Twister.  With Master I  when I heard the hillarious things he told me I knew that i had to record them.  Like when he put on his new clothes I bought him for kindergarten and he looked out the window of our 13th story apartment over the Salt Lake Valley with his hands on his hips he nodded his head and told me, "I feel like I am king over all of this."  That was one of those moments that I laughed to myself and thought that I couldn't believe this was happening.  With Miss R I witnessed sweet things that I wanted to photograph in my memory like seeing her lovingly care for her baby dolls or seeing her hide from people she doesn't know in the shower and eventually falling asleep.  But with Twister it is his craziness that I feel I must record.  I frequently feel that I can't believe this is happening to me.  Just this morning we have had more of those moments.  He told me he needed to go poopy.  I helped him get situated, then following his ritual he looked at me and said, "Get my way!"  That means get out of my way or go away.  He wants his privacy. I try to time my absence well, but when I came back he was swishing his toothbrush in his recent work.  We threw away another toothbrush, cleaned-up,  and then I told him to put his clothes back on.  I left for just a moment.  When I got back he had somehow climbed into the sink and had opened the medicine cabinet and was trying to opening the flouride bottle.  I am sure that I had a look of horror and disbelief on my face when I saw him and said his name.  He tried to reassure me by saying, "Juuuuuust one."

Homemade Halloween

Frankenstein, Kirsten the American Girl Doll, and Doggie

Fall in Philly

 Stopping to enjoy the leaves on the way home from school.

Going for a fall walk at Tinicum Wildlife Refuge

Dad instructs Master I about plant biology

My leaves I collected on our walk

Master I, not to be out down, finds the biggest leaf of all and makes Miss R fan him with it.

Tinicum Wildlife Refuge

Happy Halloween

The low point of Halloween was that Mark worked and I was on my own carving pumpkins, making dinner, dressing kids in costumes, going trick-or-treating, etc.   I missed the days in Utah when I would go to Kristen's house and go through her neighborhood.  It seems easier when there is family that you are doing it with.

The high point was that a friend stopped by wanting to trick or treat in our neighborhood a little and another friend, Sue from around the corner, simply went with me as a help.  Her husband took their son and Master I out in our neighborhood.  They were able to go as fast as they wanted to go.  This saved all of us from a lot of frustration.  All of this happened sort of last minute.  Master I's friend called asking if we wanted to go together and then we divided up and her husband stayed with the boys and she just went along with me.  I was so grateful to her.   As I write about this I recognize God's hand in that  even more than I did in the moment.

The kids loved their costumes and I thought they looked darling as well.  Miss R was the American Girl doll Kirsten, Master I was Frankenstein, and Twister was a dog.  Twister should have just been a Twister.  He had one of his typical moments while we were out trick-or-treating. We went up to the door of a home that had a large front porch where they had displayed their "Halloween Zoo."  They had a white frog, a bunny, a dog, and a bald rat.  This couple really got into the spirit of making Halloween fun and having a party.  Unfortunately, accompanying their festivities was the strong smell of alcohol.  I was peaking at the white frog, while unbeknowst to me Twister was getting into mischief.  I didn't see on the low railing that there was a glass of wine.  I turned around to see Twister with his mouth nearly on the fun-looking wine glass, ready to drink up.  I screamed and ripped it out of his hand.  I feel like I am always in situations like this with this boy.  He is quicker than my other children and has less inhibition and caution.

The pictures below are ones that I find on my phone of Twister in his crib taking pictures of himself on my phone.  I don't know how he got the phone or how he knows how to take pictures.

Another thing that I have realized about Twister is that I am redressing him constantly.  He is constantly getting naked and resists when I try to put clothes on him.  My neighbor had an idea that I hadn't thought of, the clothes must be bothering him.  They must itch or something.  With his history of allergies I wouldn't be at all surprised.  This makes me feel more patient with him rather that just think that he is creating me more work.

But, he is a twister.  Tonight I gave him a piece of Naynay's birthday cake at the table.  I left the table to start the laundry.  When I came back he had it all over his face and squished between his fingers.  After I cleaned up his face and washed his hands he went to go play while I was wiping up the table.  When I finished that task I found his stuffing toys into the guitar.  And he knows he's doing something naughty.  When I get into the room he covers up his eyes in shame!  With Twister I feel like I either have to be playing with him and watching him under close supervision or have him in front of a movie.  I have to take him to the park more.

Well Sweet Miss R didn't like our attempts to have her do extra curricular activities.  She flat out refused soccer.  When she wasn't cooperating with her violin teacher I asked her if she really wanted to do violin.  She looked at her teacher and told her that she didn't want her to teach her, she just wanted her mommy to teach her. She bitterly resented gymnastics.  Her last class I drug her to she cried the whole way saying that she just wanted to stay home and dance and do gymnastics with her brothers.  She didn't want to go to classes and she didn't want to leave home.