She's Up Then She's Down and It's Make-Up Town

Up, Down, and All Around

In James's and Ali's toddler years, they would both try to provide concrete evidence of their hunger or fullness by lifting up their shirts and showing me their bellies. They must have known, on an instinctual level, that my eyesight could not penetrate a layer of clothing, but layers of measly skin would stand no chance. As they both aged, belly displays gave way to words, and Ali came up with the descriptors: "my tummy's up" and "my tummy's down." At first, she consistently used "up" for hunger and "down" for fullness. Now she is switching them this way and that, so I have to use clues to decipher her meaning, such as whether I forgot to feed her or whether she's eaten most of her food or whether she just doesn't like her food, which I don't think should affect her state of hunger, but it does anyway. I've tried providing her with the correct terms (hungry and full), but she is persistent and continues with "up" and "down," and now James uses them as well. I suppose the entire family should just adopt her new idioms and support her crafting the English language to suit her whims—they all do that for me :)

Make-Up Time

When I was little, I loved it when my mom would give me her old eyeshadow. My sister and I would hussy ourselves up...I mean gussy ourselves up...until every speck of powder was gone. Actually, in times of eyeshadow famine, we would go out to the ol' black locust grove and pluck leaves off the trees. If you licked the backs of the leaves, you could stick them to your eyelids for an adequate eyeshadow effect. Ah, memories...anyway, a few weeks ago, I was cleaning out my closet and found some old make-up. I thought Ali might enjoy using it, so I gave her free reign to slather away. She has a heavy hand when it comes to face painting, and I don't think the color choices were in her season, unless camouflage was her goal, yet she did have a wonderful time. However, we don't have any locust trees nearby, so she'll have to carefully ration her eyeshadow to continue her beauty regimen.

Ali Never Thought She Could Look So Good

Phil-a-Buster Mound

Just so Phil and James don't feel left out of this post, here are some pictures of James's new hobby—Buster Burying. Don't worry; Phil seems to love having crud heaped on top of him, and James always leaves Phil's face mostly uncovered.

Phil Awaiting His Metamorphosis in His Cocoon of Toys and Softness