We come back from two weeks of 40-50 degree weather in West Texas that nearly killed us and now we’re in the midst of one of those rare cold spells in Miami. The wind chill got down to the upper 20s the other night, which is a little ridiculous. Cold tile floors are chilly on the feet!

We’ve only turned on the heat once in the eight years we’ve lived here – last year when the boys were freshly hatched and we wanted their calories to go toward growing instead of warming. But two days ago Jonathan started running the dehumidifier in the boys’ room – I thought because it puts out a lot of heat, but he claimed it was taking the water/chill out of the air. I’ll get back to you when I understand the reasoning behind that.

But the nice thing about a cold spell here is that it greatly diminishes all the biting insects. No more no-see-ums in the afternoon and only a very few renegade mosquitoes. The boys and I took advantage and planted a butterfly garden in some pots on the patio. I also planted a few tomato seeds leftover from last year.

Jonathan’s brother, David, arrived yesterday for a short visit. Of course, this is what he said when I was five months pregnant and he stayed for nearly two months. But actually he’s a pretty good house guest – he cooks, play classical guitar, and entertains the boys. Really, what more can I ask for?

After hanging out with his only other uncle – my brother B.J. - a couple of weeks ago, Benjamin refers to David as “Uncle B David” and is genuinely confused when I remove the “B” part of that title. Jonah enjoys looking at photos of David’s mushing dog team in Alaska.

David maintained the last diaper he changed was Jonathan’s about 31 years ago – he was trying to get out of changing Jonah’s. “Hmmm, how interesting,” I said. He also balked because we didn’t have rubber gloves. That blasted germophobe gene! He acquiesced, however. I’ve found that my ability to convince people to do things they don’t necessarily want to do has greatly increased over the last couple of years.

At this moment Jonathan and David are out for a long run, Jonah is singing himself to sleep, and I am downing cups of hot tea. A nice way to spend a Saturday.