Genius loves company

Here are the bambinis before heading out for school - strategically positioned. It was another good day for everyone sans Julie. Clara worked on her shapes at school and helped make a birthday card for a friend. Joe was reported to have concentrated very hard on getting his coat on properly and zipping up his coat (when asked about it later he denied everything). Mommy was asked after of course - I think the state of Indiana is falling low on Joe's list of Most Admired States as it keeps his Mommy away from him. Good night fans!

Mr. Mom

I am through night one of Mr. Mom, and I can say it all went well. Joe agreed to Indian dinner tonight, so we all shared in a medley of Chicken Tikki Masala and Palak Paneer. In this picture, Joe is shouting "cheeeeeese palak paneer!"* Baths went fine and books went fine, though I am sure both felt short changed because there was little of the extra snuggles, snorts, and 20 questions provided. Both went to bed fine, but when Joe started his normal wailing and I went in to check on him, he was buck naked (again) and when asked what was wrong he said "I don't want Mommy to go away." So he earned some good hugs and I layed next to him and asked him "what is your favorite thing about Mommy" and without missing a beat he said "playing with her." That got another hug and reassurance that Mommy would be back soon. We all miss Mommy!

* You can see Joe is in his new "Back to the Future" shirt - how sweet is that? We worked on the word "deloreon" today...it starts with the letter D. Clara has been sporting a lot of new fall clothes as well, we are supposed to get our first frost tonight!

Tonight | 12 Times as Old

Well (again), Fans, Julie's first work trip of the fall has rolled around and you know what that means: it's time for her to be all maudlin about going. She read one of Birdie's new favorite books to Birdie tonight: Moo Ba La La La. Clara likes to "baa" like a sheep (but is not so keen on mooing like a cow). When Julie gets to the part that goes "Rhinoceroses snort and snuff, and little dogs go ruff ruff ruff," she snorts and snuffs right in Birdie's ear which makes Clara laugh. She and Birdie had a long snuggle after reading books that involved Julie dishing out a lot of raspberries and Clara laughing. Julie pointed to herself and said "Mama." Clara said what may have been "mama," but she also seemed to be saying "papa" while pointing in the direction of the bathroom (where Ted was giving Joe a bath; though in all other instances he is Da-ee!!!!!), and "baby," which may have been all to do with baby doll in the stroller. She definitely said "bye-bye" all the way to bed.

Joe is still on the asking questions before bed kick. Tonight, we discussed favorite car (Bronzie got both Joe's vote, and Ted's vote, Julie said she was torn), favorite dog (Joe said Sparky--the firedog from the Little Critters firehouse book; Julie and Ted said Berenice), and favorite book (Joe said Lucky Sneaker--which we'd just read; Ted said Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog; and Julie said Where the Wild Things Are). Later, Joe was caterwauling in his room where we found him buck naked. He stated he needed to use the potty. Off he went. After he was back in his pajamas, he gave Ted and hug and then Julie a hug. He then decided to see if he could hang off Julie as she was crouched down to his level. He could. That's how little he still is, Fans. So little he can hang on one of us crouched down, just by tucking his legs up off the floor.

Julie lifted him up (magic!) and carried him back in, and when she came out, she looked at Ted, started to cry and said she didn't want to go. Ted said it would be a "good mental break." Julie refused to believe him (shook her head in the crook of his arm). So we had cookies. And then Ted said today he thought that now that he is 36, he's 12 times as old as Joe. Which set Julie off again.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Well, Fans, Ted celebrated a birthday today. When Julie went downstairs to greet the bambini, she reminded Joe that it was his daddy's birthday and asked him if he wanted to go wish Daddy a happy birthday while Daddy was still in bed. Joe was on the stairs before Julie had even finished speaking. So Ted's day began with the entire family piling into the bed where we sang him Happy Birthday. (Clara, most charmingly, claps and says "Yea!" but not at the end! She actually, even more charmingly, jumps the gun a bit and breaks out the claps and cheers after the penultimate "Happy birthday dear Daddy (in this case). . . .)

[attempting picture + Berenice + 3-year-old + 16-month-old = false]

[if no Berenice; still false]

After Ted made himself a birthday breakfast of waffles, we were off to Target. As you know, Fans, the authors and editors of (The Spectacular Adventures of ) Joe and Clara Jane like to bring you slice-of-life-"and-that's-the-way-it-was" reporting, so we feel we should take this opportunity to report on the trip to Target. Joe asked if we could sign a song. When asked what song, he said "That song we sang yesterday." Hmm. The Itsy Bitsy Spider?* NO! Joe then elucidates that the song of which he is thinking is "the river song." Julie guesses, Moon River?** Joe says yes. Julie begins. NO! Joe allows that "the river song" is from music class. Ah. Now--now--we have it:

We're floating down the river.

We're floating down the river.

We're floating down the river on the O-Hi-O!

Then we had another chorus of Happy Birthday.

Little Sheepie, Pink Elephant, Sheepie, and Neaky may also have made this trip with us. Ted was charged with Neaky; Julie with Sheepie. It was at this point that the Birthday Boy said he wanted to listen to a guitar song on the radio. Neaky and Sheepie danced in boy band style synchronicity to a country song of which we do not know the name, as well as How Deep Is Your Love. (Theirs is very deep indeed. We had to remind them that they were not in the backseat after all.)

And here, Fans, is where you are maybe thinking a birthday couldn't get much better. And this is where you would be so very wrong. Because Ted spent the post-nap hours of the day*** having hors d'oeuvres in his garage. The bambini were in the garage, and why rock the boat? As you know, Grandpa Tom and Lynn are in town for a State Visit. They made cream cheese and roasted red pepper jelly spread crackers which were a huge hit with Our Hero and his erstwhile sidekick, Birdie, who was pinging around like a pinball, really dissolving rapidly in the early evening hours.

By the time we got to Act Five of Daddy Ted's birthday, we were ready for that cake. Let them eat it! And so we did. Julie's not sure what Ted wished for on his birthday candles, but she knows this: he's a birthday wish come true for her (and yes, probably he wished to have cocktails and snacks in the garage again next year on his birthday).

*Singing rather a lot of TIBS as Clara tries to sing it, and to do the hand motions. It is also very charming.

**Julie sometimes sings this to Clara when she's changing the Bird. She used to sing Joe Eight Days a Week. Neither your standard bebe fare, but they are nice songs.

***We think of this as the Third Act.

Act One: Morning Fanfare Including Lunch (sometimes worthy of its own act, but more often like a big scene as one that would proceed. . .

Act Two: Nap (In Which the Adults Attempt to Recover/Clean/Nap/Read/Mow/Go For a Run/Run a Random Errand/Bake Cookies/What Have You)

Act Three: Post-Nap Fun

Act Four: Dinner! Bath! Bed! In! Rapid! Succession!

Act Five: Other Dinner and Collapse (In Which the First Half Hour is Usually SILENT)

In His Glory

Our Hero, meanwhile, had a busy day painting his self-portrait with finger paints (we await this masterpiece with bated breath), identifying his name, and playing Red Rover and Red Light Green Light, all this per Ms. Kristin whom we saw at pick-up. She said that Joe came on over when she said "Red rover, red rover let blue shirts come over!" (Our Hero was sporting his Cubbies shirt today), and that he knew his name--and Darby's, and a few others, and may have had to be told to give the name bearer a chance to recognize their name on the card on the floor first! We know how this goes. Often, when we will ask Clara to find something in a book, or whatever, Joe will exuberantly point it out, and we gently have to ask him to let Clara try first.

As it happens, the theme of this week and next week in Joe's room (as you will no doubt recall, Dear Readers, "All About Me"), dovetails with one of Joe's newest kicks: asking questions after stories. You will also, no doubt recall, that we began this a few days ago as a coda to the we-do-not-call-others-poopyheads discussion. Now it is all the rage. After an introductory question, Joe likes to do most of the questioning. It is great fun to watch him working out how to frame the question. "What favorite food is your favorite?" and "What favorite food do you like?" are examples of his usual sallies. But we always back up and rephrase, Counselor: "What is your favorite food?" (For the record, tonight, it was spaghetti.)

Then, sometimes, there will be a burst of very lucid phrasing, and sort of adult banter:

Joe: "What's your favorite way to go to the zoo?"

Julie: "In a canoe!" [rhyming Fans, rhyming]

Joe: "No! That's no fun! Pick a different way!"

[beat]

Joe [as though realizing he's going to have to spell it out for his dolt of a mother]: "Which car do you like to go in to the zoo?"

Julie said Bronzie, which gave Ted the rhyme with Blue.*

These pictures have nothing to do with this post, other than that they are pictures of Our Hero as he was on this day, in his glory, running about post-dinner and pre-bath, in his underwear (milk was spilled on his shirt and pants during the dinner--when Julie asked Joe a question and he forgot to swallow before answering; really).** Yes, the undies which began the day "stripes in the front," have somehow gotten turned about. Joe was outside helping Ted ferry the recycling to the bins as we prepare for the start of Grandpa Tom and Lynn's State Visit tomorrow. While outside, he had to build a "tower castle." In this second picture, he is saying, "Cheese tower castle!"

*We refer to our cars as Bronzie and Blue.

**For those who follow our gardening efforts, this is also a picture of Julie's meadow rue, that she got at least three years ago at the Friends' School Plant Sale that is held annually each Mother's Day at (insert drumroll!) the fair grounds. It lazed about for three years, nothing doing, and then, this year, it was like Emily Dickinson's Fringed Gentian! (That's a good one, Fans. Google it up!) And THEN, it was knocked clean off at the ground in the "boom echo" storm we had mid-summer. But look at how it rebounded! It is a cloud of little purple puffs!