Why I have the coolest kids

Most nights, after we finish reading stories, I lie in bed with the Boy for a few minutes and we talk and I scratch his back and sometimes sing him a song but mostly just lie there with him until he falls asleep. The nice thing about this is that it's his calmest part of the day and we actually end up getting in some nice, rational conversation, regardless of how crazy the rest of the day was, so I don't go to sleep all guilt-ridden if I've had a day full of ... mothering challenges, shall we say?

Last night we started talking about names, and why we named him what we did instead of something else, and why we named his sister what we named her. "What would you name a little girl?" I asked him. "Kicky," he said, seriously. "Kicky-wicky. Or if it was a boy, and he chewed on his pencils, I'd name him Chewy." Then he laughed.

This morning, the first thing the Girl said to me when she woke up was, "Mama. Do you wanna see da Bad Boy face?"

Who could pass up an offer like that? And what could be better? I'll tell you what: She meant BAT BOY. And if you don't know who I mean by the Bat Boy, what supermarket are you shopping in? She does the face PERFECTLY.

"Papa showed it to me in a book ad Bahns n Nobus," she said. "Silly Bad Boy!" And then she made the face again.