"I mind!"

Kate hits sometimes. Jack, Mommy, Daddy. Emily came up with the theory that it's because she can't verbally articulate her thoughts as well as she'd like, so she speaks with her hands. We tell her not to, tell her hitting isn't nice, don't hit, so on and so forth.

One day recently, Jack and Kate were sitting on the rug with Emily, and Kate wanted a toy that Jack had, so she kind of batted him on the shoulder. "Aahh!" She said. Emily said, "Kate, no hitting!" Jack, perfectly agreeable (and unhurt), said "Mommy, I don't mind." Emily said, "Well, I do mind, Jack; Kate shouldn't hit you, or any of us."

The next day, Kate hit Jack again, and this time it was harder or it caught him in the side of the head or something. "I mind!" wailed Jack. "I mind!"

From now on, whenever Kate either hits or attempts to hit Jack, Jack immediately points out to her, us, and everyone else his revised feelings. "Kate! Don't hit me. I mind!"

Jack's Day

Before bed each night, we tell Jack about our day and he tells us about his. Here was his day at school today.

"First Mommy dropped me off. I had some breakfast (second breakfast) and then I played video games on the computer." What kind of games? "Thomas the Tank Engine...you had to click on Thomas to make sure he didn't go on the wrong track.

"Then it was Circle Time." (What did you talk about?) "We were supposed to talk about one new toy that was special." (Did you talk about Wally?) "Yes. Because he is special to me. And he has beans in his tummy. See?" (He showed me Wally, who does indeed have beans inside him.)

"Then it was time for snack, and we had brownies." (What?) "Olivia brought special snack...brownies." (Olivia had a birthday recently.) "Then we got paints and painted." (What did you paint? What kinds of things?) "Oh, just a messy paint picture.

"Then it was time for Miss Gabriella to teach us Spanish." (My 4-year-old has a busy day.) (What words did you learn?) "The Spanish word for bear is Oota Loota. The Spanish word for dog is Eaga Lito. The Spanish word for Hi is HOLA." (He said this one very emphatically. I don't know if the other ones are correct or not. My son knows more Spanish than I do.)

"Then we had lunch, and then we had nap. After nap we went to the bathroom, and then I played. And then I played some more. And then we had snack. And then I went to the gym.

"After the gym I had water, because I was sweaty.

"And then you came!"

Random from Vermont

- Jack has fun playing in the snow, at least until he actually gets snow somewhere he doesn't want snow -- inside his mitten, on his cheeks, whatever. He was upset with me getting snow on him until I offered to make it up to him by letting him hit me with snow. That made everything better.

- Sledding and making snow angels is fun for Jack, but not quite as fun as standing in snow pretending to scare off bears by poking at them with a big stick (or in Jack's case, a wiffle bat

- Kate was scared of Molly. Unlike Jack, she hasn't grown up with a dog around, so she doesn't quite know what to make of them. She'd be walking along, see Molly, and stop in her tracks. If Molly came into her vicinity, she'd turn and walk quickly away.

- But, she rallied. After a while, and after seeing Jack play with Molly, and see that Molly was about as threatening as a foot rest, she started walking up closer to her. Still wary, but getting closer. I sat on the floor next to Molly, and beckoned Kate closer. Kate shook her head, vigorously, No. I patted Molly on the head and asked Kate if she wanted to. Again, No. Finally I patted Molly's front leg. Kate? She came a little closer, squatted down, and touched Molly's leg. "Ah-ah-AHHH!" she announced. By the end of the weekend, she didn't seem terrified anymore. Still didn't actually pet her on the head, but was getting closer and closer, and was no longer running away when she saw her.

- Nana wanted to read various stories to Jack. Peter Rabbit, Bunny Who Wanted a Friend, etc. Jack wanted her to read Mouse Tales. Again, and again, and....

- Jack got a stuffed Wally in Vermont. For now at least, Wally is his favorite toy. He sleeps with him, wore his Red Sox sweatshirt today so Wally could see it, etc. Today a little while after Emily and Jack and Kate had gone off to school, Emily calls. She's on her way back to bring Wally home. Where was he? I asked. "In the pocket of his sweatshirt. We got to school and took of his jacket, and I said, 'Jack, what's that in your sweatshirt?' And he said...Uh...my hands.... And I looked and there was Wally. So I told him I'd bring him home to wait for him."

Kate beams

Kate beams. She really does. She sees Mommy in the doorway coming home from work, or me when I pick her up at daycare, or Jack when we pick him up, and her face lights up. I can usually draw a beautiful, goofy, toothy grin out of her without much difficulty, and it's something to see. She beams.

Kate dances. We put music on, or it comes on the TV, and she rocks back and forth, side to side, up and down. Usually smiling or laughing. Her feet don't move, but she dances.

Kate gets sick. It's been a rough first few months of daycare for her, with the last month about the worst. First she had this coxcsackia whatever thing, then fevers, then colds, then a cough. Currently an ear infection, which we've just begun treating with antibiotics but as I write this has yet to go away, and thus has yet to allow any of us a decent night's sleep. For a while things seemed to come and go and we didn't go to the doctor, but by Sunday she had a cold, cough, fever, and wasn't sleeping. It was high time. Ear infection, at a minimum; we treat that, and see how it goes.

She's no fun sick. Pretty much makes it clear how miserable she is; sometimes it almost feels like she's blaming us. "Don't you put me down!" "YES, I want more milk." "NO, I don't want that bland food. Give me MORE FRUIT, I say." Although really, it's rare that she's angry. More often she's just miserable. Quick to nap, then absolutely wretched when she wakes up, clinging to me and not wanting to be put down for a second. These are the times I see just how much I can do while holding Kate in one arm. Make coffee? Check. Cook dinner? Depends on the meal. Manipulate three different remotes to watch a DVD? Well, it really depends which of Jack's toys are in the way, but it can be done.

Last night, all night, every hour, she woke up, angry, frustrated, miserable, probably in pain. We did what we could, but it's tough when she doesn't even want to sleep, or at least isn't willing to sleep -- maybe lying down bothers her ear. This morning she was just pathetic, exhausted. This afternoon, clingy, fussy, wrecked.

Tonight she's sleeping, so far. I've got my fingers crossed. Maybe tomorrow she'll be beaming again.

Jack tells me a story

I was putting Jack to bed last night; he's kind of gotten out of the having songs sung to him thing, and now it's different...sometimes we talk, he tells stories, I tell stories, whatever.

So last night he tells this story.

"Once upon a time Mommy and Daddy decided they were going to have a baby. So they put a baby in Mommy's tummy, and then they went to the hospital, and they said we want to have our baby, and at first the baby wasn't ready to come out and then it did and it was named Jack. And so they had a baby."

"I remember this story, Jack." "You do?" "Yes -- I was there. And so were you. And we were very happy."

Jack's 4th birthday

Today was Jack's 4th birthday. Pretty amusing....

- We heard him get out of bed and go to the bathroom, then head back to his room. We got up (Kate was already awake) and went out into the hallway, to see him, half-naked (he goes to put on underwear), pajamas around his ankles, shuffling into his room. "Happy Birthday!" we said. He grinned sheepishly over his shoulder.

- We went downstairs, where he saw the bike (with training wheels) that we got him for his birthday present, and that I spent about an hour assembling last night. He said, "I didn't ask for a BIKE....!" He seemed happy though. We spent the next half hour helping him ride it around the living room.

- Jack wanted to wear one of the birthday hats that Emily had bought (for his party here) in to school. I tried to talk him out of it, but he was pretty insistent. I said, "Won't you feel silly being the only one at school wearing a birthday hat?" He looked at me, a hint of confusion on his face. Then, quite clearly: "No." It was like he was talking to an idiot. Why on earth would I feel silly, Daddy? Good for you, Jack.

- He had a good day at school, eating the cupcakes Emily made for his class (which I have to note were absolutely amazing). Coming home, I asked him, "Did the kids like the goodie bags you'd made up?" Jack said, "We didn't open them at school." As soon as we got home, he said, "I want to open my goodie bag!" I said, er, OK. The three of us had filled them before his bedtime last night. He opened it and said, "I got Play-dough and bubbles and stickers and a ball and..." And I said, I know, Jack, you helped put them together last night. He said, "I know!" Still just as excited as if it was all new, and if we didn't have extras of all those things scattered around the house.

- He got phone calls with birthday wishes from various relatives. It's funny watching him talk on the phone. He doesn't exactly converse; he usually comes up with comments that are total nonsequitors to the questions asked. "How was your birthday?" Jack: "We're going to have Fudgie the Whale cake tomorrow!" "What?" "Fudgie the Whale!"

- Before bathtime, he and Kate played hide and seek. On opposite sides of a chair. This really has nothing to do with his birthday, but it was pretty hilarious. They cracked each other up as they "found" each other.

- Aunt Robin sent an e-card with a dog blowing up a birthday cake balloon. Wearing himself out and panting as it kept deflating. Jack SCREAMED with laughter. "Again!" he said, clapping.

- At night, he kept getting out of bed. The last time, he said to Emily, "I want Daddy to get my birthday cake." (His party is tomorrow.) Emily, exasperated, said, "If you get out of bed again, you won't get a cake."

Jack was silent for a moment. Then, "But everybody needs a cake on their birthday...."

He'll get one.

Aunt Linda

Kind of funny how well the kids get along with Aunt Linda. Most adults they're meeting for the first time they're kind of standoffish with.....Kate fearful, Jack shy. Jack beforehand isn't sure he even wants to see somebody, and we're always like, "She gave you the..." or whatever.

But Linda is going home tomorrow so tonight they said Goodbye. Kate spent a lot of time being held by her, while Jack had a nice little talk with her as she was leaving; then, at the door, ran over to give her a big hug. Nice to see.

He also cracked up when she read him his first Peanuts "page-a-day" calendar comic strip. Evidently Aunt Linda read him the funnies over at Grandma's last Sunday, and he laughed it up all the way through them. Something obviously we don't do enough, which is going to change going forward. So thanks, Aunt Linda.