Where Silas sleeps

Silas was recently telling Grandpa about where he sleeps, and apparently the conversation went something like this: (this story comes from Joel, by the way)

Silas: "I seep in togger bud."

Grandpa Jim: "You sleep in a tiger butt?"

Silas: "No, I seep in togger bud!"

Joel was quite amused that Grandpa thought Silas was saying "Tiger butt". In fact, he had trouble even telling me the story without cracking up about it. Of course, what Silas was really trying to say was that he sleeps in a "toddler bed" instead of his crib now. But we are having fun joking around with the boys about Silas's tiger butt, thanks to Grandpa Jim.

Two chances

I know I'm overdue for a post with any real substance, I just haven't had the time to commit to the blog lately, but in the meantime, here's another great quote from Joel.

Yesterday, Silas was asking for something at dinner time, and I wasn't sure what he was saying. It sounded like "Shocks". So Silas would say, "Daddy, shocks." I responded, "Shots? You want shots, what do you mean?" Silas smiled amiably and said, "No, shocks!" Joel then asked, "Socks?" I said, "Good idea, Joel, do you want socks, Silas?" Then Silas got very upset and said "NOOOOOO, Daddy, SHOCKS!" Joel then resignedly said, "I guess we only get two chances."

Later, Jorie cleared up the confusion by pointing out that Silas had brought home a "Shrek" toy from Grandma's house and that was what he was asking for. D'oh!

Another one Joel said a few days ago, "When I grow up, am I gonna have to marry Silas?" We made sure to clear that confusion right up! Although, I can see why a little kid would come to that conclusion. He thinks Mommy and Daddy are about the same age, they live together, they got married. The other two people living together here are Joel and Silas, so... yeah a lot of things wrong with that picture, but hey that's how kids sort through this stuff.

More Dillboy Quotes

Joel overheard Jorie telling me about how lousy she used to feel when she got sinus infections. Joel asked, "How did you get a science collection?"

Joel is about to start preschool this coming week, and Silas said, "I don't want Joel to go to school." Joel replied, "Don't you want Daddy all to yourself?"

Joel came downstairs when I had a baseball game on, and he asked, "Is this the Cubs or the Bears?" He's still learning how to play the games, but he knows which teams I watch.

Enjoy some Gymnastics

Tired of watching little 12-year old Chinese girls dominate the gymnastics competition? Here's something completely different. I'm proud to say he's an Illinois alum, too.

Link to Gymnast video

Also, I have to include a quick quote from Joel from last night:

"Mommy, I'll never outgrow hugs and kisses."

Olympic Commentary

Is everybody enjoying the Olympics? We haven't had much time to watch a lot of the events, but I have managed to Tivo a few, and we did catch the Men's Swimming 4x100m relay, which was one of the best Olympic moments in history. Seriously, it's up there with Kerri Strug sticking a vault landing on a broken ankle. If you didn't see it (or even if you did) check out this video. I found this especially cool with the British announcers.

D'oh! The video link I posted is now broken, due to copyright violation. Try searching YouTube for "Mens Swimming 4x100 Beijing" if you want to see it.

So there's greatness in the Olympics but there's some real duds too. Is synchronized diving the lamest event ever or what? Why is that an event? Of all the things to synchronize, why diving? They're standing right next to each other, counting to 3, and jumping into a pool. Anyone can do that. Synchronized pole vaulting, now there's an event. One bar, two guys, two poles, go for it. That's what I want to see, now that would be impressive to me. And what's up with beach volleyball? How did that get past the Olympic committee? No matter how hard I try, I can't imagine ancient Greeks playing beach volleyball.

More updates on the boys coming soon.

Joel is serious about cleaning

Lately, Joel is very intense about wanting to clean up after himself. It's really great, as I have picked up more toys in the past couple years than I ever thought possible. Last night, after cleaning up all the toys in the basement and putting them neatly away in their bins and on shelves, Joel proclaimed, "This is for display only. All of these toys here, this is only for display." I told him his friends that were coming to play the next day would be sad if they couldn't play with his toys and he said, "Well, we can let them play with the display, but only for tomorrow."

That's Joel's tough guy look

This is Kylie, from two doors down. She frequently helps Jorie out by watching the boys during the day, so Jorie can get things done. Joel and Silas LOVE when Kylie comes over and it is awesome having her live so close.

Mark's Random thoughts of the day: There are two phrases that need to go away. They drive me nuts every time I hear them.

"He needs to get untracked" -- if you've watched sports the past couple years, you've probably heard analysts say this far too often. I am convinced this started from a mistakenly heard "on track". Some moron started saying "untracked" and it somehow caught on and spread like a virus. I understand the logic, they're trying to say he needs to break out of his rut, but then say "rut". Being on track is a GOOD thing, so to get untracked means you're going off the rails, i.e. a BAD thing! Bob Brenley in the Cubs broadcast booth uses this all the time, unfortunately, but I'm sure I'll hear it even more during football season.

"We covet your prayers" -- ugh, this one really bothers me because a lot of people whom I respect actually use it, I guess because they have heard others use it and it's one of those Christian phrases that sounds good. But let's examine the word "covet" for a moment. Here's a listing of every use of "covet" in the Bible:

All verses with covet

Do you notice anything about that list? Every use of "covet" is a BAD thing. It is never used positively. The word, when literally translated, may mean "desire", but it definitely has a negative connotation in Scripture. So when people tell me "we covet your prayers" it sounds to me like they are saying, "We have an unhealthy compulsive desire for you to pray for us." And that just squicks me out.

Silas quotes

Silas is talking more and more lately. He is a little hard to understand, but his grammar and sentence structure is amazing for a 2-year old. Here's some sentences he has said just in the last couple days.

"Whoah! That was the biggest wave I've ever seen in my whole life." (poor kid really needs to see the ocean, he said this in the bath tub)

"Here it is, Joel, I found it in your room."

He also is still our drama champ. If he's telling us about how something is cold, he does this little wide-eyed shiver that is hilarious. The other night, I noticed he was practicing his "BL" sound (this is how serious he is about speech, he goes around practicing specific sounds) and I said, "Good, Silas, can you say 'blue' for me?" He looked at me, grinned, and said as clear as day, "Bluetooth." No idea where he picked that up, I certainly don't go around saying "Bluetooth" very often.

Side note: please don't wear your bluetooth earpiece when you are not on the phone. I have seen this at the gym, at church, at restaurants, at parks, etc. Please, just don't. Are you really going to take a call during the morning sermon? If so, you have issues. The ONLY acceptable places for wearing one of these borg implant-looking devices are working at your desk or driving a car. Anywhere else and you just look like a HUGE DORK.

Here's Silas being dramatic

I know Joel has said a million funny things lately, but the problem is he talks so much, I can't remember the few particular hilarious things that he says. I need to get better about writing stuff down that Joel says so that they can survive long enough in my head to make it onto the blog. Joel still frequently says, "Put that down on the blog!" whenever something funny comes up -- now I just have to start listening to him.