Keller has officially joined the party. I think I said this a couple of weeks ago, but he’s decided that his babyhood is practically over. He plays hide and seek as fast as he can. He climbs. He squawks. And he speeds. He chased and threw a ball all over the house one day. One night we couldn’t pry the toy hammer out of his hands, so he fell asleep with it. Actually, he hammered away joyfully until absolute exhaustion settled in. He pulls up on the edges of things like couches, yet he has two preferred standing spots: my knees and the bathtub. He has joined the sing-through-dinner chorus. (Wes told me that in his house they had a “no singing at the table” rule that maybe we should enforce…but I’ll take a joyful noise over the other options.) He and Lincoln have been stewing up fun. Yesterday as they sat in the toy room we heard bits of this conversation:

            “What you doing, Keller?”

            “Eeeee! Bababababa!”

            “No. What you doing, Keller? Do you want to play football with me?”

            Throw.

            “Good throw!”

Lincoln woke up, came to Wesley’s side of the bed saying, “I’m going to sleep by you, Dad. Levi can sleep by Mom.” A few minutes later he sits up, exclaiming: “It’s stinky!”

            Wes: “It is? Did you toot?”

            Lincoln: “No. It’s stinky!”

            Wes, laughing: “Who does it smell like?”

            Lincoln, decisively: “LEVI!”

We were all too tired for much of a FHE activity on Monday, so on Tuesday Lincoln chose to swim in the “little pool, because I am little!” Wes aired up the inflatable kids’ pool and they all splashed delightedly.

On Wednesday I had a temple recommend renewal interview, so the boys went to the beginning of mutual with Wesley. They loved it. Levi’s final comment of the day was, “I’m soooo glad I went to mutual!” Lincoln responded, “When I am a dad, I will go to mutual on Wednesdays!” (all things adult are encompassed in the phrase, “When I am a dad…” These discussions often occur in public restrooms). As I drove them home, Levi and Lincoln exchanged some significant glances and began an obviously practiced family council:

            We want a Daisy cow now.

            Maybe when you’re older.

            How about right now?

            Will you two take care of her and milk her every day?

            Oh, no! That’s Dad’s job.

            Or we could wait until you’re older and you can be in charge of milking her just like                                  Uncle David.

            We will be too tired; Dad will have to milk her.

            I guess we’ll have to wait, then because Dad has a lot of other work he has to do to take                           care of our family.

            No, no. We want a Daisy cow now…

The conversation ended with Levi’s conclusion, “When I get married, I will stay home with my wife and take care of her there. I love my wife.” Lucky her.

We’ve all been slow recovering. I didn’t think about it much until Levi got a fever on Thursday. The next day he was covered in a red rash. The doctor tested for strep. The quick test came back negative, but they sent in samples—we won’t know for sure until tomorrow. Despite rest and liquids he doesn’t feel any better and he sounds worse. Lincoln caught it as well, but still tries to go nonstop. We’re hoping that the rest of us might bypass it. Only Wes went to church today. Hopefully he won’t contaminate anyone else.  Levi has been taking amazing naps, though. No throwing up, no diarrhea, just slow and sore. If we need to be sick, this seems to be the way to go. Yesterday Levi woke up from a sick nap: “I need Lincoln!”

            “Why do you need Lincoln?”
            “Because he is my best friend!” Obviously. When Lincoln came in and crawled next to him, the boundaries of best-friend-hood were clarified with a few pushes and shoves.

In the midst of all of that, our vacuum smoked and died so we had to invest in a new one. I accidentally tossed my phone in the washer. Even after rice treatment, it’s dead. The replacement should be here around Tuesday. And when we went to the doctor, the receptionist informed me that our insurance wouldn’t cover our last well checks because they were too early (by a week for Keller); the insurance has a different story. Good thing we’re rich! All the back to  back necessity evaluations has increased my gratitude for all that we have and the miracle that we can replace these things without much discomfort or worry. We really are rich, especially in the blessings that cannot be measured with a dollar symbol. Most people in the world cannot do that. So, instead of asking “Why?” we try to ask, “How should we serve? How should we build the kingdom?” We’ll never be able to be deserving, but we try to be worthy.

On top of a huge rock wall at the park.