Today's updates:

• 19:50 Zeke (4), holding a toy: "If I swung this at you and hit you, you would die. But I usually don't swing it at my parents or friends."

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A photo of Talia playing outside

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Zeke and his friend tackle a dilemma

A few days ago, I overheard the following discussion between Zeke and his best friend K. We were all in the car.

K.: I wish I could have my sister's bed. I want to have my own room and sleep in my own bed. But I also want my mommy to be there with me so I can hug her in the night.
Z.: Hm. Well, you could dream something up. You could (pause) ... you could build a ramp. And if in the night you felt like you wanted a hug, you could (pause) ... you could walk on the ramp and go into your mommy's room and get a hug.
K. Hm.

If you could climb into your head

Tonight Zeke was asking me about why some big trucks have bunks above their cabs. I explained that it was so the drivers could sleep if they were taking long trips. He then wanted to know how the trucks kept driving while their drivers slept. I explained that they didn't. He was, it seems, thinking about the image of a driver climbing up into a bunk above the cab of his truck and looking out those little windows. He thought for a minute and then remarked:

Daddy -- wouldn't it be funny if there was a window in your head, and you could climb up into your head and look out the window? And then your head would be bouncing around with you in it.

A little pre-Hallowe'en test run

Talia hasn't really gotten into it much yet.

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The kids' first day of school

This photo is a little out of date -- from last Monday -- but here it is.

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What Zeke said at bedtime tonight

Zeke was in fine form at bedtime tonight. He asked me a series of questions, more or less as follows:

1. What color is your brain? Is it light red? (I said "Gray," and his response was, "Ew!")
2. Why does your brain have so many cracks in it?
   
3. What would happen if I stuck my finger in my brain? Ew.
   
4. Why do we need a skull?
   
5. How old are these (holding his two favorite stuffed animals)? Not like, "one, two, three, four," but like, "old and shaggy." They're new to me.
6. Is a dream like a little movie in your head? It's like I have a computer set in my head.
   
7. In Greek myths, why does it say that the Earth had babies and they turned into one-eyed Cyclops and Zeus didn't like them?
   

Also, his favorite bedtime song has changed. It used to be a lullaby ("Hush, Little Baby, Don't Say a Word"). Now it's "Summertime."

Today's updates:

• 19:42 Zeke, getting out of the bath: "Daddy! I didn't wash my hair. But I DID get out all the toe jam!"

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Zeke told a "scary story" in the car tonight

We were driving home after nightfall, and I made some comment about
how we were driving through the dark and it was kind of spooky. Zeke
asked if we wanted him to tell a scary story. Talia and I said yes.
His voice got really low and he began reciting a long, incantatory,
ex tempore poem. All I remember is this:

 

Storm clouds! Skeletons! And ghost deers!

Point a rock and throw you dead.
Broke you to a flaming
wheel.

Bash.
Crash.
Bam.
Broke.

 That's it.

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Talia showing off the magic-marker manicure her brother gave her

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ice cream

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Zeke playing with Mr Potato Head

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Today's updates:

• 17:43 Zeke says his favorite car is a "Jeepie S." (i.e., a GPS) because they go so fast

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I opened Zeke's lunch box tonight to clean it, and this fell out on the counter

Kind of spooky, huh?

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Today's updates:

• 19:15 Zeke: "Hi! My name's Idiot Diarrhea! And other bad words, too!"

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"Toilet learning" is in progress

Ahem, uploaded 10th June, 2009.

Yes, folks, that is indeed a copy of the New York Review of Books that she's pretending to read.

Today's updates:

• 20:41 Zeke officially has a Pennsylvania accent. He says "I sawl it" instead of "I saw it"

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Zeke wrote this (the third letter is a 'K')

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Today's updates:

• 22:55 Zeke: "Can I stay up till lilacs?" Somehow he's confused "lilacs" with "twilight"

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Summer's here, mostly

Well, the annual Dogwood Festival has come and gone, which was a lot of excitement for everyone. Zeke actually stood on the porch, pointed to the rides as they began to set up, and -- being too excited even to form words -- let loose shrieks of pure joy and anticipation. In other news, Talia fell down on the front stairs and knocked two of her front teeth loose. One of them now seems to be turning black, which I guess means the nerve is dead, but so far it doesn't look like it's going to fall out. We're waiting to hear from the dentist. 

Here are a few favorite recent photos in a slideshow format. Click here to see this whole collection on a single page. When you're watching the slideshow (in this post, or in almost any other slideshow or video) look for a little icon like this:  or something similar, here (and usually elsewhere) found in the bottom right corner. If you click that symbol, the slideshow will expand to fill your whole screen. 

Zeke also recently figured out that if you sit on your tricycle at the top of a hill and start pedaling, you can get going pretty fast. So far there have been no accidents.