The Jo Babies

A friend of ours gave us a baby swing her little ones had outgrown as our finally succumbed under Alex's weight. The swing came with a precious little mobile with three teddy bears hanging down. The mobile was quickly dismantled and Alex fell in love with these bears. He carried them around the living room, put them in the swing for a while, laid them down for a nap on the couch.

James picked up one of the bears and looked at it gingerly. Alex was about to throw a tantrum until James brought the bear over to me and said with gentle pride, "Look, Margaret! Here it is! My tummy baby popped out. It's name is Johanna." Hearing this, Alex put the other two bears under his shirt and rolled it so they would not fall out and ran around the room belly pooched out, pointing and laughing. James named Alex's babies Jomiah and Josiah. But James informed me that his bear is the FIRST Jo.

James then put some cushions by the swing, started pushing buttons on the side (no batteries yet) and said that he and the Jo babies are going on his motorcycle to the store to get only crackers and nothing else.

The next morning we put Evie in the swing for the first time. She really liked being on the same level as the boys. They took all of the new magnetic toys Alex got for his birthday and stuck them all over the frame of the swing. I think Evie felt that she was getting lots of attention because she was at the center of their play.

Hey!

Pouring the Juice

I buy a very good-for-you green juice for the kids since getting James to try new things (such as veggies) is near impossible. They love it and love to pour their own cup full from the smallish bottle that fits just right in their hands.

Anyway, the other day I poured James, who was in quite the mood, a cup of green juice and offered it to him hoping that a drink or some food might remedy his out-of-sortsness. Wrong thing to do. It was promptly followed by a scream.

James: No! Pour it out! Pour it out!

Margaret: Okay, I'll get a glass and you can pour it into that and I'll drink it later.

J: No! Have to pour it in the sink! The sink! That's where its goin'! In the sink!

M: James, we don't pour good juice in the sink. Here is a glass. You can pour it.

J (moving to the fridge): No! Not a glass! Gonna pour it back into the bottle! Gonna get out the bottle and pour it back in!

M: I'm sorry, but we cannot pour juice back into the bottle. The only place we can pour it right now is into a glass.

J (looking at me defiantly): On my tongue! I'm gonna pour it on my tongue! Pourin' it out! Pourin' it out on my tongue!

And he continued to pour out all the juice onto his tongue. And down this throat. And into his stomach.

Family Portrait

Moo, Baa, La La La

Alexander's Finest Funny Walk

JPK's Jack & Jill

Jack and Jill went up the hill
to fetch a pail of water.
Jill fell down and broke her feet
and Jack cam tumbling after to help her. She stepped in a rabbit hole and broke all of her toes off. The rabbits will help her. A baby rabbit hands her this toe, but her feet hurt so very bad she will have to walk on her head now. Jill tells me about it. She fell and broke her feet and her old crown and her new bus and her back. Jack will buy her new feet. Look, there they are in the shopping cart. New feet and new toes. I will give Jack scissors to open the bag. Here you go, Jack. He will put them on Jill.

Thanks, Jack.

Christmas slideshow

You Must Sing to Me

Stomp Like Cats

The Owl Poem

Let me hear your body talk

James weaves his way into the living room, knees together, holding his crotch in one hand.

Margaret:  James, do you need to go potty?

James:  No, not now.

M:  Listen to your body, honey.

James:  No, Margaret, my penis hasn't talked to me yet.

Matthew:  I'm going to go write that down, right now. 

A bathtime conversation

Matthew: James, I believe it is time to clean up now.

J: I believe it is not time.

M: Well, then, I will go away for a moment and see whether, when I come back, I can help you to believe.

I was rather proud of that response, thus this post.