anna was congested all week, but no fever or anything other than a stuffy nose, but i called the doctor anyway, just in case. they said they wanted to see her, so we traipsed to the office again and as expected, she is fine, and as a matter of fact thriving. in 4 days she managed to gain half a pound, and is now a solid 10 lbs. that made the visit worthwhile.

we spent the weekend at the paul smiths pool (pauls smiths is a local college), and the kids were in absolute heaven. it is really great there--very relaxed, fun, the lifeguards all seem to love kids, they cheered carter when he went off the diving board (a real springboard about 4 feet or maybe more off the water), -- more to the point, they actually HAVE a diving board, and they supply a ton of floatation and swim accessories for everyone to use.

tonight, i was helping carter put on his jammies, and i said "you know, we really have to get you doing this yourself...you know how..." and he said "but mom! i am only half older now." i queried this, asking him to explain. he said "i was 1, then 2, and now i am 3. half older than when i was 2."

i sort of stared at him, trying to figure out if her really had grasped the concept that he was describing and i truly think he did. the other day, he looked up at the clock at the arena and announced "it's 2 o'clock!" and it was. but the most hysterical thing he does is to 'help' ava with her reading. every night i try to have her read a book to us -- sometimes she wants to, other times no. but when she does, if she pauses even for a nanosecond, carter fills in the words for her--or even the whole line. he has probably 30 books completely memorized, and he won't let her actually read them--he narrates to her. as expected, this pisses her off. i think it is a riot (though i don't dare let on), and he has even done it to me--there was a book that had the word "stupid" in it--"stupid something or other"--and i edited it out--"something or other". he immediately corrected me--"no mommy, it is a STUPID something or other..."