Lisa n Tom (n James n Joseph)

James reports that this is a "monster catfish."

Lisa writes: He swam 25-yards, freestyle, in 49.16 seconds. That's 2nd place ... out of three five year old boys. :)

Lisa writes: Just now, James came out of the boys' bedroom with Joseph's sippy cup and announced that Joseph was requesting more milk. I went to get the milk and James went to the bathroom. While he was in there, I heard Joseph calling from his crib, "Niño ... niño." And James replied, in the sweetest singsong voice, "Baby, I'm right here."

Lisa writes: Between June 25 and July 15 we have five family birthdays (Sophia, Johanna, Martin, Julia, and Oma). We are efficient and cram them all into one birthday. Grilled some hot dogs and salmon, unrolled the slip & slide, stuck some googly eyes onto cakes. The usual.

Lisa writes: It's birthday-day. We've got our recently-moved-away neighbor Lil' Hannah* turning 5 with a concert by local kid's band Rocknoceros at Burke Lake Park. Then the family combo birthday lunch at our house. Then we'll probably wrap up the evening at the pool, unless it thunders. And, man, lately it ALWAYS thunders. Two year old Joseph is conditioned to announce, "Pool's closed!" at ever thunder clap. On the little train at Burke Lake Park Neighbor Magnus and mom Britta Baby sister of the birthday girl, Miriam, with mom Allison and dad Drew Unicorn Hannah * We have cousins Johanna (usually "Hanna") and Hannah Kiera (usually "Cousin Hannah") and babysitter Hannah ("Big Hannah") and so this Hannah is "Little Hannah."

Lisa writes: A couple of days ago, Joseph started saying "probably." So morning conversations go like this: Me: Joseph, do you want milk? Joseph: Probably no. [Thinks for a second.] probably yes. Me: Joseph [who obviously needs a diaper change], do you need to change your diaper? Joseph: Probably no. Me: Are you sure? Joseph: Probably no. He's also intermittently started calling us "Mom" and "Dad" instead of mama or mommy or dada or daddy. And yesterday he surprised me with "I'm coming." So when I called him to come back inside the house, I was a little shocked to hear, "I'm coming, Mom!" We cancelled speech therapy yesterday. He tested up to his age level and is picking up new words almost every day, so I think we're good.

Lisa writes: James is on the Mini Panthers swim team this summer. He can now dog-paddle the length of the pool (25 yards) and do a standing dive in from the side. Okay, standing belly-flop in. With these impressive skills, his swim coach suggested he could probably compete in the next B meet (swim meet for smaller/slower kids). I thought it would be a good idea for him to see what he was getting into first. This afternoon was an "away" meet so we carpooled over with the rest of the team. Photography by Joseph James was interested in the races. He wanted to see the starting line, see the finish line, see who was winning. He reported whether the winners were girls or boys. Both teams had blue and black suits and blue swim caps, so it was hard to tell which team was which. He perched on the edge of my seat and intently watched about four heats ... and then it was time to his the snack bar. Confession, this wasn't only James's first swim meet. It was mine,...

Lisa writes: James likes fishing. Have you noticed? Last time we were fishing from this bridge a turtle was circling around our hook. The water was clear and we just moved away from him (her?) when he got close. It rained hard yesterday and the water was still muddy this afternoon, so we didn't even see this guy until I got a tug on the line and started reeling it in. Then followed a tedious operation that involved Tom and I climbing down a steep, muddy bank in the underbrush to scoop up this unhappy, hissing fellow and perform some oral surgery to get the hook out. Tom relocated it a hundred yards downstream, but 30 minutes later James saw a turtle head poking up near the fishing line again. Same turtle? Different turtle? Either way, we decided to come back another day.  P.S. We caught two fish. And we caught one of them on a fishing "rod" James made of a long stick.

Lisa writes: Our neighborhood does a little July 4th parade every year. It's always really, really hot and humid. Kids on bikes with crepe paper woven through the spokes, dogs wearing hats, dads pulling red wagons, the whole deal. We walk two blocks and catch it at the corner, then follow the parade down to the neighborhood park and get hot dogs and watch the neighborhood band play Souza marches for a little while. It's so Mayberry.    The neighbor girls on the corner. The older sister is in James' kindergarten class. Her little sister has a similar heart condition to Joseph. Look at her little face!

Lisa writes: A new indoor play place opened nearby, so we took our boys and Tim's girls there for a sort of birthday outing. I figured two hours would be enough fun. We were there for five. Joseph got clobbered on this thing repeatedly, but didn't seem to care. This tube rotates slowly around. The trick is to try to stay in. Johanna's could do it, but James's and Sophia's legs weren't long enough. Sophie was very camera-shy. This is the only picture I got of her. And then she asked to take my phone to get this picture of Tom: