The M&M Story

Two-year-olds don't necessarily know their letters, so eyecharts for little guys may consist of readily identified pictures like teddy bears, boats, and houses instead of E's, F's, and O's. M did fine on his routine vision screening last week, and as the pictures got smaller, he whispered. At the top, he said "House!" and by the bottom of the chart, his "house" was barely audible.

Yuletide Shenanigans Originally uploaded by Maynor . Maybe a little too much eggnog.

B Originally uploaded by Maynor . His big brother taught him that look.

B's first xmas Originally uploaded by Maynor .

Dear M & B, Sorry about last night. For some reason, those were the only song lyrics I could remember. The Apostle Paul says "Fathers, do not exasperate your children," and even the most liberal of theologians would include singing "You are the Sun" by Lionel Richie over and over as exasperating one's children. Thanks for calling me on it, M, Daddy ------- Daddy: You are the sun; you are the rain; you make my life this foolish game/ You need to know; I love you so; and I'd do it all again and again/ Uh-whoa-oh, uh-whoa-oh, uh-whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh...." M: Noooo. Sing another song, Daddy. Daddy: Like what? M: Ummm, let's see....ABCs! Daddy: You are the sun; you are the ... M: Noooo!!!

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Picture 056 Originally uploaded by emmegab . Merry Christmas to our buddy Gienapp, over with the 278th, and to his wife and five kiddos, and to all the men and women over there and left here at home. See Andy's blog here: www.blogmedic.com . When he's stateside, it's his journal as an Emergency Medical Technician. Right now, he's part of the Big Show. May God bless you and the 278th, Andy!

opening presents2 Originally uploaded by Maynor .

This morning I said the diaper contents ran the "whole gamut" and M thought that was an hilarious new turn of phrase, so he kept repeating the phrase over and over--unfortunately it sounds different from a two year old: "Oooh Dammut, Oooh Dammut."

DSC00028 Originally uploaded by Maynor . But I hadn't posted this picture here. This really is our tree--it's in the background in the Sunday Morning Series below. Five minutes later, we had the tree loaded on a wagon; five minutes after that, we took our Christmas card picture; five minutes after that, M whacked B over the head with a pine branch and everybody cried; five minutes after that, I broke the antenna off the Jetta while tying the tree on top. Not too long after that, the boys were sleeping in their car seats on the way back to the city. All in all, a normal, mostly happy day.

DSC00034 Originally uploaded by Maynor . Here's a series of photos taken this weekend--B is working on crawling, and M is working on being a Singing Cowboy.

DSC00035 Originally uploaded by Maynor .

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DSC00030 Originally uploaded by Maynor . He's working on it.

Playa B Originally uploaded by Maynor . and the baby's not half bad, either. har har har.

I got stuck in a carwash the other day. I stopped to get gas at the Phillips 44 at Olive and Ballas (you know the one)--it's the only diesel-equipped filling station around that part of town, and it also has what I believe is the best carwash for your money in all of St Louis. It's an older car wash (about the oldest touch-free wash you can get), so they didn't spend their money upgrading it with all the latest carwash laser gizmos. What they did was lengthen the time of the wash. So you get a good six minutes or so--two full cycles, including undercarriage and wheel-cleaning, and they use really good soap. It has big metal garage doors that fold down behind and in front of you, and it's a bit noisy. But man, it's a good wash, and it makes my 1985 noisy diesel car feel right at home. Unless it shuts down halfway through the second cycle, leaving my car all shampooed up with nowhere to go. All the lights went off and it made that degenerating whir sound like wh

Meanwhile, B is getting really mad about the fact that he shakes and wiggles and gets up on his haunches and does forty different Pilates positions and moves about half an inch. This morning he was trying out the technique of lifting his entire body off the ground except for his hands and his tippy toes. Then grunting really loud. Not very successful in the propulsion category, I'm afraid, but it's quite a show.

1 car, 2 cars 1 deer, 2 deers 1 mouse, 2 mices I think "mices" is a huge step. Who's with me on that?

M is working on the I/me/I'm/my/mine puzzle. For a while, I was under the mistaken impression that he was just getting the "I'm" sounds backwards when he said things like "My excited!" or "My going downstairs." It's been a mystery for me why he still uses that construction. I decided that he must be working on other things right now and had put subject pronouns on the back burner. "My" gets his point across, after all. But now my theory is that he's using "My" for "I'm" because of the following exchange, which happens in one form or another about fifty times a day: M: My going downstairs. Parent: You're going downstairs? M: Yes. or M: My hungry. Parent: You're hungry? M: Yes. Our usual technique in vocabulary development is to repeat back to him what he says, but correctly articulated or pronounced. Usually, this is good. For instance, he'll say "Imeem, please,&quo

Before the boys came along, Susan and I were nightmares to accompany Christmas tree hunting. We're both first children, perfectionist freaks when it comes to these things. Peter and Melanie made the mistake of going with us one year and, having cut down and loaded up their tree, were sipping hot chocolate back in the barn for an hour and a half waiting for us to find our perfect tree. I've got an essay here somewhere on the computer. I'll link to it when I find it. But we're cured now. Mostly. Two under three will do that. M was a big part of the tree hunt last year, but two-year-olds don't remember things like that from year-to-year, so it was as if he'd never gone. He was wide-eyed the whole morning. B had never been before at all, and couldn't believe his luck--he smiled and chatted the whole time. ----- We bundled up to go cut down our Christmas tree and walked out the front door. M pointed at the 40 foot maple in the front yard. "Thi

B is up on his haunches rocking like a crazy man. He'll be moving soon! In a related development, he can now sit up by himself indefinitely. For a while he was just too active to sit up for long--he's reach for a toy and roll right over. He loves his Pig. He's a two-toother now. He loves smiling and swinging his head back and forth. Go figure. He's pretty much perfect.

M: I see a monkey over there! Daddy: Is he in your imagination? M: No, he's in my house!

Andy and Amanda Originally uploaded by Maynor . Yes, I know it's been over a week--a busy one at that. Thanksgiving, sick kiddos, visiting aunts and uncles and cousins. We might update you on all that, we might just move on. And most of all, about 20% of our readership just got engaged to each other! Congrats! (note difference between Andrew's gentle, closed mouth smile in the photo above Amanda's shoulder and all the teeth he's showing now. Ah, young love.)

I dressed M in his jeans and rugby shirt this morning before church and he looked in the mirror: "My Snazzy!"

Interior: M’s bedroom, 2:00 a.m. It’s dark, M is awake in bed crying. Daddy: Hey, big guy, what’s wrong? M: Spider hurt me in a story. Daddy: Oh, no, was it a dream? M: Yes, bad dream. Daddy: What happened in the story? M: M was a moon up in the sky. Daddy: Wow—M was a moon up in the sky? That sounds like a good dream. M : No, bad dream. Spider’s legs do this: (M wiggles his fingers in the air). Daddy: Then what happened? M: Spider hurt me in the story. Daddy: Oh, no, that must have been scary. What happened then? M: My tackle spider. Daddy: Good for you! Did the spider go away? M: Yes, spider doh away.

Daddy: Today's your Thanksgiving feast at school, buddy! M: Yay! Daddy: What does one eat at a Thanksgiving feast? M: Crackers and Pizza! Daddy: Anything else? M: hmmm...let's see...hmmm...let's see...Apple Pies!

Check-up for the B-man: He's in excellent health, and took his vaccination like a man. He's in the ninetieth percentile for height, and right smack in the middle of the range for weight. So Dr. B. says he can start eating ice cream to bulk up. He did on Saturday night. LOVED IT, of course. On a related note, he seems to be allergic to avacados. Breaks out like a teenager. What will he do for Cinco de Mayo?? Also, he took his first bite of cottage cheese last night and looked terrified. After gagging and spitting, he held his tongue out and kept it out. Every time he started to pull it back in, he'd taste the cottage cheese and start crying. Poor kid. I have the same reaction to cottage cheese, but it looks silly for a 34-year-old to cry with his tongue hanging out. We went out to eat on Saturday at Sweet Tomatoes, a "salad buffet" place. We always go at about 5:15, and the place is full of little new people and little old people. There's nobody in t

From The Sun Herald (South Mississippi): ( http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/local/10141400.htm ) [Tuesday, 11/9:] Eugene Gregory Wood Eugene Gregory Wood died Saturday November 6th after a brief illness. Mr. Wood, born in Howison, Mississippi on July 4, 1911, was the son of George Price Wood and Mary Alethea Gregory Wood. He was a graduate of Moss Point High School and Perkinston Junior College. For 40 years he owned Wood's Department Store in Moss Point while serving for a period as Mayor and later, alderman for the City of Moss Point. He was Elder Emeritus in the Moss Point Presbyterian Church, a Director at Merchants and Marine Bank, a Mason, and was named Jackson County's Outstanding Citizen of the Year several years ago. He was married on July 1, 1933 to Mary Alice Avera and for over 71 years they have been a very devoted couple with five children, sixteen grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren. "With Dad, there was no compromising on morals

Language updates: M and I drove up to the house on Saturday after walking up to pick up the Jetta at the shop. Across-the-street neighbor Sarah was finishing up a run with Herzog, her young Lab, and we walked down the driveway to greet them. M loves dogs, but Herzog was being a bit rambunctious, and M scooted behind my leg. “Daddy, I’m scaried.” But as Herzog settled down, M’s scaried-ness subsided and we had a nice visit. Susan and M have been learning about calendars together (they have a big laminated calendar downstairs to which they are attaching a daily leaf, and M knows that it’s November). Nana came over yesterday and Susan asked him when his birthday was. “March twentieth!” he said, and then, to illustrate, he got up and “Marched” around the front porch (in his button down shirt and Bob-the-Builder underwear, I should point out). B, in the meantime, is using his communication skills more and more. He chats all the time, and this last week realized that screaming

M had a short bout of fever on Tuesday (“My feel sick,” he told us). He was fine within a couple hours, but following the Fever-Free-for-24-hours rule, he stayed home from Toddler Time on Wednesday. The classroom was apparently abuzz with the news. According to sources, Cousin L ran down the hall upon arriving at school and burst into the room to let everybody know that “M has a fever!!!” But buddy CP was also in the know. He had arrived before Cousin L and had already eagerly spread the news of The Fever among the other six kids and two teachers. Other Friend CB was so impressed with the news that she couldn’t wait to tell her parents as soon as they picked her up. However, the story had apparently grown over the course of the day. CB’s mom is in a prayer group that meets at our house on Wednesday night and called to see if we were canceling prayer group now that (according to Cousin L) M was in the hospital with a hurt knee.

B-man Originally uploaded by Maynor . So he may spend a couple years in therapy for this, but you gotta agree it's worth the risk.

ribbit Originally uploaded by Maynor . This wide-mouth frog has eaten my child.

Susan and B Originally uploaded by Maynor . Susan's got a sassy new doo.

Cuz L, M, buddy C Originally uploaded by Maynor . FYI, they are looking at a Fire Engine behind me.

DSC00001 Originally uploaded by Maynor . For lots more pics of the boys yesterday, click on this one and go sign into Flickr.com. It's really EASY to sign into Flickr.com, and they won't use your e-mail for anything and they won't spam you, I promise. My old buddy Eric is part of Flickr and he's really nice.

DSC00016 Originally uploaded by Maynor .

DSC00018 Originally uploaded by Maynor . Cousin L spent the night on Tuesday while her mom and dad went to Sad World Series Game #3. Here they are going off to Wednesday morning school together. The kids had a blast together, and are both learning to be POLITE. So their one big argument (over whether L should turn on the white noise machine in M's room) took this format: L: please. M: No, thanks you. L: PLEASE!!! M: NO THANKS YOU!!!

window view--flagstone in herb garden Originally uploaded by Maynor . You may have noticed a sidebar called "Ads by Goooogle" on many of your favorite web pages. Google searches words on the page and puts up little classified-size ads based on the content of the page. The owner of the page rents out the space like any other advertising. So anyway, I put a bunch of pictures of our kitchen on Flickr.com for our cabinet guy (we're rehabbing our kitchen this Christmas). Almost 20 pictures with titles like "Kitchen," "cookbooks," "dishwasher," and you'd think Ads by Google would put up some ads for Crate and Barrel or Williams Sonoma or Martha Stewart. Nope. It picks up the one picture of our herb garden and gives the viewer a list of online headshops. (For our readers that were in seminary during the sixties--and you know who you are--a headshop sells paraphenalia for inhaling the smoke of herbs, many of which are not within the law.)

I was working downstairs last night at 7:00, and M ran down in his pajamas: "DADDY!! DADDY!! BASEBALL ON TEEPHEE!" When the commercials come on, he shrugs his shoulders and says "Baseball is??" Uncle Peter and Aunt Mimi get to go to the World Series Game 3 on Tuesday night, and cousin L gets to spend the night here!! October baseball sure is sweet this year. (sorry, mom, about the yankees.)

As you might guess, we're excited about baseball in our house, and hope to still be excited after tonight. One of the cardinal rules of childrearing is that ball throwing is NOT ALLOWED inside the house. We were a little giddy last night, though, after the Cards beat the Astros and the Red Sox turned the world on its head. And on the night that the Red Sox beat the Yankees in the house that Ruth built, we decided that all rules went out the window and we practiced pitching the baseball IN THE LIVINGROOM. No lamps were broken, by the way. We also crossed our eyes and THEY DIDN'T GET STUCK THAT WAY. Too bad the Astros will have to meet the mighty Cardinals on Satuday (please?).

1. Year 0-1: issue: child M holds his johnson the entire bath action step: wait for him to grow out of it (at least for now) result: accomplished. issue: child B shoots up a fountain of pee when he hits the water action step: short term-rinse long term-wait for him to grow out of it result: short term accomplished; long term still anticipated 2. Year 1-2: issue: child M drinks the bathwater, out of bucket, out of toys, and by sucking on washcloth action step: (a) lightly discipline (b) make blechy-face to demonstrate that bathwater is blechy result: 90% accomplished 3. Year 2-3 issue: child M refuses to sit down in bath because bandaid on knee will get wet and fall off. Water "hurts knee" (knee has been healed for weeks). If child M sits down, he keeps said knee out of water and cups hands over bandaid to keep it from getting wet. action steps attempted: too many to list. result: knee declared "all better" as of earlier th

It's official. Mr. B can roll from back to front and front to back. Which means, as he discovered yesterday, that he can roll from Point A to Toy B, no matter how far away Toy B is. Favorite Toys toward which to roll: Mr. Pig Big Plastic Keys #1 Big Plastic Keys #2 Big Brother M Anything with a mirror attached Big Happy Half-Birthday Mylar Balloon with Attached Mini-Teddy Bear Forget rolling-- the BHHBMB w/AMTB is almost enough to get him to take up his playmat and walk.

photo courtesy Uncle Stephen Originally uploaded by Maynor . M bore the rings when his Uncle Stephen and Aunt Nealy wed this July in the sunny climes of Carmel Valley, California. B was the official wedding baby. His job was to look cute and snuggle up to people who could get us USGA Senior Open tickets. Both boys did stellar work. In April, M and I went to Gengis Formal wear in the mall to be measured for our tuxes--I'm a 39 long and he's a T3. T stands for Toddler. M was polite to the young woman that helped us, and after watching her stretch her measuring tape all over me (M loves measuring tapes), he stood right up with his arms outstretched, waiting his turn. He tried on a T3 right there in the shop, and it fit crisply. He loved his "'Xedo 'oat" (he tends to leave the first sounds off words), and for the first time, started getting excited about "Unka Steben's 'edding." Three months later, we were in Carmel and I was picking

watching birds Originally uploaded by Maynor . I melt when I look at this picture.

birdbook Originally uploaded by Maynor . M reads his new Missouri Field Guide from Nana.

bros eating cereal Originally uploaded by Maynor . Cereal rocks. Can you see a resemblance? I don't know...

Scooting up to the table Originally uploaded by Maynor . B had his first non-mommy meal this week. I've never seen so many diverse facial expressions in such a short time. Everything from "What the...?" to this one, "I need to unbuckle my belt and belly up to the ballgame."

Uncle Andy and B. Originally uploaded by Maynor . Separated at birth?

Bandaid close up Originally uploaded by Maynor . He bumped his nose (barely) and wore this for 24 hours. The only way he would happily take it off is that Uncle Andy was coming into town and I told him Uncle Andy would love to see his nose. I know there's a Michael Jackson joke here somewhere, but it's late.

M has been working on counting. The development has proceeded approximately in the following manner: 1. Doo, Fee, Door, Ive, Dix, Sebben (not always in this order) 2. Doo, Fee, Door, Dive, Dix, Sebben, Eight, Nen. (at this point, alphabet memorization and numbers converged) 3. Two, Fee, Door, Dive, Double-u, X, Y, Z 4. Two, Fee, Door, Dive, Dix, Double-Eight, Nine, Den. 5. Own, Two, Fee, Door, Dive, Dix, Double-Eight, Nine, Den. (Notice the addition of One here. His counting was one digit off up until this point because he would start with Two. So he would count six garden steps instead of five, for instance. We stuck with double-eight, nine, ten in various forms for a while, and it should be noted that there were times when he got all the way through 1-10 in the way generally accepted by the Arabic-numeral-using world). 6. Own Two, Dee, Door, Sebben, Eight, Nine, Den. (Here’s where we are most of the time now. Double-u and Double-eight have departed, but wit

Apple Picking 3 Originally uploaded by Maynor . A true best buddy moment. I couldn't hear what C was explaining here, but M listened closely and I'm sure he was able to give some words of wisdom later. Except for the diapers, they're pretty much adults now.

Apple Picking 4 Originally uploaded by Maynor . For this and other photos of apple picking, click on the picture. It will take you to Flickr.com, a screamingly cool place to keep your online photos. It also softens your hands as you do the dishes.

M went to bed at 7:15 last night, as he usually does, having read books in his bed for half an hour or so. He and I have been hauling topsoil around our yard in our wheelbarrows, so before he went to sleep he asked the following: M: Daddy? Daddy: Hey, buddy. M: Jesus love dirt? D: He sure does. Bedtime had been hectic and painful because Susan and I had gotten our signals crossed and each thought the other had changed M's slightly poopy diaper before we went out to haul dirt. M has ultrasensitive cheeks and a couple hours with a little poop just destroys his skin. So bathtime turned into stand-in-the-tub-and-weep-in-pain time. But rash cream eased the soreness and we had crawled into his bed before I remembered toothbrushing. So we skipped it, and that was that. M went to sleep. Until 10:45 pm, when he stood inside his closed door crying for mommy and daddy. We both went in and sat on our knees with him as he explained: "teeth brushing." So we all went in to t

Hat Originally uploaded by Maynor . M walks up just now: Take it off please take it off please take it off please take it off please *I already had the camera in my hand, so there was no cruel wait to take a snapshot, in case you were worried.

B read Pat the Bunny 9-26-04 Originally uploaded by Maynor . Sunday morning reading in bed. B is fascinated by the plot twist. Pic's a little dark, I know. Sorry. Speaking of which, please note that these pics look darker or lighter depending on your computer. If you can't see them, try adjusting the brightness of your screen.

B and Brian 9-26-04 Originally uploaded by Maynor . B says "Easy peasy." Let's go for something harder. Calculus?

Up until this week, I've blogged the way some of my colleagues take a smoke break--I'll just take ten minutes when I need a break from editing and take a deep breath. The metaphorical deep breath of recording stuff about the boys refuels me the way a literal deep breath of noxious fumes refuels my fellow cube farmers. But it's been tougher in the new job. For one thing, my workspace doesn't lend itself to blogging. My team is getting new digs soon, and in the meantime I have a makeshift work area in the middle of another department. Or sort of to the side of another department. The northwest wall of my "office" is the electrical panel for Elsevier Building 1000. Nothing like absorbing electromagnetic radiation eight hours a day. At least cubicle 2240 was a safe distance from things that might cause sterility. It was also far away from my new neighbors, the People Who Talk Loudly. I've learned more in the last couple days about the girl scouts, skin

I'm changing jobs this week, so the blogging may be brief. Lots of tales to tell, but no time--so here's a quick exchange between Ace and Mommy at naptime yesterday. (note: for those who joined us late, Ace is a nom de plume. Mommy, however, is her given name.) Mommy: Who are your friends, Ace? Ace: B, CP, LM, KP, KP, JDP, CB. (pause) Mommy? M: Yes, Ace? A: Mommy Ace's best friend.

Miscellaneous tidbits today. Think of this as cleaning out the fridge before the weekend. 1. Miraculously, after several months of ettiquete tutulage, M. has suddenly become polite. For weeks we've been prompting him to say "thank you" and "please," but he's been inconsistent at best. Two days ago Susan handed M. a granola bar, and he turned to walk away and said "thanks!" over his shoulder. We gave each other pleasantly surprised did-he-just-say-what-I-think-he-said looks, and Susan asked, "What did you just say, buddy?" M. stopped and thought. "Thank you ," he said, apparently interpreting our pleasant surprise as a rebuke for casual speech. Since then, he's used please and thank you constantly. He even said "thank you" when I opened the door for him, even though we'd only explained "thank you" as something to say when you are given something. He must have picked up the wider usage from

Ace can open the cabinet, grab a cup, and--on tiptoes--dispense himself a few moon-shaped pieces of ice and some water from the front of the fridge. It usually works with only minor spillage (unless the water hits the ice in a certain way and he gets sprayed). The other night, he ran out of water while we were reading in bed, but I told him the ice cubes would turn into water. So we read a few more books and sure enough, he had some more water. He was fascinated by it, and we had a toddler lesson on states of matter. This morning, he drank the last cup of Kefir (drinkable yogurt), and asked for more. I had to tell him we were all out. Without missing a beat, he perked up and looked at the fridge. "Ice turn into Kefir??"

Scene: Tuesday morning, 7:30 am. Maynor basement/playroom. Enter Ace and Daddy. A: Dark! Turn light on, peez. D: [flips switch]. A: Dark! Turn light on, peez. D: I already turned it on. A: Dark! D: Take off your sunglasses. A: [lifts glasses] . Light!

It's fascinating to watch linguistic development. It's tempting to think that M just parrots back our words without full understanding, but I think that happens a lot less often than I sometimes realize. As he's forming more and more sentences, for instance, it's clear that he understands sentence structure, including direct and indirect objects : "My give B. booberry." (B. is not old enough to eat a blueberry, btw.) He's been experimenting with pronouns. The use of "My" above was incorrect--he should have used "I", but it was close. He's used "me" for several months, but is just starting to get "you." If he wants me to play baseball, for instance, he'll say "Me and Me play baseball," pointing at Daddy for the first "me" and pointing at himself for the second "me." He still refers to himself as his name (and not me, myself, or I) about 80% of the time. I've wondered how

Ace is more and more obsessed with the alphabet song. He's got almost every letter, but he lost the ellemenopee. Now he just sticks in a series of N's. "H I J K L N N N N P" I think it was my brother Allen that thought the song went, "H I J K Allen and a P" Ace has also had a problem in the last couple weeks with waking up in the middle of the night, upset. Sometimes we can go in and give him some water or read him a quick book, but usually he wants one of us to crawl into bed with him. Which would be kind of nice occasionally if he would actually sleep with one of us in the bed. Example: The other night he woke up screaming at 3:30 AM and I went in and gave him water and crawled in bed with him and scrtached his back. He seemed to drift off after five minutes, so I scratched a few more times and gently removed my hand. "back, peez." Darn it. So I scratch for a good ten minutes, he's snoring, and my actual scratching turns

Daddy and B. Self Portrait Originally uploaded by Maynor . This is our Tribute to Demi Moore's Love Life. I'm sporting the Ashton Kucher haircut, and B. is modeling the Bruce Willis 'do.

Whenever Ace and I play tee-ball in the backyard, and I'm fielding, he refuses to even swing at the ball unless I'm standing a good 30 feet away. If I'm not far enough back, he'll march out to the outfield, find the exact spot to which he plans to hit it, point at the ground and say "Daddy stand here." He then trudges the 30 feet back to the tee, swings the bat, and hits it a good yard or so.

We put particularly stinky diapers in plastic grocery bags and set them next to the front door. I also put my lunch in a plastic grocery bag and set it next to the front door. I know what you're thinking, but I did not sit down for lunch last week, smacking my lips, and open a bag full of dirty diapers. You've been watching too many sitcoms. But a pre-coffee Maynor did pick up both bags last week and head to work. When I parked my car at work, I noticed that I had two bags and realized one was full of healthy treats and a sandwich, and the other was full of poo. Again I should mention that I had not had any coffee yet, and that it was 7:00 am, for pete's sake. Which should explain a little bit why I was so stymied by the decision that lay ahead of me. Namely, would it be better to walk into work carrying a stinky diaper bag and risk passing a Publisher or a VP who might conclude that I had a personal hygiene problem--or at the very least some digestive issues? Or

M & M Originally uploaded by Maynor . At the end of a long afternoon of playing in the sand and riding in the wagon, it's time to say goodbye and go inside for dinner and a bath. M's huggable friend is one of Neighbor Jack's many great grandkids. If you ask Jack for the name of a grandkid, he says "Don't be asking me all those questions." Thankfully, most of them are old enough to introduce themselves. Most of them are also old enough to know that Jack will let them take the wagon all the way up to the tip-top of the backyard hill, but they have to do it when their mothers are otherwise engaged.

painting puppte theatre Originally uploaded by Maynor . Last week we made a big green puppet theater. Best Friend CP came over later and the two boys entertained us with many, many shows. Most shows were interpretations of the following script: Puppet #1: Hello Puppet #2: Hello Unison: Abcdefgh ijklmnop qrstuv wxyz ...now I know my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me. Puppets tackle each other. Exuent.

sab-bath Originally uploaded by Maynor . The Sunday bath.

Asleep after bath Originally uploaded by Maynor .

pre-bath 1 Originally uploaded by Maynor . Click on this or other pics to go to Flickr.com and see more pics of the fellas.

pre-bath 2 Originally uploaded by Maynor . Click on this or other pics to go to Flickr.com and see more pics of the fellas.

pre-bath 3 Originally uploaded by Maynor . Click on this or other pics to go to Flickr.com and see more pics of the fellas.

pre-bath 5 Originally uploaded by Maynor . Click on this or other pics to go to Flickr.com and see more pics of the fellas.

paper Originally uploaded by Maynor . M. isn't supposed to play with the tp roll, so when he gives into the tempation, he carefully rolls it back up. "They'll never know...."

On the way home from Nana's today, I hear Ace from the back seat: Ace: Daddy! 'Obot! Daddy: What'd you say, buddy? A: Ace is 'Obot! Sure enough, in the mirror, I see him doing a C3P0/eighties dance move. A: 'Obot! 'Obot! 'Obot! Ace was stone faced (he was an 'obot' after all) but Deuce was laughing his 4-month-old butt off.

For the purposes of this blog, I shall hereforth refer to M. as "Ace" and to B. as "Deuce." It's like locking the car door when you're driving. Not really much of an actual help, but it's a small token of security.

The second kid is bald. He has been for some time, like his big brother was. But now he's starting to get some very soft, very short hair covering his head. He's also talkative. He loves making sounds, and laughing , and communicating. He's flirty and smiles that big toothless open-mouthed smile. His biggest deal recently is trying to roll over (he's succeeded here and there), and grabbing toys and bringing them to his mouth. Sleep is his friend. B.'s more like Dad, and M. is more like Mom in that way. M. jumps up in the morning wide awake and ready for the day. B. stretches, rolls around, grunts, and keeps his eyes closed until he absolutely has to open them. An hour or two later, he's ready for a nap. He's a good kid.

M. now knows most of the alphabet song, and asks to sing it regularly. This morning at breakfast, however, it was not the alphabet song that he got a kick out of. It was burping. First, he surprised himself with a large belch, and his mom reminded him to say "excuse me." A minute later, he burped again and this time said "excuse me." Or at least I think it was those three syllables, but they were in a different order. No matter. Then, for the next few minutes, M. would fake burp every few seconds. He got louder and louder and cracked himself up. He thought it was hilarious. And it kinda was. So now, the next step is burping the alphabet.

First Day at Toddler Time Originally uploaded by Maynor . Today was M's first day at Toddler Time, the once-a-week "school." There are ten 2-year-olds, including his cousin. Next week is Red Day--time to wear red and do all sorts of red activities!

Within the last few days, M. has been requesting that we sing the alphabet song. The other day, he arranged the refrigerator letters in a big mass and sat on his "M." stool to look at them. He then asked me, "[unintelligible] 'ong?" After repeating himself several times and pointing at the letters and doing a Stevie Wonder impression with his head, he made it clear to me that he wanted to sing the alphabet song. So we sat and looked at the letters and sang the song. We've sung it many times over the last few days, and he gets about every fourth letter. Except for "elmen opee"--he gets all of those. So that's the first song he's sung. And then last night, He and B. were at Nana's house while Susan and I went out to dinner. Nana asked him if he wanted to sing "Jesus loves me" to B., and M. started in all by himself! He got almost of the words singing all alone (according to Nana). We've sung it to him many times,

M. has always called his Tiger--and all tigers--"Dido." Yesterday he made the transition to "Tiger." We thought that when this transition came there might be a nominal distinction between "Dido" his pal, and "Tiger" the growly, prowly orange real-live animal. But there is no distinction. "Dido" is now "Tiger." I guess parenthood is an endless series of these inspiring but sad moments.

B. Originally uploaded by Maynor . At a day or two old, way back in April.

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