Tonight, when I was at my wits end because my son may be losing his marbles and getting insanely upset about going to sleep, he turned to Jordyn and stopped crying long enough to ask her, “Remember when we were babies, Jordyn, and we did that?” while pointing to the fireplace.

“What?”

“Remember when we did that, Jordyn? Remember when we were babies?”

“What?” she asked still not sure what he was talking about.

So he walked over to the fireplace and pointed at the white spots.

“Remember?” he asked again.

“Triple paste, Jordyn,” I tried to help her.

Quite some time ago, probably more than a year ago, my wife was in the kitchen (I, of course, was at work) and she noticed how quiet it had become. She rushed in to find our two little adorable Okapis looking at her.

“We’re painting, Mommy.”

With triple paste, folks. Triple paste, the $30 a tub, diaper rash prevention cream that really is like paste. Just to demonstrate that, you can still see the white streaks on the fireplace stone. And she tried very hard to clean it up. Ahhh, another fond memory.

Oh, and then he started crying again.

What a great night!

Over the weekend, completely out of the blue (at least to me), my little girl turned to me and asked, “Remember when the elephants were on vacation?”

I feel certain that we weren’t talking about “remembering,” “elephants” or “vacation.” Sometimes keeping up with our children’s brains is just not possible.

“I do, Jordyn.”

“Yeah.”

The last time we went to the Bronx Zoo, I told them we were going to see the elephants. Of course, it was November (yes, November), the week before Thanksgiving, and the elephants were safely tucked away for the winter. Not knowing what to do or tell my children, I explained that the elephants were on vacation, just like Mommy (who was warming up in Puerto Rico for the weekend).

(This is the beginning of a continuing series of a saying my children have. They will start a sentence with “Remember when…” and how they finish the sentence is always interesting. What they remember, what sticks with them, how it has impacted them is fascinating and often funny.)

When I came home last night, Jordyn gave me such a big hug before I had even gotten into the kitchen. It was glorious. I picked her up and squeezed her some more to get all I could out of that delicious feeling.

As I was putting her back down she looked me right in the eye, our faces only about an inch apart or so, and she said, “Remember when I throwed up?”

“Yes, I do remember that.”

“And you had the little flashlight?”

“Right, I did have the little flashlight, Jordyn.”

“It was not fun,” she reminded me.

“No, it was not fun at all,” I confirmed.

I’m sure you’re wondering if my daughter recently threw up, why didn’t I write about it here. I mean, how are you supposed to know every little thing that goes on in my life if I don’t write about it here???

Well, take a chill pill there folks. I wouldn’t cut you out of the exciting and riveting loop that is my family life. I want you to keep coming back, right? No, my daughter hasn’t thrown up recently. In fact, she hasn’t thrown up this year. She threw up on Dec 20 to be exact, just two days after their birthday party in an all night tag team vomitting event between Jordyn and Elijah. It was so bad that at 4:00am in the morning we were doing our second load of laundry because we kept running out of sheets, pjs and towels. Man, that was a fun night.

Yet she has not forgotten. Once a week or so she will ask us if we remember when she threw up. They still talk about feeling like they are going to throw up again or they will say, “I didn’t throw up,” as if this was a major accomplishment. Something about the throwing up experience really rocked their world and it still reverberates almost 6 weeks later.

Gem just emailed me that the Okapis loved the Dan Zanes music I downloaded for them last night. Instead of watching a video at lunch, they listened to it and really enjoyed it.

How cool is that???

I’m sitting on the train listening to Dan Zanes, thinking about how much I miss my kids this morning. If you don’t know Dan Zanes, he’s pretty darn good. When my parents asked me what to buy the Okapis for Chanukah, one of the things I suggested was All Around the Kitchen, a Dan Zanes video with clips from his concerts and his videos. We all really love it. His music is for children but is not childlike and I find that a big plus. He plays the guitar and harmonica which they both thought was really cool when they saw him do it in concert on the video.

After having watched the video during Nebby the last few nights, I finally remembered to check for some of the songs on iTunes. So last night I searched on iTunes (where we bought his other songs) and downloaded another five songs or so. I also burned all of Dan’s songs on a CD for my wife to play in the car because our iPod FM transmitter is nowhere near as reliable as it once was, sadly.

I just wish I could be there to see their faces - especially Elijah’s - when he realizes the songs from the video are on the iPod.

My kids have begun to play this game called fake lunch. They have always played it to some extent but this weekend I saw that they have taken it to another level.

“I’m going to be the waiter,” Elijah said as we all sit at a table. “What do you want?”

What’s cool about this restaurant is you can ask for anything, I mean anything, and they make it. Not only that, but it is ready in seconds.

“I want a mexican pizza and a milk shake,” my wife said.

“I want a regular pizza,” I said uncreatively.

“I want a tuna melt,” Jordyn requested.

Elijah ran off a few steps, did some things and then came right back.

“Okay, here you go,” he said as he gave us the food. Such great service.

Who knew eating at a fake restaurant could be so much fun?

Ooh, did I forget too mention that we all got dessert, too?