Let's see, two weeks worth of stories to catch up on. I really need to get better at this. I know, I know, I keep saying that. One of these days it might stick, so please bear with me.

Two wekends ago we met my family in Concord for a Sunday brunch and belated birthday gift exchange. We had lots of good food at Todai. Isabelle had a great time, as she remembered everyone after about minutes, and then she really liked the place, and all the different types of food we had. We are so happy she likes a variety of food. I'm always worried she's gonna want nothing except macaroni and cheese or applesauce. She does love applesauce, by the way. And then there were the balloons. Fun fun fun.

Isabelle always has a great time with my family, since they are all so happy to see her, and want to play with her, she's thinks that is a good deal. And it's great how she remembers things afterward. On Tuesday, she says to us, "Ice cream, cookies, Grandma?" We're going to try to get to see Grandma Jeanne in a week or so.



David has a new little thing he does. When he's happy, and we are nearby, possibly playing with him, or maybe just talking to him, he starts singing. It's kind of a louder coo actually. You could do it yourself if you wanted to really hear what it's like. Say, "yeeeee" with a big smile on your face, and a little bit of drool/slobber in the back of your throat. Add inflections as you like to spice it up a bit. He also does that with his hands in his mouth, gives it that wah-wah sound.

A week or so ago, I had given David a bath, and was headed to the couch were I had placed his clothes. Well, Isabelle ran over and grabbed his sleeper, and ran to the other side of the room. I told her I needed that to get David dressed, and I would really like it if she brought that back to me. She threw it into a chair, and looked at me. OK, "Isabelle, please bring David's sleeper back over here." And this was about the time she suddenly couldn't hear. She ignored me, and played with the sleeper and the chair on the other side of the room.

So I get David dry and diapered, and then go over to Isabelle, I take her hand, place it onto the sleeper, which she grabs, and as I walk her back to the couch, I tell her that this means bringing it back to Daddy. Well, she wasn't very happy about that lesson. As I'm getting David dressed, she looks at me down her nose, as best she can, and waves her arm at me as if to scold me. I told her not to be sassy with me, and she has plenty of toys to play with, not David's sleeper. Well, she does it again, so I say, "Isabelle, do you want a time out?" She stops and is quiet.

About 30 minutes later, she's over at the couch with all her stuffed animals. She picks up each one, and asks it, "Do you want a time out?" Then she sits them on the couch, one at a time, next to each other. Not the desired effect, but it cracked me up.

Now for a good birthday story. Saturday evening, I told Julie that I was headed out to do a computer job, and should only be gone about an hour. Which I was, but my job was just to check the Arrival display at the airport. And pick up Julie's mom and sister. This was all a secret from Julie. So I got back to the house, and went inside. The plan was for me to go to the bedroom, or bathroom, and 30 seconds later the doorbell would ring, and since I was in the back of the house, Julie would have to get the door. But as fate would have it, Julie was on the floor with Isabelle and David in her room reading books. So when the doorbell rang, 10 seconds later, it really wasn't fair to ask her to get up and answer it, especially since I was still walking around. But I told her she needed to answer the door anyway, but I said she had to see who I 'bumped into.' Julie was a little confused, wondering who I could have bumped into, yet not let into the house without Julie's help. When she opened the door, it was a wonderful surprise, and birthday present. We'll try to put a few stories about that visit up here in a few days.