Our Goofy Kids

Here's Ellie's typical bed time attire: pajamas, socks, slippers knit by Aunt Jess, Hmong hat that Aunt Liz brought back from Laos, and gloves. Plus, of course, she has to sleep with a quilt (currently Daddy's old baby quilt), many sleepytime friends, burp rags, and water. No wonder bed time takes so long!



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The other night at bedtime I gave Ellie a kiss on the cheek and she pointed to her other cheek and said "I'm going to sleep on this cheek so your kiss doesn't dry up and go away."

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Here's Ben deciding that I really need to be the one to wear the Hmong hat.


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Ben is now talking up a storm, but in this adorable, laborious, two year old way. We love when he mimics what we say and has these adult things coming out of his toddler voice. One of his favorite phrases now is "Sounds like...a good plaaaan." He also likes "I don't fink so" and he refers to one of his favorite books, Mr. McGillicuddy's Clocks, as "Mr. Gillies Cullie's Pots".

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Apparently, it's not enough to have both water and milk at dinner. Sometimes you also have to have water and milk simultaneously.


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One night Ellie and I were fooling around, sucking our stomachs in to have a "skinny tummy" and pushing them out to have a "Buddha belly". Ben joined in the fun, but after a few minutes he said, "I have a Buddha penis!" I don't have any idea what he meant, but it was really funny.

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Here's Ben and Daddy horsing around. Notice that not only is Ben wearing a lovely purple floral hat, his teddy bear is inside one of Aunt Jess's slippers and is wearing another one as a hat!


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Ellie has long maintained that she is afraid of Buddhas, which was confusing because once you got her in to a temple, she didn't seem afraid. Things were cleared up the other night when she started talking about "scary lion Buddhas" and we realized that she has been so exposed to temples in SE Asia that she thinks that Buddhas and statues are the same thing.

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One relaxed weekend, Ellie decided that she wanted her hair in a ponytail but that we had to match, so I put mine up, too. Then she and Ben decided we all needed necklaces made from their cardboard lacing cards.


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Ellie tells us that when she grows up, she is going to marry Ben so they can play together all the time. They will live in the house we live in now, and she'll work at the embassy in the same office as mommy.