Sprinkling sand on your skin is an easy way to get the sand off after a beach visit…. it made an impression on Jonah:

Jonah: When I get sand, Dad put paddle on me.

Me: He puts paddle on you?

Jonah: No, puzzle.

Me: Puzzle?

Jonah: No. What do you put with change diaper?

Me: Ummm, powder? Oh! Powder! He puts powder on you to get the sand off?

Jonah: Yes!

*   *   *

We’re working on a bit of assertiveness training for Jonah so that instead of whining and yipping when he’s been maligned, he can stick up for himself. So after Benjamin said something like, “Not right now” (which is the latest version of Silly Samantha), Jonah yipped and yapped, and I said:

Me (to Jonah): Tell Benjamin, ‘Don’t talk that way to me.’

Jonah (to Benjamin): Don’t talk that way to me.

Benjamin (to Jonah): You want I talk polite-fully?

*   *   *

And if either boys asks you, “What’s your number?” he wants either your age or your weight – your choice. Although Benjamin claims his number is thirty-five, which is neither.

*   *   *

Jonah (runs over to me out of nowhere): Mama! Mama!

Me: Yes, Jonah?

Jonah: 45!

Me: 45?

Jonah: Yes, 45! (and runs away)

A few minutes later….

Jonah (runs over to me again): 45 10!

Me: 45 10?

Jonah: Yes! (and dashes off)

*   *   *

If the sun has gone down and you’ve been outside, Benjamin will ask “It was making dark on you?”

*   *   *

A playground conversation that made sense only to it’s participants:

A three year-old boy (I happened to already know his name was Victor_ says to Jonah:   Hi!

Jonah:   Hi.

Boy:   What’s your name?

Jonah:   I’m Jonah. I’m Jonah.  [pause]   What’s Benjamin’s name?

Boy:   Victor.

*   *   *

And for Act II of Chauvinist Piglet, we have Benjamin working on a puzzle with me: “It’s too difficult for you. It’s not for womans.”

A couple of months ago I began splitting the boys up for nap.  One boys stays in a crib in their room and the other lays on our bed in our room.  This means they go to sleep within half an hour instead of two hours.   (Toddler boredom can either be very good or very bad, totally depending on the context.)

Benjamin usually  stays in his room because he sleeps better and longer in his own (or Jonah's) crib.  So Jonah ends up in our bed and always requests to be "by self."  Because if I'm there with him, he can't rummage in my nightstand for a pen and doodle all over our sheets:

Let me put the above photo in perspective:  it's nearly a quarter of our bed.  Meaning the diameter of some of those circles is over a foot.  He scriblbled on every horizontal surface he could find - without leaving the bed, which is against the rules - including a bit of paper sticking out from a book on my nightstand:

And he's moving from abstract to a more impressionistic style, with a touch of realism...  as seen in the spider detail below:

I’ve only seen a few minutes of the Olympics thus far, but both times were synchronized diving. Um, how can I say this nicely…. what is the “sport” in synchronized diving?

And just imagine, first you have to find someone else in your country who is also interested in synchronized diving (this can’t be easy), then you have to have the same general body type/appearance?! This gives an edge to just about every other nation except the U.S. of Mutts.

Separately, from the local paper: “A 20 year-old man was in critical condition after nearly being electrocuted while trying to capture Quaker parakeets from an FPL tower in Pembroke Pines. He fell 20 feet and sustained severe burns.”

Also, we are now in the midst of Miami Spice restaurant month here in South Florida. Quite a few local restaurants offer a three-course fixed-price meal for lunch and/or dinner to encourage the locals to try places they don’t normally frequent. I would love to normally frequent most of these places, it’s just that Miami Spice month is the only time of year the prices are in the ballpark of reasonable. (and at $36/person for dinner and $23/person for lunch, that’s a big ballpark)

Since having the boys – and implementing the $15 rule – we don’t go out to nice restaurants as much as we used to. We did, however, go to the Blue Door at the Delano last week for my belated birthday dinner (had to wait till Miami Spice started!) and it was reeeeally good. And it was so nice to take our time, order alcoholic beverages, and hear only adult conversations all around us.

If I ordered a raspberry mojito with the boys around, I’d be tempted to give it to them to, you know, take the edge off….

 The boys just had their 2 ½ well-child visit and Jonah made the weight charts for the first time in … um … probably a year.  5-10%, which corresponds perfectly with his height.  (Benjamin, on the other hand, weighs a little more than average for his frame – he’s in the 25-50% for weight.)  They were perfectly healthy – and the doctor wasn’t concerned about either area of hyperpigmentation…. Benjamin has a place on his ankle that was three separate freckles when he was born, then they have slowly grown together then kept growing – now it’s about ½ inch wide.  And Jonah has an area on his cheek (see photo below – I increased the contrast so it’s more visible) that the doctor said may or may not go away, but it’s harmless.

 Just two days later the doctor had to make a house call over the weekend to diagnose and medicate Jonah for bronchitis – he couldn’t inhale without coughing.  Ugh.  But he’s doing much better now – just coughing when he’s laying down.  He’s on two different medications – both given just once per day which is so helpful for the memory-challenged such as myself.