Word of the Day

Importune: to require; to demand; deriving from the prefix meaning "not" and the root portus, meaning harbor. To say that someone is importunate means that he is troublesome, vexatious, persistent, untimely urgent, pertinacious. To importune is to tease, to irritate, or to worry; but it can also mean simply "to beg urgently."

The origin of the word means "not a harbor," and connotes a place hard to access--not a great place to dock. The importunate person is pretty sure his audience is going to be a hard sell. He is also (while importuning) a bit "hard of access" himself.

Children often importune instead of asking. Sometimes so do wives. Mothers do not like for children to be importunate, and husbands do not prefer it in their wives.

The Joints of Lewis

I have mentioned before that Lewis does not like his elbows and knees to be visible. A recently discovered addendum to that is this: If by some mischance he is forced to go in public with his elbows showing, the evil of the circumstance can be mitigated by the donning of special underwear.

Mommy's Laws

These will be in print someday, rely on it.

Mommy's Law Number 1: When Mommy visits the restroom, there will be a knock at the door--usually the children, and usually with a good excuse, but failing that, they'll concoct something. As in this morning's incident, when Lewis at the door couldn't come up with anything better than this, which I already knew: "Uuuuuuuum....We're almost done cleaning?"

Does my absence make them feel insecure? And a better question yet, at what age will this phenomenon stop?

Aha!

It has taken a while, but I've finally figured it out: there is a button in the seat of my armchair, which when I sit on it, makes the phone ring.

Some Unrelated Incidents

Collected from the last few days...

At a friend's house, Lewis, having discovered their bathroom scale, remarks: "Oh look, Mom. Here's where we measure our feet."
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A few minutes ago Inge asked me why I kill injured bugs. I vaguely explained that they don't usually regrow their legs, and Inge, with an air of satisfaction and approval, added this: "Yes, and it's nice for them to be with God."
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And Nelly at prayers last night, in response to Peter's prompting said: "I tan noo it myself." And she did.
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Episode forty-two or so today:

Lewis, sobbing: Nelly punched me in the eeeeyyyeeee!
Nelly, nevertheless quite perky, does not trouble to refute.
Me: Nelly, why did you punch Lewis in the eye?
Nelly: Bee-taws.
Me, just in case: Lewis, why did Nelly punch you in the eye?
Lewis: Oh, because I punched her in the stomach.
Me: Why did you punch her in the stomach?
Lewis: Well, we were playing a game...

Lewis's Birthday

Here are a few pictures from Lewis's birthday, which was this week. Also, I want you to note that although I usually put the photos up in such a way that you need to start at the bottom of the post and work your way up, I'm turning over a new leaf and I'll try to follow the conventions of the rest of the world from now on--you can scroll down to get the story in chronological order. :)

We teased Lewis a lot about getting "dishes" for his birthday. Once he saw the John Deere he didn't seem to mind as much.

Thanks to our policeman friend we got an old police hat. The pin I got for it on ebay was a little smaller than I expected. Oh yes, and that is Lewis's new Mig 29.

And of course we had a cake and presents party with some of his friends. The Ivers increase the number of boys in the house all by themselves, as you can see.

My boss Craig Fountain (a cropduster pilot) and his wife Enid came as well. Craig's brithday was the day before Lewis's. He gave lewis a very cool and detailed model of a ME-109.

Claire made a cake with a cropduster--Craig's plane "Soupy."

Lewis does the classic little boy at his party look pretty well, at least I think so.

The flash didn't fire for this one, but I was still able to salvage this expression, after a manner.

Namma and (drumroll****) Tappa showed up in the middle of the party as well.

Namma and Tappa added a number of presents to the pile, of course. Not least of which were these sunglasses, completing the transformation--Lewis started the day as a little boy and ended it as Muammar Gaddafi.

Going to the Park

Birthday

Lewis, first thing this morning: "Is it my birthday today?" And on being assured that it was, said fervently, "I love that!"

Nelly, after Lewis's new cap gun fired for the first time: WWWOW!

Knock-knock Wars

This is a recently acquired skill, and as such, maybe needs a little more practice.

Lewis: Knock-knock!
Inge: Who's there?
Lewis: Amos!
Inge: Amos who?
Lewis (with an immense mental effort): Amos bit me!
Inge (doesn't much care): Heh, heh. Knock-knock!
Lewis: Knock-knock!
Inge: Knock-knock!
Lewis: Amos...A mos...
Inge: KNOCK-KNOCK
Lewis: A mosquito...
Inge: Say "who's there," Lewis!
Lewis: YOU say "who's there."
Inge: No, YOU say "who's there."

(This now becomes an infinite loop, so imagine the equivalent
of a musical fade. Cheating, I know, but sometimes the only option.)

Happy Father's Day

We were checking to see who was taller. It looks like Inge still has a bit of an edge. They are pretty close these days though.

The three standers.

The lovely young ladies.

And Nelly the terrible, looking all sweet and innocent.

Rope Swing

Last week I put a rope swing in our tree. The kids are still warming up to it, but are all ready to have fun with help.

This is Nelly trying to lift Inge up to get on the swing.

This is the hanging by the arms swinging option.

And this is me in the tree putting up the swing. Been a while since I was that high in a tree.

Weather

Last Sunday it was 90+ degrees. Later in the week we barely made it to 50 degrees for a high. It was an amazing weather week.

Furry Friend

I found this little guy on our music stand. He was so photogenic I forgot to kill him. I think at this point if I do find him again I'll have to just release him into the wild.


p.s. We were thinking of call him "Patience" since he let me take quite a few pictures, but we found out that Namma had already claimed that name for her new furry friend.

One of those tradeoffs

If you have the humility to understand your place in the world, you probably don't have the confidence you need to get through it.

~P. Roise

Now, I think that's brilliant.

Posted (lest this should seem overly illustrative) by P. Roise's wife.

Roises Visit

Abby's Senior Photos

Lewis

Probably more than the girls, Lewis inspires comments like, "You know, son, you're a funny kid." Here is a selection of conversations from just the last twenty-four hours.

For about a week we've had a disruptive family cold. Voices crack and disappear, noses run continuously, and when we sit around the table together we sound like the TB ward. This morning I looked fondly at my little snorting, hacking, dripping crew and said, "Aw, look at all my little invalids." And Lewis said, with some indignation, "I'm not an envelope. And I don't have to be."
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Yesterday at lunch--
Lewis: I'm gettin' old.
Inge: Well, actually, Lewis, you're really quite young.
Lewis, incredulously: Inge, do you know about me? I'm three and a half!
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And here's the real cream, from last night at bedtime:

Lewis says: Hey Mom, I said "but" to Clark, and Clark said....um...and Clark said... um...

Lewis's voice trailed off and he repaired to the other side of the room, from whence I heard: "Hey Clark!" followed by some muttering. Then he returned.

Hey, Mom! I said "but" to Clark, and he said, "but what?"
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Is there something strange about Clark the Bear? Sometimes we have to wonder....