What really matters

Clearly my posts on intellectual matters are not well received. Fine, fine, I'll revert to the subject that seems to draw the most attention--the two little people that live in my house.

Abby is very busy being an overachieving almost-5 year old. She's been selected to play the Ringmaster in her school's pre-K circus, and she's constantly rehearsing her lines and song (a snippet: "Ringmaster PROUD, Ringmaster LOUD! Calling the acts of the show!") She's still doing brilliantly in piano. It seems that the only thing the child doesn't excel in is behaving herself these days. We're going through a "phase" (that's what we're calling it for our peace of mind) of not minding, sassing, and a little lying thrown in for good measure. I know this is supposed to be normal, but it is wearing us OUT . On the other hand she can be a great helper around the house, and she's such a good big sister that I'm half convinced she could raise Ethan on her own at this point.

Fortunately, actually being two seems to have calmed down E's Terrible Twos a bit. He is much cheerier lately, though we still get treated to a tantrum every once in a while. His language is exploding and new words are popping out every day. Thanks to a random episode of Dora, he has learned to do a huge fake sneeze (Ahhh-ahh-CHOO!) that never fails to crack us up. It kind of startles bypassers sometimes, which is fun. He's always very pleased with himself after a goof fake sneeze. He's still all boy. He absolutely refuses to let us brush his teeth, but yesterday morning while we were getting ready for church I noticed that he was too quiet, so I went to the bathroom to find him dipping a comb into the toilet and then putting it in his mouth. When he saw me, he gave me the sweetest smile, held out the comb, and said, "Brush teeth, mommy!" Sigh. It's a start, I suppose.