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"One, two, three, four, five," counts Matthew. He can count all the way into his 30's with few mistakes. "Six, seven, eight, nine, TEN!"

I am listening, but only absentmindedly, cleaning up dishes and pouring bowls of cereal.

"Eleven, twelve, thirteen,"

He's pretty good, but this is where the going gets rough. "Foouuurrrteen," he says cautiously. "Fiiiiifteen . . . siiiixteen . . . baseball team . . . eightttteen. . ."

Wait. Baseball team?

I Might Love It Too

At dinner tonight I said to Cameron, "Guess what? President Obama is going to give a speech tomorrow. And guess who he's giving the speech to?"

"Who?" said Cameron.

"Kids who go to school. Like you!"

Cameron's face lit up. "Will I get to see it?"

"Yes! We'll watch it on TV," I said. (I didn't say, "At home. Because they aren't showing it at school. Huge uproar, long story.")

"I bet I know what he's going to talk about!" said Cameron with excitement.

"What?" I replied. (I didn't say, "Health care reform? The auto industry? Converting little school children into an army of socialists?")

"A longer school day!" said Cameron. "I think he's going to tell us that the school day will be longer now!"

David chimed in. "Oooh, that would be bad!"

"WHAT!?!?" said Cameron. "That would be AWESOME! I would love to be at school more!"

A bicycle built for . . . three?

So, the man that I live with? That one that helps me take care of my kids sometimes? Let's just call him "David" for short. He and my kids have been attracting a lot of attention on their bike rides lately.
They are loving the new trailer bike and Cameron is loving the stares and finger pointing their bike-trailer bike-bike trailer attracts!

Before and After

Before:

Matthew went to an African American barber shop this morning. He was actually pretty excited about it. "Mr. Charlie gonna cut my hair," he kept saying. I was nervous. The first hair cut did not go well, despite the Bob the Builder DVD and race car chair. How would he do at a real barber shop? Great, it turns out. No tears and the results are super cute!

After:

AKA

Our family confuses people. I am well aware of this. Sometimes it leads people to ask prying questions, sometimes it leads to awkward verbage. But the other day, it led to one of the funniest conversations I've ever had. I was walking with my two boys when a woman stopped me. "I haven't met you before," she said with a smile. "But I've met your kids." This was a good start -- she realized that they both were my kids. But then it got weird. "And I've met your . . . um . . . uh . . . I've met your . . . ahhhh . . . the man that you live with . . . who helps you take care of your kids sometimes?"

"Um, you mean, my husband?"

I have assured David that from now on I will be referring to him as "the man that I live with who helps me take care of my kids sometimes."

Warning: My Two-Year Will Talk About Anything

Matthew is really verbal. Reeaaalllyyy verbal. Most of the time it is really fun, like when he dressed up in a Bob the Builder helmet and a Batman belt and announced, "LOOK MAMA. I DA PO-LICE MAN." And plenty of times, I find his verbal skills quite useful -- like in the morning, when he says, "DAT CEE-RE-ULLL, MAMA. WIT SOY MILK." Once in a while, it's embarassing, such as at church when he loudly asked, "WHAT DAT SOUND? SOMEBODY TOOOOT?" But yesterday, it was just gross. I was cooking dinner when, from the toy room, Matthew shouted, "MAMA! I JUST POOOOOOP!" Which is, actually, pretty useful. Until he added, "IT A GIII-GANTIC ONE!"

Be Specific

A few weeks ago, the boys were waiting for some friends to arrive for a playdate. They sat near the window, watching, and then Cameron said, "Hey, let's chant, 'We want our friends.'" So they said, "WE WANT OUR FRIENDS! WE WANT OUR FRIENDS!" and, lo and behold, the friends arrived!


Bolstered by their success, they decided to try the same technique that evening, while waiting for Daddy to get home. "WE WANT DADDY! WE WANT DADDY! WE WANT DADDY! WE WANT DADDDY!" they shouted. And out the window, we watched as the neighbor across the street pulled into his driveway. There was a short pause, and then Cameron chanted, "We want OUR Daddy! We want OUR Daddy!"