Recent stories

A few days ago I had the kids at the park. Kes was at the top of the slide, and I said, "Do you want to go down the slide on your bottom or on your belly?" She said, "Ummmmm, on tuchis."

Last night, Eliana went to sleep with her new blue croc-style shoes on. She woke up to potty, went back to sleep, still had the shoes on. Woke me up this morning, whispering, "Mommy. I sleeped in my new shoes that grandma got me all night long and they're still on my feet!"

Today we were driving somewhere and Kes said, "Wookit! A daddy car! A daddy car! Dat Daddy in 'at car?" I said, "no, it's just a car that looks like Daddy's. Daddy's at work." Kes said, "Yeah, Daddy at work. I yuv Daddy. And titter yuv Daddy too. And Mommy yuv Daddy too. And I too!"

We recently got a minivan, and discovered that in addition to all the other seating, there is actually space between the two carseats for an adult to sit between the kids. Ever since the first time someone sat there, every time I click Kes into her seat, she says, "Mommy sit in a mindle." I say, "I can't sit in the middle, I have to drive the car." "OK, Mommy drive. Glamma sit in a mindle?" "No, Grandma's not here." "Um... a Daddy sit in a mindle?" "No, Daddy's at work." "Oh, um, a Mommy sit in a mindle?" "No, remember, Mommy has to drive the car." "OK, Mommy drive."

Elly can lock and unlock her passenger door with her foot, while stuck in her carseat. She gets a big kick out of this, so I let her be the one to unlock the door when I come to get her out of her seat, instead of using my key fob. One day, however, she was locking and unlocking it over and over again while I collected my things and got Kes out, and I said exasperatedly, "Elly, why are you locking and unlocking it so much?" She said, (brightly and proudly) "Because I CAN!"

We went to LA a week before Kate's scheduled cesarean. The first time Elly saw Kate's belly, she said, "Look! Your belly got even bigger!" But every day after that, when we arrived at Kate and Brian's, Elly said, "But WHY are the babies still in your belly? I want them to come out now. I want to hold them."

When Rowan and Meriden were born and we visited them in their hospital room, Rowan was having a diaper change, and Elly was watching. Someone asked no one in particular, "Which one is having the diaper change now?" and Elly said, "the girl." I said, "No, honey, that's the boy. Look closer, see?" And she said, "Oh, yeah, it's the boy." A couple days later, Elly commented on how big Kes was getting now that she could click herself into her carseat. I said, "Yeah, she's not a teeny tiny baby anymore. Not like Rowan and Meriden." Elly said, "Yeah, they're so tiny. And remember how his penis was so teeny tiny?" (We won't tell Rowan this story when he is older.)

When the babies were one day old, Eliana got to hold them. It was amazing. She was so sweet, so loving, and the most adorable things were coming out of her mouth. "I'm good of holding babies." "Awww, she likes it when I hold her." "Awww, she has a little nose." "Awwww, he's so soft. He likes it when I kiss his forehead. He likes it when I rub him with my cheek." "I'm gentle at holding babies."

At one point, my mom said, "I haven't had a chance to hold a baby yet today. Can I have a turn?" Eliana said, "Well..." (looking around the room) "Uncle Tim has the other baby. Uncle Tim, can you please give my grandma that baby now? And I'll keep holding this baby, but my grandma needs a turn." Tim couldn't resist a request that cute.

After about 15 minutes, Elly got tired of holding Meriden and said, "I'm done holding this baby now. Can someone take her now please?" And about as soon as she was passed to the next person, Elly then said, "Now can I hold the other baby?"