I took my little Alaina out for a girl-outing on Sat. It was so fun to actually spend some time with just the two of us. As we were driving around I started talking about the different types of restaurants that we could go to for lunch. There was a Mexican restaurant, a deli, Chinese food, Italian food. For some reason Alaina got stuck on the Chinese restaurant. I didn't know if that was really what she'd like best so I kept pushing the other choices. "There's Italian...that's spaghetti and pizza and noodles..." "No! Chinese!" "Well, the deli has sandwiches and salads..." "No! Chinese!" "Hmmm....well, there are other things too...like the Mexican restaurant. They have tacos and burritos." "No. Chinese! Chinese! Chinese!" she gleefully shouted. Ok, so the girl knows what she wants. We pulled into the restaurant, parked and went up to the door. As we walked in she said, "What's Chinese?" What a pill.

Yesterday at dinner time, Alaina needed some help going potty. When they came back Robert was trying to look mad while he covered his smile with his hand. When he got control of himself he turned to the boys and asked, "Ok...which one of you decided to go pee in the trash can?" That's right. Pee in the garbage can. After some serious interrogation we finally figured out that it was a joint effort. I couldn't figure out what made them decide to go there when they had a perfectly good toilet one inch away. Robert informed me that they did it just because it was there. No ulterior motive needed. I don't get boys.

All the kids (but mostly the twinnies) use the phrase "last year" instead of 'yesterday,' or 'last week' or 'last month.' The say, "I gave you a hug last year." It really makes figuring out time-lines a challenge.

Austinisms. (not Autism-isms...that's what it looked like to me when I reread it.)

Nice & Warm. All the kids have picked up on this little phrase that I first used to get them into the bath. "Is it too hot?" they'd ask. "Is it freezing?" "No." I'd invariably reply, "It's nice and warm." Before I knew it, our little phrase moved over to dinner time. "The spi-scetti is niiiiccce & waaarrrm." Over this last year, all sorts of things have earned this little title. Blankets. Coats. hats. But today Austin put a new little spin on it. Robert was getting ready to go to the store but wasn't sure he wanted to tackle it with all three of the kids. I had decided to bum around the house and asked Austin if he wanted 'to go with DADDY' (said in happy voice) 'or stay home with mamma.' (boring voice.) Austin jumped into my arms and said, "I want to stay with MAMA because she is NICE & WARM!" Funny thing is, I did feel nice....and warm when he said that. Sweetie. Robert couldn't stop himself and he asked Austin, "What about me? Aren't I nice & warm too?" "No. You are HOT. " Hot and sweaty, that is. Rob has been working outside a lot lately. But he liked his description as much as I liked mine.

At the swimming pool Austin was looking through the iron fence to the big swimming pool and lost balance. He slipped and hurt his cheek pretty bad. He came crying over to me, holding his cheek and sobbed, "My cheek is dead! It's dead." No matter what I said I couldn't get him off that phrase. So dramatic.

On Sunday Austin decided to sit with some friends at church. He tried to tell me who he wanted to sit with but couldn't remember their names, so he thought he'd try to describe them. "It's them. Her is black here..." he said pointing at his cheek, "just like ME!"