October 12th, 1010

Carson has 3 words: "Mom", "Dad", and "hi". I have always assumed that he is just not interested in learning to talk, and that he is going to be a little behind in the speech aspect of development. I don't think that anymore. Now I am sure he is a diabolical genius who knows how to talk just fine, but is choosing not to just to torment his mother. He gave himself away last night when he called Rachel's name. When I reacted, I am sure I saw a brief, sly little smile. And no matter how much encouraging we gave him, we could not get him to repeat himself. He gave us his usual innocent look that says "guys, I would talk if I could, honest!" I think he must practice at night when he is alone in bed.

Rachel has an imaginary friend named Poopy Dangle. He is 10, and he is the fellow that took care of Rachel when Shelby and I were in our mom's tummy. Poopy Dangle has been MIA for the past couple of months, but he resurfaced yesterday afternoon when Rachel informed me that we had accidentally left him home. Rachel well understands that I never go back for imaginary friends, therefore as far as she is concerned, Poopy Dangle can take care of himself.

Rachel and Lilly had swim lessons today. I cannot describe the enjoyment I get out of watching them prepare to go. They are so cute! On swim lesson days I can get them to do anything if I imply it will help us get to swim lessons quicker. It is the highlight of their week. Rachel keeps asking me "how many sleeps before we go to swim lessons?" Everything is currently measured in number of sleeps for Rachel.

Speaking of measurement, Lilly has been negotiating the amount of time things are going to take. Today I put her in time-out for calling Carson stupid (this is the worst of the worst of swear words as far as Lilly knows). She asked me between sobs how long she had to stay there, and I said "a couple of minutes". "No mom, I want 3 minutes, 3!" she said as she held up 3 little fingers. She woke me up kind of early the other morning and I asked her if I could just sleep for 5 more minutes. "Hmm" she says, "how about 10 minutes?" I jumped all over that deal!