Breeders of obedient law-abiding children

I mentioned before that Sophie was calling for punishiment.
So now apparantly Will has been play-punishing himself for mock-rules violations.
Carly caught Will trying to get her attention by playing as though he was going to stick his finger in the outlet. Then when she saw him and chastised him at a distance, he sat down ceremoniously effectively "putting himself in time-out."

I am not sure how I should feel about this. They both have smiles on their faces when they do this. So..

Cappuccino!

Last night we were finishing up the kids dinner (Carly and I were still recovering from the stomach flu) and Sophie seemed to have finished eating her food. We asked her if she would like anything else.
She paused and looked pensive.

"I Like..."
"I life..."

Then she shouted aloud "Cappuccino!" and we all laughed.

For the record Sophie has never had more than a sip of any coffee drink. Two or three times in the past we'd get her a shot of decaf in her soy milk, but now she refuses that. So. I suspect she is just over hearing her mommy and daddy.

Supermodel Virus

The whole family has been infected by what could've been the greatest thing ever, but turned out to be lame.

First Sophie lost her appetite and started vomiting and having diarrhea. Not good. But, she was drinking enough, to not be dehydrated. And she seemed perfectly happy when she wasn't throwing up.

Then Will got the same thing. Same effects, occasionaly vomiting, diarrhea, and low appetite. But no apparant pain or misery. He too remained his cheerful self.

We checked with the Pediatrician, and he said, probably nothing serious, just a stomach virus. Keep an I out for dry diapers and give them lots of fluids. No problem.

Carly and I waited with baited breath. A disease that causes you to lose your appetite, suffer mild but quick bits of vomiting and diarrhea, and no pain, or suffering. We've discovered the secret to SuperModel bodies! We were busy trying to think of ways we could stay infected while allowing the kids to recover fully. (We want them gaining weight after all).

Then we got hit. Same symptoms, except. It was awful! Headaches, stomach-twisting pains, low energy, generalized body aches. Up through out the night. Damn.. Why does nature hate us? Well we all appear to be recovering, if not fully recovered. So things are okay in the end. You'd think over the course of all the mutations these virii go through once and awhile they would do something positive, and ecnourage their hosts to keep them alive. Stupid evolution.

And the winner is....

COOOOOOOKIEEEEE!!

Technically, it was probably "mommy" but there are a lot of generic sounds that sound like "mommy" and "daddy." But "Cookie" is pretty distinct. So, William's first word. Sigh. What does this portend?

Interesting, and perhaps more disturbingly, I think he is using the word to refer to Cookie Monster, or the trademark sound of said monster, rather than the tasty treat. We have a 'peek-a-boo' soft book of Sesame Street characters he really likes, and Cookie Monster gets the special treatment. Now will will frequently just turn to that page and say the catchphrase himself.

In realted news: we are pretty sure he thinks the sigh for "more" means "grapes" since he is obsessed with grapes and makes the sign whenever he spots them. Still, there are occasions when he signs "more" other than in the presence of grapes. Sometimes he sees something on the table he wants or if he is really enjoying something he is eating. So maybe the sign doesn't mean anything in particular.

Sophie, meanwhile, has become fairly obsessed herself with crime and punishment. The standard punishment for repeatedly ignoring us is a "time out." She is starting to tell us, or herself, when she needs a time out. For example, she will stand up on the couch, and say, "I need Time Out" presumably as punishment for standing on the couch. Sometimes she is a little too quick, and we find ourselves saying, "no no Sophie, it is okay you don't need a time out, just stop." I wonder where this is going though. And where did it come from? I think she does like learning the way things work, and maybe this is her way of figuring out the ins and outs of punishment on her own.

Wistful

Last night after watching something on the Discovery Channel I was surprised to see a familiar face from the past. Carl Sagan, with his large lapels and boyish enthusiasm. I almost turned away for fear of being embarrassed on his behalf by the 'quaint' graphics and understandable inaccuracies. But, then I caught a word "evolution" and stuck around.
In the following minutes he laid it out in clear, concise, inescapable logic. He even deals with Paley's Watch (Re: Intelligent Design Version 1) in a very very generous and even handed fashion (of course, he deals with it in 30 seconds or so with no major court cases needed).
26 years ago... He talks about it as though only a few innocent people might still not understand that is a Fact.

And yet. Here we are.

Carly's New Photoblog

Rather than wait for ice crystals to form in the fire of Gehenna, or me updating my homepage. You can catch newish photos of the Kids at Carly's photobolog:
A day in the life