T: Mom!! Peter the High King of Narnia and I are trying to defeat Bowser!

Me: Good luck!

T: Thanks!!

A few minutes later, Thomas returns to the kitchen.

T (to himself): Perhaps I didn’t really need my sword. But where is my ketchiner?

Me: What’s a ketchiner?

T: Something to hold a sword.

Me: Like a sheath?

T: No, a ketchiner.

Me: Where did you learn that word?

T: It just came into my head.

If so, for how long?

Would it be wrong to sneak out, pour a glass of wine, and then return to the dark, quiet room for a while?

I asked him why hot dogs are healthy.

“Well, they don’t taste sweet, so they are healthy. And also, they are cooked, and some healthy foods are cooked.”

I asked him what other foods are healthy.

“Pizza is a healthy food. Fruit? There’s a lot of healthy stuff, and pesto is healthy.”

Hm. I guess all of my hours of planning and serving healthy meals have been in vain. Sigh.

Things Will and I like best about this video, in no particular order:

• The juxtaposition between Otto’s head, which is devouring the custard voraciously, and his body, which is completely still the entire time.
• Thomas’s explanation of what it means to have a birthday.
• Thomas’s demonstration of how to eat ice cream.

I may be the only one who thinks this video is both intensely cute and insanely hilarious. Password: dog ice cream

Otto’s Birthday Celebration from Andrea on Vimeo.

Password: Jacques

Maggie and the Peacock from Andrea on Vimeo.

Nevermind that while I shot this video, the pizza I was baking in the oven went from underdone to, let’s just say, crispy. It was worth it (and the pizza was still edible).

I’m working on capturing some analogous video to illustrate what Thomas is up to these days. But whenever I get out the camera and ask him to do whatever it was he was just doing again for the camera, he refuses. Which itself is a pretty good illustration of what he’s up to these days. But hopefully I’ll have some video soon.

Me: Buddy, I’m so glad to hear that you had a great day at school today! I’m very proud of you for doing such a good job.

Thomas: You’re welcome. Did you do a good job at work today, Mommy?

Me: Yeah, I guess so.

Thomas: Then I am very, very proud of you for doing a good job, Mommy.

Me: Thanks, Thomas!

Thomas: Do you think Daddy did a good job at his work today?

Me: Yeah, I’m sure he did.

Thomas: Well, then I’m very, very proud of Daddy for doing a good job, too!

He’s pretty much the most charming boy I know. Of course, then he spent the next ten minutes “singing” the background music from the dungeon level of the original Super Mario Brothers game (you know: doobee doobee doobee. . . . doobee doobee doobee. . . .and repeat). Not so charming. But I’ll take what I can get.

.

Here are some photos of the girl of honor:

She’s wearing the same gown that my great grandmother originally made for my mom; it’s been worn by my sister and me as well as many of our cousins at our baptisms, and now Maggie is the first in the new generation to wear it.

Here’s a look at the smiley girl and the full length of the gown:

Here is Maggie with her godparents Erik and Susie and their daughter Jannah.

And…Here’s the only photo we got of the four of us today. I’m thinking we’ll need to find something else for next year’s Christmas card, but it certainly captures
the moment!

And actually, this was really the only time Maggie cried during the church service. She mostly slept through the baptism, keeping her eyes closed as the Pastor poured the water over her, though she did register some surprise by flailing her arms quite a bit. And she woke up and squawked just a little when the Pastor lifted her up to show her to the congregation.

It was a very special day, topped off with great food (thanks to Will’s mom!), great friends and great family. Thanks to all who travelled here for the occasion and to all who helped out to make it such a great day!

She’s a month old today. We’re having a great time–she is a very sweet, easy baby. She is well loved by her big brother (not to mention everybody else who meets her). I have been trying to figure out who she looks like and how much she looked like Thomas when he was a new baby, so I thought it would fun to do some side-by side comparisons.

Here are the two of them (Maggie is first in each set) on their birthdays.

Here they are when they’re about 1.5 weeks old:

And here are shots when they’re both two weeks old.

So, what do you think? Aside from the obvious difference in amount of hair, do you think they look alike? I’m leaning towards no, but I’m not good at discerning resemblances. And here’s the even bigger question: Who does Maggie look like? Me? Will? One of her grandparents? Any ideas? At some moments I think she looks like my dad, but like I said, I’m no good at this.

We do have photos from the last few weeks, but they’re not uploaded to my computer yet. I’ll post them when I’ve got them.

Thomas was unfazed and immediately set to work brushing off and climbing up his swing set.

He got stuck in the snow about halfway down the slide. No matter. He repeated the process 20 or 30 more times.

Otto was not so pleased. He was desperate to be with us outside, but couldn’t walk in the thick, heavy snow that was taller than he. I finally brushed off this chair and set him on it, thinking he’d be happier on solider ground. He was, until just after I snapped this photo, when he saw someone walking by on the sidewalk and instinctively launched himself off the chair to charge and bark. He literally buried himself in a patch of snow and I had to rescue him from certain suffocation. But once he found a pre-made track, he was down by the fence and barking ferociously within seconds.

Rosy cheeks!

Thomas now believes that hot chocolate is obligatory after any time spent outside.

Must . . . get . . . all . . . marshmallows!