Metamorphosis of a Name

Ever since he learned to make sounds and address his brother, Elias has referred to his older brother as Jidgie. Until recently, that is. He has been honing his vocabulary as well as the precision of his tongue within the confines of his mouth and teeth. (See above) As a result, he became more intentional in his pronunciation of his brother's name. It became "Krnjrd" almost overnight, but was still "Jidgie" when he wasn't thinking hard about it. Then it was "Kenjid" for a few weeks. But now Elias has mastered "Kindred" and uses it exclusively. He no longer slips and uses "that childish nickname" from when he couldn't really speak correctly. Now he is grown. He is a big boy and he wants to talk just like all of us. He practices his words and phrases, and has recently become pretty adept at rhyming words. I am bursting with pride at his accomplishments and the verbal challenges he is overcoming everyday. He is terrifically polite, saying, "Thank you for this food" sincerely and without prompt to those who serve him, and he tried to use his words rather than hit or hurt when he is mad. But I'm still really sad at the loss of the limitation, the little way he would do his best to call his brother.

A Bathtub Exchange

Elias peed his pants after dinner last night, and Kindred woke, crying "Heeelllllppp! Heeellllppp!" in his own wet bed, so it was an easy call to give the boys a good bubble bath scrub down this morning. (I had heard a noise a little before 6am and opened my eyes to see a smiling bright-eyed round face less than an inch from my own, thus Elias and I had been awake for some time. So putting Kindred straight into the bath was not far fetched.)

The boys know they aren't to stand up in the tub. Kindred rarely breaks this rule. He is far warmer in the water than out of it. Elias is my rebel. The bath had been going very well and the boys were playing with their respective boats when Elias ventured up into the cold. He lost his balance and landed on Kindred's head, causing Kindred's face to duck into the water. Kindred came up, coughing and sputtering and snotty. I admonished Elias, pointing out that because of his disobedience, Kindred had gotten hurt. I advised him to apologize.

"Sowry," he mumbled.

"Tell Kindred." I ordered.

"Sowry, Kindred, look Mommy I pour out a water!"

Kindred piped up. "Elias, you have to say 'Sorry for...that.'"

"Sowry for that."

"No, no Elias, I'll tell you. You have to say 'Sorry for THAT.'"

"Sowry for VAT!"

"Elias! No! 'Sorry for getting water up your nose.'"

Elias pointed to his nose, confused. "No there water in my nose."

Kindred sighed but was still determined. "Elias. You have to say 'Kindred, I'm sorry for falling on your head and making you get water up nose.' Like that."

Elias, finally clear, "Kindred, I say sowry for you getting water in your nose."

Kindred replied cheerfully, "That's OK!"

Goofs.

Guess Who's Home?

Michael's here too, but his picture didn't come out as cute. (I'm just as happy to have him home.) The boys fell asleep in Kindred's bed tonight, with me in the middle. Kindred was holding my hand and Elias' arm was flung across my neck. It was the best moment of the day. Now I'm off to hang out the the husband. Mmmmm....

What I Do

Just in case you are curious (and maybe a little bored), you can click here to see a new story that explains most of what I do pretty accurately. The judge interviewed is officially one of my favorite people in the world. She is amazing and it feels unbelievably refreshing to have someone in power on the side of the people. I was actually in court the day this was filmed and my friend Tim is the couple's housing counselor. This is what my almost-every Thursday looks like. You can imagine what it looks like all the days in between.

I'm Not Ignoring You

I know, OK? I know. It's just that I've been a little busy. And in another state. Oh, and have I mentioned I'm a housing counselor in a housing crisis? Right. So let me fill you in briefly before I go and wash my mud mask off my face because it's going to start burning in a minute.

So it was my 33rd birthday last week. And for my birthday (which was Friday) we had some friends gather on Wednesday at a great Ethiopian restaurant close to my house and we played Apples to Apples. Then we flew to Florida on Thursday night so that my in-laws could vacation for a week in Branson, MO and not have to worry about Grandpa who would be safe in the hands of Michael and my sons. Again, I had another wonderful birthday celebration going to the zoo with Carol and the kids in the morning, where we saw jaguars nurse, alligators get fed, birds land all over people, and rode the train past a day-old oryx. It was a good zoo day. Then Michael and I went out for early dinner at a Thai restaurant and came home to "the yumminess cake of the world and my dreams" that Michael had spent the day making. I returned to Philadelphia myself on Sunday and have been here alone at home all week.

Only I haven't really had much alone time.

I've spent time with people every single night so far. I'm planning on hiding away on Saturday and taking the day for myself, quiet and truly alone, but Sunday is all booked too. Then boys are home on Monday. I haven't had much time to think about missing the boys, and I talk to them twice every day, so it's been a little different than I had imagined. But they are so cute on the phone. Every time I call the first thing they ask is, "Mommy! Are you coming back??" They respond, "I miss you" when I explain that I'm not returning to FL to see them. Elias asked today, "Are you at working?" I miss squeezin' those kids.

So there's an update. We brought the camera on the trip but failed to bring the computer cord so photos will have to appear later. Happy spring bloomin'!