Standing at the top of the stairs in Nance and Brian's kitchen Art said, "I have to make a poop, Mama!" to which Aunt Deb gushed in her ticklishly witty way, "Your kids are so creative!  Always making something!"

Jeff Wheeler at the Strib took this nice photo of me working hard. With every “Go Wolves!” I’d feel a pom pom on my back and smell a thick cloud of beauty products.

Below is a slide show (with descriptive captions!) of some of Art’s recent drawings. I’m thrilled to see him drawing more often. I love to see what choices he makes and also to see him shake his fear of “not knowing how”.

So, now BOTH kids are sick.  Both kids have ear infections and at one point today Art had a sore throat.  Eventually he was so pumped with medicine he it was imperceptable.  Yes, we have been to Walgreens no less than four times in the past two days.  Yesterday we went to pick up Lewis’s prescription (and some brow-liner for me).  Today we went to get Art some cough medicine after he woke up from his nap saying that it hurt to cough and he couldn’t breathe.  Got home and he tasted it and pretty much ran away.  Yep, into the next room.  So I asked Ben to pick up some cough medicine ‘strips’ that dissolve on your tongue.  He got day and nighttime versions.  Meanwhile I had given Art a Hall’s cough drop, a strawberry popsicle and two children’s acetaminophen tablets.  No improvement (except during the consumption of said cough drops and pospsicles, of course).  Ben got home with the strips much later and still Art was feeling no relief.  Moaning and crying and starting to complain about ear pain.  I reread the dose and saw that for his weight he could have another acetaminophen tablet.  So now he had a lot of cough and pain relievers.  But the ear was getting worse so we went to urgent care.  He screamed and cried and it actually earned me a jump in line!  (A rare moment when Art’s intense temperament has resulted in looks of sympathy rather than judgement). Then the doctor said we should add ibuprofen, so Art took some of that.  After we got home I was back at Walgreens for children’s ibuprofen just in case he wakes up in the night in excruciating pain again.  Oh, and he took his amoxacillan (sp?) for the infection.  Crazy.

Lewis is sick, Art is happy. That’s been the story the past two days around here.
Lewis has an ear infection in both ears. He’s been limp and super snuggly for the past few days, which jessica and I guiltily love. He’s on antibiotics and stuff so he’ll hopefully be back to his normal happy self soon. Art, however, has been in a terrific mood lately.

So, Lewis is enjoying a language explosion, adding new words every day.  Today he said ho duh (hot dog), the other day he said cackoo (cracker) and he's been saying gew all week (juice).  He also has a two word phrase – au go! (let's go!).  

If my life were drawn like a line on a piece of paper, tonight that line would have peaked. It was wonderful to celebrate my book and my work with so many friends and family. And I sold nearly 30 books! (My friend and fellow photographer Ginger Pinson took these lovely photos)

I use google voice now for messages on my cell phone and it transcribes and e-mails me messages. It’s super cool although often entirely inaccurate. For instance, below is a message Jessica just left. Do you have any idea what it’s about? Below you can play the real thing.