Feigning Sickness

Wow, I haven't posted in a while. Sorry.
Tjabe has been complaining of a stomachache off and on for a while, so we're cutting different things out of his diet to see if it helps. Nothing major yet, because we're not quite sure when his stomach is really hurting and when he may have just eaten too much (or just be trying to convince us and himself that it hurts). But what kid would want his stomach to hurt? Here's our conversation after lunch today. He'd been complaining of a stomachache earlier and was heading over to a friend's house after lunch to play. I wanted to be sure he wasn't contagiously sick before sending him over to Blake's (you're welcome, Addie) so he got the Inquisition. At this point he doesn't know that he's going over to Blake's yet. I'm trying to keep him objective in his answers.
"Tjabe, does your tummy still hurt?"
"No, not anymore."
"Does anything hurt?"
"No. But I feel just a little sick."
"Sick? Like you're going to throw-up sick, or stuffy-nose sick?"
"No, just a little sick. Like I-have-to-lie-on-the-couch-and-watch-Kipper sick."
At this point I know he's fine. He apparently doesn't get to watch enough movies and has found a way to try to wrangle some more TV time out of us.

Too funny not to share...

... and seems pretty accurate: Why Having a Toddler Is Like Being at a Frat Party
I especially like #'s 9 & 3. Thanks for the tip Heidi!

Finally some pictures!

Busy summer so far...

About a month ago we released our butterflies, which we grew from caterpillars in a mini-pavilion in our house. Thankfully it got warm enough in time to release them outside instead of having all of them live their lifespans within the pavilion (and me having to deal with ten butterfly corpses). The butterflies were very tame and would let you hold them, at least for the split second before they realized they were free.

This was an innocent butterfly that Maggie snatched up from the grass before he had a chance to fly away. We think he survived her manhandling.

Maggie and Daddy

Fourth of July:

Maggie loved the sparklers, as you will see.

Fire-breathing baby!

Learning how to hold it

Tjabe decided to let his frog Oliver have a turn at the sparklers

Stomping on "poppers"

A visit to G & G K. at the end of June:

Tjabe

Today Tjabe exclaimed to his friend Austin: "I got a haircut! See, it's short, just like Daddy's but without the hole."

And on another note, I will try to post recent pictures soon.

Maggie

Me: Maggie, these are fruit snacks. Say "fruit snack."

Maggie: Toot crap.

Ticket

The other day Sam and Tjabe were driving and saw a police car that had pulled someone over. Thence began a conversation about laws, the job of the police, and tickets (which Sam explained as a "grown-up spanking"). Tjabe came home and sat in a chair for (not exaggerating) ten minutes, silently pondering all of this and occasionally asking a question about breaking the law. I think he is either terrified or convinced he wants to be a policeman now.

Costco

Tjabe, at the dinner table tonight:

"When I'm a daddy, when I go to work, my work is gonna be at Costco." Pause. "I'm serious. I'm gonna be a Costco man."

This was after his harrowing experience at Costco this afternoon, where he found a new hero. Tjabe always carries the receipt from the checkout line to the receipt checker at the door. After getting our receipt highlighted, we were walking out when a strong wind blew the receipt out of his hands, back into Costco, and far under a vending machine. So far under, in fact, that we couldn't even see it. He was in tears (he takes his duties very seriously), and I needed the receipt myself, so we eventually found someone who could print us out a duplicate. Needless to say, that person saved his day. Did I mention that this experience was harrowing only to Tjabe?