With his sister overlooking, Mason points to his nose. When asked where his eyes are, he squints. He's doing many signs now, including random ones like Juice and Lion. His signs have no technical elegance, but more brute force. He still adapts them all to include some sort of hitting or noise-making. Juice is supposed to be your little finger going up the face in a J motion from the side of the mouth to the ear. He just does a quick sweep/slap of the side of his head. Oh well, it works as he gets the juice. People keep asking me "what does it mean when he hits his head?" You've got to be a little more specific.

He has a few words, Ball, Mama, Ama, Ball, Clock (kind-of) and others that sound similar but I'm not quite sure what they mean!

Favorite trick: giving High Fives (even with the hurt hand).

There was a ballerina elephant named Pataca. She had two friends, a mouse named Badaga and a lion named Alabato. The elephant lived in the rain forest in a very big cave because she was a very big elephant. The mouse had a small forest house, he built a little cave. The lion lived in a rain forest house. It was a cave. You climb up lots of stairs to get into it and down stairs to watch TV. And there was a kitchen to make something.

One day the mouse went out of its house and wanted to make something and it heard a fierce growling and grumbling because the lion was searching for a mouse so he could eat it. The lion got closer and closer to the mouse and he scooped it up into his mouth and he chomped on it. And then he swallowed it. And then it became poop.

~Kenzie

Mason had his final visit to the Harborview Burn Clinic. They said that his hand looks great and we can quit wrapping it. Yeah! It's still healing and that will take a while, but the tough part is over. And, no, I haven't turned the fireplace on around him yet, nor do I plan to. But if anybody has any ideas on how to get burned skin off of glass, please let me know. Ewh, I know.

In celebration of the good news we got from Ms. Janet, we all went to see Curious George at the movies tonight. Kenzie enjoyed it. Mason was probably too tired to start with and he was squirrely the whole time. After an hour I finally had to get up and let him run wild in the hall.

We stayed the entire movie, but will probably wait a good while longer before taking Mason again.

Kenzie confessed today, "Mom, I don't know about Aidan. He's missing a tooth." I explained that she'll be going through a similar thing at some point, but I think she's having second thoughts about him (which we hear about ALL the time). Several times today the tooth was the topic of discussion. Then during our prayer tonight she said, "Thank you for our family. And please help Aidan grow a new tooth. Amen."

(Parenting note...To do: diversity training!)

Kenzie, what is an echo?

[without skipping a beat]..."An echo is a goose that has a bright red nose, and red feet, and a little red feather that comes out of its mouth. It's warm and cuddly."

Teacher Janet also put the Aidan obsession in perspective for us. "You know that Kenzie is very competitive, right?" Uh, yeah. "Well, both she and Mianna were princesses and Aidan was the prince. Until Kenzie came in 'married' to him. Now Mianna is out in the cold!" Ah, it's becoming clear now--it's the competition.

Today was Conference Day with Ms. Janet. Both Cindy and I were fairly nervous. What would she say? Were Aidan's parents filing a harrassment suit? Did she bonk one too many kids on the head? Or was she just so dang bright that we needed to hear it in person?

Much to our relief, Janet wanted to tell us how great MacKenzie is doing, in particular what a turn-around she has made behaviorly since the beginning of the year. She is no longer lashing out "for sport" but has learned how to use her words to express herself. Janet said that it has been truly remarkable how far she has come.

Oh...and...Janet mentioned that the turning point for Kenzie's behavior might have been the (thus far undisclosed) trip to the principal's office a couple of months ago!! Mrs. Dixon asked Kenzie why she had to come up and Kenzie told her, "because I pinched someone in the face, hit somebody else, and kicked someone else." After spending some time together, Mrs. Dixon asked Kenzie if she liked being in the principal's office: NO. Did she want to come back? NO. Ever since then, no problems!

She did tell us that Kenzie is "very bright" and ranks at the top academically, and gets frustrated with kids who aren't quite in the same place. For example, when they play Candy Land, Kenzie knows precisely what the cards mean and which squares she can visit. Other kids go hop, hop, hop and they're done. She has little tolerance for that and will just go ask Ms. Janet to play with her instead.

I volunteered this morning for a few hours at Kenzie’s preschool. I got the opportunity to meet Prince Aidan. I had no idea of the depths of this relationship. Kenzie started talking about him on the way to school, “I hope Aidan’s going to be there!” As we were waiting for the kids to stroll in (he was the last to show, of course), she kept a careful eye on the door. When he arrived she ran to him and gave him a huge hug, to which he barely responded. “Hi Aidan!” she said. He said “hi” but then went to play with Luke. At this point I wanted to grab his little arm and have a chat, but I showed restraint.

As he was playing with Luke, Kenzie kept finding excuses to bump into him. “Oh Aidan,” I heard her say. Who was this kid? I had never seen her before. I certainly had never seen her eyes bat in the manner that they did when he looked at her.

As the morning wore on, Aidan warmed up to her. He didn’t object when she told the class that they had recently gotten married. (In China.) Ms. Janet asked “why did you get married?” Kenzie’s reply of “because we had to” caused Ms. Janet to give me a questioning glare. This is new territory to me too, I tried to explain. I clearly don’t know this child.

Kenzie quickly sat on the circular rug for story time. As Aidan was looking for a spot, Kenzie eagerly patted the place next to her. Oh geez. Soon Ms. Janet was reading the story of Curious George when Mr. Prince reached over to tickle my daughter. She was smitten by the gesture and said, rather insincerely, “Aidan, stop!” I was about ready to go stop him myself, but again showed restraint.

Then, before I knew what was happening, she picked up his hand and kissed it! He returned the gesture! I didn’t know what to do. Then they kissed square on the lips. Let it go…I argued with myself as I watched the events unfold.

Quickly I learned why he was so special. As he sat next to her on the circular rug, with one hand he was able to both suck his thumb AND pick his nose. Clearly, that’s the sign of talent and intelligence. He again reached over to tickle my daughter (yes, with the same hand that had recently been on a dig), and she giggled. Thankfully, Ms. Janet separated them. Kenzie was crushed. Before he moved away they hugged one more time.

Unfortunately, we had to leave early. Whether it was because I indeed had to get to work or because I had had enough of the scene, I’m still not sure. But when I summoned Kenzie, she went to Mr. Prince and gave him a big hug, walked three steps away, and then fell back into his arms for one final embrace. By this time I’m ready to enroll her in a nunnery. She’s three…she’s three…let it go…but note to self: "no more prince and princess books. Aladdin and Little Mermaid need to give way to The Big Tidy Up and Mr. Pine's Purple House, the classics from my childhood."

We got in the car. Her first words, “Mom, I’m so glad that you went to my school so you could meet Aidan.” Oh, me too.

Cindy took Mason to the Harborview Burn Clinic today. They said that, as far as burns go, it's a "good burn." It's not on his fingertips or elsewhere that long-term mobility would be limited. They cleaned it up and want to see him again in a week, but feel that all will be just fine! Whew!

After worrying all weekend about Mason running into the stove in the middle of the room at the cabin, but being reassured of his hyper-awareness of the "hot hot hot" danger, I decided to turn on the fireplace last night. Immediately he channeled Smokey-The-Bear to let us all know that it is, indeed, "hot hot hot."

Fast forward about 45 minutes to 8:30. Grammy and Grampy were over, Kenzie and Mason were playing. He was pulling a blanket over his shoulder and had his head turned, right hand extended, and walked square into the fireplace. Worse yet, he didn't immediately remove his hand but just stood there and screamed until I dove across the room to grab him. He got "at least 2nd and probably 3rd degree burns" on his palm and up his little arm. It was a miserable night for him. Grammy found him some peace by letting him splash in a bowl of cold water while I called the doctor on call. They said that he needed to be seen immediately. I called Children's and Harborview's ER to learn that they both were "very, very busy" with 3+ hour waits. Upon further discussions with the doctor, we decided to keep him and home and take him in this morning, which we did.

He's one tough little dude. Last night was rough, but once he fell asleep he was out for the night. The burn runs the length of his hand and up his forearm and he barely flinched when the doctor was tending to him. I, on the other hand, thought I was going to lose my breakfast. They're most worried about nerve damage. He, though, is most worried that he has a bandage limiting his mobility on his hand and wrist. The doctor wrapped it three different ways and he still managed to pull part of it off.

We're headed to the Harborview Burn Clinic tomorrow. Needless to say, no more fireplace for a while. [Guilt, guilt, guilt]

Kenzie shared my favorite lipgloss with Mason. It was all fun and games until he took a bite out if it (did I mention it was my favorite?).

On the way home today Kenzie shared with me a secret. I had already heard this second-hand through Grammy, so I was glad that she confided in me.

Kenzie: Mom, Aidan [a boy from preschool] and I are going to get married.
Me: Oh, why is that?
Kenzie: Because he's a very nice boy and we're in love. We're going to China to get married.
Me: What's Aidan like?
Kenzie: He's a boy and he's very nice.
Me: Oh, I see. What's he going to do when he grows up?
Kenzie: Um, well, he's going to grow all new teeth!

Apparently Aidan lost one of his teeth already. She can look past it because it was just a baby tooth. For those of you keeping track, yes, I think that Aidan might have ousted Chirpie/Pepper from the fiance' slot. I felt more comfortable before the switch.

We had a great time at Leiland Lake near Port Townsend this weekend. Kenzie got to go canoeing, hike with Grammy & Aunt Mary, hot-tub (twice), play with lady bugs and caterpillars, roast marshmallows (as a front for Mary's cravings), walk downtown Port Townsend, and share center stage with her brother. The weather was beautiful - the first break from the rain in months and we had three great days. Mason told us 500 times that the fireplace was "hot hot hot," threw the football (backward), and tried to drown Grammy in the hottub.

The only issue Kenzie had was seeing her Grandfather in his swim trunks, "Grampy you are funny looking" she admitted as she stood looking up at him. It was still on her mind the next morning when she said first thing, "Grampy, you looked funny without your shirt on." She paid a similar compliment to Grammy, "you sure have a lot of wrinkles." Grammy told her that it takes many years to get that many.

Kenzie brought home a piece of paper from her teacher requesting a mid-winter conference. It noted that the conferences were optional, at teacher's discretion. Since there are only 9 kids in her class, we assumed that everyone was included.

Cindy asked Ms. Janet, "does everyone have a conference?" Her simple answer of "no," accompanied by a smirk, has left us wondering. Other moms have confirmed that they didn't get an invitation. We can only wonder and wait...

After 3 years, Kenzie and Nathan are playing together well! She doesn't beat on him so much anymore. He still wants to hang out with her - that's the sign of a true friend.

They all had a good time hanging out at the park together!

I snapped this picture quickly while Kenzie stood over Mason, squeezing his cheeks, saying "you're the best little brother in the whole wide world."
They're having a lot more fun playing together these days.

Mason laughs at everything his sister does (except when she tortures him). They both enjoyed sweeping the floor tonight.

Seahawks were in the Superbowl and Mason was ready!

Kenzie dressed Mason, can you tell?

"When you hear a loud knock at the door at the break of the day, you tunnel down to the end of your bed. And when you hear a loud knock on your chimney the monster will come and step on through and knock on your door and he will sneak into your room and take away your pumpkin." ~Kenzie