie "Pick me! Pick me!".
• is always crawling around with something stuck in his mouth.
  

Both

• love to crawl underneath anything and then try to sit up.
  
• can drink from a straw.
• are now drinking a blend of 25% formula and 75% whole milk. My days with Similac are numbered :)
  
• get so mad if they can not fit through any space, no matter if it is physically impossible.
• love to open and close doors.
• like to eat stroller wheels.
  
• watch Baby Einstein. And a lot of it.

Oh yes - the guys have also started fighting.
Here's how it goes: Thomas is looking at something, Jack takes it, Thomas screams. Thomas hollars. Jack looks at him. Thomas crawls and finds something else. Jack takes that. Thomas hollars and then tries to get it back... and so on and so on...

Overall: Jack is an incredibly emotional, curious and inventive child with one heck of a temper. Prone to frequent freak-outs with indeterminate cause. Thomas is a relatively calm kid who seems to focus well and will sit in one place and play for a while. He also seems quite studious; he likes to read his books. He will get angry and hollar and cry (louder then Jack, actually), but you never get the impression that he has come unhinged. Occasionally Thomas will get really mad at Jack and try to get back items that were stolen from him, but usually he will hollar and then just find something else to play with.

How We Love

Jack - "the dental floss"
If Jack loves you, he will crawl over to you and tug at your pants. When you pick him up, he will have his index finger out. As you bring him closer to your face, he will attempt to stick his finger in your mouth and touch your teeth.

Thomas - "the head butt roll"
If Thomas loves you, he will crawl over to you and lunge forward head first into whatever part of your body is on the floor. Once he makes contact with you, he will roll over and into you and wait for you to rub his head, back, and tummy.
This is unbelievably sweet. Unfortunately, he tries to do it on hardwood floors. Ouch.

Anna - "the head lock"
If Anna loves you, she will surprise you by wrapping her arms around your neck and demanding a horsey ride that lasts as long as you can still breathe.

What color is your potty?

That would be Anna's second favorite question to ask visitors.

And lately she has been really frustrated by what she perceives as the unbreakable white potty monopoly. She has a red potty. She's waiting for someone else to say "yellow" or "purple" or (potty of all potties!) "blue". Now that would be something...

Hot town, summer in the city...

"Back of my neck gettin' dirty-'n'-gritty..."

Anna and her blue elephant watering can make sure that Thomas & Jack stay clean and cool on the terrace.

Not that they appreciate that.

Thats What Friends Are For

Laughing, smoking (pegs) & drinking (breast milk or formula), these guys have got it down.

Yep, all vices seem to be developing normally...

top & middle (l to r): Jack, Jasper, Thomas, Hugo
bottom (l to r): Hugo, Jasper, Thomas, Jack

Kids Say The Darndest Things

It's not that Marcus had been talking for so, soooo long. No, not really.
He's a sports writer for a Philadelphia newspaper. I like sports, had asked him a bunch of questions, and was really interested in what he was saying.

But I guess Anna was not. So much. And so when Marcus paused for a moment to catch his breath, Anna didn't miss a beat and asked him:

"Are you still talking?"

In an incredibly sweet voice.

I'm Not Sure I Should Be Posting This

So I ask myself one question: Do I want to remember this?
The answer: Absolutely.
One more: Will I be embarrassed by this?
Answer: Probably. But in a very innocent way.

So-- for the sake of my children, I'll go for it.

Here is a statement Anna has made maybe once a day for the past 3 days:

"Ming-Ming does not have hair on her butt."

Now I'll say three things about this:
(1) Anna often refers to herself as Ming-Ming in conversation.
(2) To Anna, "butt" refers to everything covered by your Pull-Ups.
(3) 3 1/2 days ago, Anna and I took a bath together.

OK wait I'll say one more thing: if you come to our apartement--watch out!
This is her new favorite question to ask visitors...

Gone Clubbin'

I won't tell you what you already know: it's a wild and crazy scene here in NYC. And when that "B-I-N-G-O" track comes on, Anna can really get her groove on.
And she's not shy about the bling, either. I have been in Claire's more times in the last year than in my entire previous life.
I love this photo of her and Nemo on the beach. Sand, sun, and a little girl having fun with her two plastic Nemo fishies. What could be sweeter?

She Knows We Have The Blog

She knows we write stuff down.

And so, yesterday when she did something particularly silly and I made no move to walk over to the kitchen marker board and note it, she looked at me, pointed to the board and asked:

"Did you write it down?"

Maybe this is how stars are born. Or performers, anyway.

No, Daddy Is Not Going Bald

I mean, he claims that the relatively more "exposed" location close to his forehead is the result of Anna insisting that she needed to put a Band-Aid on his head after he bumped it.

And then he had to take it off.

Hmmmnnn.
Let's see if he keeps pushing the "get it over with fast" removal strategy after this experience...

Sweeney Todd meets Vidal Sassoon

Anna runs over to Mommy's hair, sly grin on her face, fingers splayed and orange plastic scissors open wide:

"Don't worry Mommy, it's going to be all right..."

Cafe Society...

meet Miss Anna Sophie J.

Uh-Dah

What to say about Jack?
Jack is an unusually determined young man. Jack is really, really tough. And Jack is beyond emotional.

Jack is like the Terminator, Superman, and Oprah all rolled into one. With a bit of McGyver for good measure.

If he wants something, he will stop at nothing to get it. He will not be distracted and will attempt to crawl under, around, or through anything in his way.

Anna will generally unleash some combo of sitting on him, pushing him in the head, or dragging him back by his ankles in an effort to save her stuff. But Jack does not cry about things that would seem to hurt. He takes more whacks, bumps, falls, and pinches without crying than any baby I have ever seen. I think he's from Krypton. I keep looking for the big S on his chest.

But oh my is he sensitive; he is definitely a man with issues. And moods.
Frustration--that is something that Jack cries about.
And then he just wails.
Not a calm boy, my Jack. But very empathetic; he feels everyone's pain and will join you in a good cry without even needing to be asked.

And he loves his index finger. He always has it out, pointing it at everything, using it to poke around in places while he tries to figure things out. And he figures out a lot. How to open cabinets, turn on the TV, turn on the dishwasher, jiggle shelves from their pegs, binge in speakers, get the top off the baby oil, climb up onto the window ledge, you name it.

And then: the "Uh-Dah" of triumph.

This would all be great if Jack would just use his powers for good.
But Jack is such a thief.
Despite his size, Jack takes every advantage of Thomas' generally calm and easygoing nature and just takes what he wants.

Jack runs out of Veggie Puffs? No problem, he just crawls halfway out of his chair and swipes one off Thomas' tray.
Jack wants a different color sippie cup? No problem, by the time we get to the park he always seems to have Thomas' as well.

Sigh. So the plan for now: avoid Kryptonite and the Lifetime channel. We'll see what happens...

Bubble Wrap As A Potty Training Tool

Severely underreported in the toddler how-to literature, in my opinion.

And no, we don't use it as a diaper.

The good news: for the last 5 days or so, Anna has fairly consistently done a poo and some pee-pee in the potty. And on two or three occasions she has even pre-emptively told me of her urges and voluntarily walked to the bathroom. Just like a real person. Wow.

I think we have to credit Daddy for this one. He happened to sit Anna down last weekend and once again deliver the "you're a big girl, big girl's don't use diapers" talk. But this time, it seemed to work.

Not without some effort, of course... the list of equipment (other than the potty chair) that Anna requires to go to the potty is a long one: her tin of Nemo magnets, the 4-book Nemo learning box set, Winnie's potty chair, Anna's potty book (a small blue spiral binder) and blue crayon, and one large roll of bubble wrap.

(That's right, bubble wrap. I wish I wish I wish I could remember how this started, but I can't. All I know is some came in a box and she grabbed it and took it in the bathroom.)

She spreads part of the bubble wrap out very carefully directly in front of her potty and calls it her "mat". At first, I don't even think she realized that she could pop the bubbles; she just liked the way they feel. But eventually she figured it out.

I suppose this is good; instead of "plop" or "tinkle", when Anna is in the bathroom we hear a pleasant pop-pop-popping sound, as if we were in line buying concessions at the movies, or walking through a carnival.

Nice.

Vital Stats

Just thought I'd run some numbers here...

At the brother's 11-month checkup:
Thomas weighted 23 lbs; Jack weighed 18 lbs 4 oz.
Thomas & Jack were both measured at 31 1/2 inches long.

Thomas now has 6 teeth; Jack has 4.
Thomas does "So Big" with 1 arm up, a la catching a taxi; Jack uses 2.

Anna knows her crib has 4 sides. She knows her new big girl bed will only have 3.
And she's told me: this means she can walk.
Out. Around.
Yikes...

She Feels Your Pain

I don't know why, but Anna is scared of Band-Aids.
Specifically, she is scared of the holes in Band-aids. Holes? That's right, the tiny little pricks in the sticky ends that "let your boo-boo breathe". These are holes. And for Anna these are not good things.

But this doesn't mean she isn't interested in Band-Aids. She is extremely interested, in fact, in putting them and their holes on other people. Especially Mommy and the brothers.

This morning, she was looking at a Band-Aid that I have around in the hope that one day when she is really in need of one I will not have to let her wound gush. I was in the kitchen when I heard this comment addressed to the brothers:

"You guys you're so amazing but I know you're going to trip.
It's tough tripping and your scab will hurt you and I'll give you the Band-Aid with the hearts on it."

Gotta love the empathy...

A Decorator Shout-Out

Here are the kids in Anna's "new" 1920's child's chair, which Charles and Randall found at an antique store and took the time to repaint to match her room and have reupholstered (fuzzy pink coushins and lumbar support pillow, thank you very much). As a gift.

And I have to say I didn't realize just how very, very wonderful this chair really was until I thought about something later: one of the first things I said to Randall was "Can I sit in it?". At the time, I thought this urge was kind of silly.

Until later when Steve came home, saw the chair, looked at me and said "Will it hold me?".
Pink fuzzy cushions or not, these chair is asking to be sat in. Thanks, Charles and Randall.

So if you like how our apartment looks and want to work with unquestionably good people, have a look at Charles Pavarini Design Associates.

(And thanks Randall for the funny faces so I could get the photo :)

Urban Sleigh Ride, Part II

City slickers, havin' fun.
If you want to try this at home, we do this with a purple queen size flat sheet.
And don't forget the fitted sheet variant: the Urban Pouch Ride.

If Jack looks somewhat dazed, it might be because Anna takes her job as big sister very seriously during these rides and generally attempts to put her arms around the tummies of both her brothers. Thomas' tummy being what it is, sometimes Anna 's hands can't quite make it to Jack's tummy.

And end up around his neck.

So if you try this at home: this is a two person job! One to pull. One to spot the blue ears.

Someone Call Bergdorf's...

Every night, Anna loves to lay out her clothes for the next day. I think this started mainly as a way to ensure that some item of fishie clothing would be clean for the next day and that I would not attempt to have her wear anything else. Sort of a preemptive maneuver, if you will.

This, of course, has evolved into Anna laying out the next day's clothes for herself and for Winnie, as well as laying out the evening's jammies for the two of them.

And when I say "clothes", I don't just mean tops and bottoms. We are talking shirt, pants, diaper and/or underwear (yes, sometimes she wears both at once) and socks. And she doesn't skimp on Winnie just because he is a bear; he gets the same fully-accessoried head-to-toe treatment. From left to right: Winnie's jammies, Anna's jammies, Anna's outfit for the next day, Winnie's outfit for the next day. (That's right, Winnie wears green underwear over the top of a Pricess pull-up). I'm not sure why socks aren't in this photo; socks are extremely important to Anna and always included in the layout.

So this is really funny and yes, definitely serves to stall the inevitable act of laying down in bed. OK, fine.

But then she started to dress me.

A bit of background: Anna is obsessed with fishies. She wants to wear everything fishie. And she has decided that Mommy should be obsessed with flowers. She wants me to wear everything flowers. She has perused my closet and my drawers looking for flower-themed items.

Yesterday morning, she decided to take matters into her own hands. I was feeding the brothers breakfast and Anna told me she was going to go lay out my clothes. I thought, hmmmnnn... and then resumed the feeding. She went into my room and was gone for a while.

She came back into the kitchen carrying the hanger with my flower sundress on it.
She had gone into my closet and grabbed it (it was on a low bar & folded in half). I had worn this dress once before, and while she was really, really happy that I had "flowers" on, I didn't think she had paid such specific attention.

That is, until I saw the strapless bra she had picked out for me. Which she had in her other hand.

She was totally right; there was no way I could wear a bra with straps with that dress. So she just went into my drawer and selected a strapless one.

And then:
"Hey Mommy, can you wear this please? I've got to take a picture of you."

If this was your ER doctor...

What would you do?

I'd say the reflex check and blood pressure squeezes would definitely be out. And by the way how do you crawl up onto the examining table?

Thomas is such a Lassie; he is the golden retriever I always wanted. Dirty socks, 3-day old Cheerios, random items I had long since forgotten about under my bed--he loves to pick things up with his teeth and hold them there for unusually long periods of time.

Jailbreak!

It happened one night. Anna got particulary mad at me when I left her room at bedtime. She screamed like a crazy woman. I mean, really screamed. She ran up and down in her crib banging on the railings, screaming. Screaming!

I don't like to let her scream, so I went in and out a few times and this did not make things better. So I decided to let her scream to tire herself out. I went downstairs. I got a phone call, answered it, and sat down on the couch.

At some point, I look up.
Anna is standing in front of the TV. Downstairs. In the living room. As in: not in her room, much less her crib.

She's finally done it. She got out.
We got her back to bed and to sleep, eventually.

4AM that morning, I am in bed and for some reason start to wake up.
Through the slits between my eyelids I see Anna. And Winnie. Looking at right at me. Right next to me. I try to process how this is possible, and what would Dr. Spock do? or Dr. Sears? or even Oprah? ... It's way to early. She gets in our bed. Terrible precedent, I know.

The next morning (uh, yeah, roughly 2 hours later) we wake up. Anna and I go out to the living room and as I pass the stairs I see the basket that she keeps her socks in sitting on the third step from the bottom. Hmnnn. I look up and see a stray sock lying on a step above. I go into her room and she has organized her socks with her clothes for tomorrow, all neatly laid out.

Evidently she woke up.
Climbed out of the crib.
Had the presence of mind to grab her sock basket and take out the ones she wanted for tomorrow and leave those in her room, neatly, on top of her outfit for tomorrow.
Decided to take the rest of the socks (in the basket) downstairs with her. I guess she carried the basket with one hand. I know she carried Winnie with the other. Quickly doing the math I realize that left no appendages available to hang onto a railing with. But as she got to the bottom of the stairs, she evidently had the good sense to drop the basket and be safe. For three steps. Great.

So now Anna sleeps on a mattress on the floor of her room. I lay down next to her until she falls asleep. Which doesn't take very long. Since, of course, she no longer takes naps. The first night that we did this, Anna was on the mattress, I was on the floor next to her, we had just talked about the whole crib/big girl bed thing and she looked at me and said:

So this means now I can walk?

I tried to assure her that this absolutely means she can not walk around, especially downstairs, but I'm not sure it sunk in. At any rate, the gate at the top of the stairs in now latched every night. And I've only had one instance of nearly breaking my neck because I forget that it is there.

And of course we are getting a big girl bed for her. Despite Anna's ardent pleas, we did not get her a fishy bed. We got her a nice white bed (the "Savannah Day Bed"), to which we will affix fishie themed "Wallies" that we hope will make the bed look and feel to her just as if she was sleeping in a fish. The bed should be here next week, and she will be disappointed that it is not the bunk bed that she picked out of the pottery barn kids catalog. I said "bunk bed? who is going to sleep in the other bunk?" The answer was quick: "Jack."

Oh well. Maybe a white bed with a trundle and fishies stuck to it will appease the girl who wanted the bunk bed. In the shape of two fishes. If not, she'll have to deal.

But we did, of course, get fishie sheets.

It's the Circle of Life

Thomas and Jack have made friends. Two of them, in fact: another set of twin boys one week younger than themselves. Their names are H and J, and they have a mouse ear-wearing, puzzle-loving older brother S who is a couple of months younger than Anna.

S has also readily agreed to call Anna Ming-Ming. From Anna's point of view, he's the perfect man.

At any rate, we have had several "Brady Bunch"-esque playdates with all the kids and both the babysitters (how did Alice manage it on her own?). And of course both lovely ladies, aka us moms.

Playdates are an interesting thing, especially with two sets of twin boys. It's survival of the fittest; eat or be eaten. It is just these sorts of times when laws of nature show themselves as particularly ugly, and my 1-year olds as particularly rude.

Example 1
H, Thomas & Jack are sitting together in the kitchen, each munching on a different large black plastic kitchen utensil. H has a ladel, Thomas has spatula, and Jack has a slotted spoon. Somehow, Jack loses his slotted spoon. He looks around. But not for the spoon, evidently--Thomas is next to him, and Jack snatches his spatula.

Thomas realizes his spatula has been swiped. He looks to his left at Jack happily muching on it. He's dealt with Jack before; Jack is quick and Jack is fast. Thomas turns to his right and spots H and his ladel. Ah-ha! An easier mark, perhaps, and certainly an unsuspecting one. Without a second thought, he rips the ladel out of H's hands.

H, thoroughly victimized, immediately starts screaming. Thomas and Jack continue munching and trying to look innocent. J hears his brother and starts crawling over to get his back.

Example 2
Thomas evidently remembers J's support of his brother. Halfway through the next playdate, he gives J's hair a good yank.

So... it's official. I'm the parent of kids who make other kids cry. Sigh.

I suppose it really was unrealistic of me to expect to have three kids who spend all their time diapering Sesame Street characters. I mean, really.

Anna, In Her Own Words

• "Bummer."
  Anna knocks over a stack of books.
  

• "I'm going to be so frustrated if he is playing with my stroller!"
  I am changing Anna's diaper. We hear a crash and a squeal from behind the couch.
  

• "I'm organizing!"
  Anna's reason for pulling all the toys out of the cubbies and putting them into various paper bags.

• "Yes. But I don't want the green stuff."
  Anna agrees to try salad.
  Sort of.
  

And finally:

Are you kidding me?!

I'd love to give you the context on this one, but I was far too shocked to notice.

Anna on the Brothers

• "It's my job to keep you in this little elevator."
  Anna attempts to box Jack in between the wall, the storage cubbies, the plastic kitchen, and herself.
  
  
• "I made it go off. They're asleep."
  Anna explains to me why the baby monitor is off after I express surprise that Jack stopped wailing so suddenly.
  
  
• "Let's make Jack do a handstand!".
  Mommy takes the 5th on this one. Not going to incriminate myself tonite...
  
  
• "You have to share. [pause. puts arm around him] Are you OK? I know it's so upsetting..."
  Anna comforting Thomas after he is forced to return the flute he just ripped out of Jack's hands.

Venus and Mars: That's Way Too Close

Today in the playroom, all of my children were in one of the plastic kid play houses. Jack was busy climbing the plastic purple chair under the window and attempting to dive out of it head first. Thomas was at the other window opening and closing the shutters and hollaring at children passing by.

Anna and I were in the house, too--making cookies, washing hands and singing about Wonder Pets.

And thinking very, very hard about the worlds of difference between little boys
and little girls.

Is He Peeing?

[bathtub filling]
No, A. The plastic froggie that I bought to cover the bathtub faucet so that Jack won't try to do pull-ups on it is not peeing.

We take absolutely no baths in frog pee. House rule.