Two random thoughts from a morning outing with Scout and Eva.

One. Assuming that the human race survives but Western civilization is wiped out, future anthropologists may wonder at finding numerous fossilized banana peels in climates unsuitable for growing them. i was eating a banana and wondered if the peel might last a long time in the landfills. Banana peels are certainly not the most interesting of the artifacts we'll leave behind, assuming there will be anyone who cares to study us.

Two. While packing up the babes in the car, then turning to fold up our really super excellent double BOB stroller, a still sprightly elderly man who must have been dashing in his prime passed by and offered to help get the stroller in the car. Possessing a charm and accent from when our Atlanta suburb was still a small town far from the city, he easily chatted about his daughter and her three children born within the same calendar year (twins then a singlet), and asked after mine.

i had initially turned down his help, but also being Southern, i did so softly and in a way that doesn't want to offend. this therefore leaves room for people to sometimes assume i don't really mean no.

My first thought after this encounter was about safety and that had he been someone who possesses both a charming and psychotic nature (ala Jeffrey Dahmer) then we would have been gone, baby, gone. Then i felt sad to think like that and wished that i could just enjoy the kindness of strangers.

i think that while i don't like it, stranger danger must rule the day, particularly when i'm on duty with my charges.

While i'm here and babies are sleeping, here are some recent Scoutisms for posterity:

• "The airplane is making roads!"
  (watching the plume of exhaust or smoke from a jet in the sky)
• He calls "marshmellows" "marshmelons"
  (i'm just starting to relax a tad about his food but try hard to keep him from mucho sugar and most processed foods)
• He likes to begin sentences with these two phrases:
  1. "How about," as in "How about we read these two books for bedtime?" (we usually read one book at bedtime)
  2. "I wish," as in "I wish that Eva could play with trains."

Scout is super interested in spelling and can spell several words from memory, mainly three letter words, with the exception of his name, truck and train, probably his three favorite things. He uses blocks to spell words and also spells out everything in books. i'm trying to teach him the phonics of each letter so we can then sound out words. i think after that he'll be reading.

i love how much he loves books. i have a problem at our local Goodwill in the children's book section. There are just so, so many wonderful books to read and they're $1.25 there! While i rail at the obscene amount of toys we have, there always seems to be room for one or three more books.

Yesterday's haul from Goodwill netted us:
Once Upon a Potty boy edition
Little Fur Family (with a brown fake fur cover!) by Margaret Wise Brown of Goodnight Moon fame
Richard Scarey's Longest Counting Parade Book Ever

Wow, i finished an entire post. It is a miracle to finish a task in one sitting these days. Not a complaint, mind you, an observation.

i realize upon re-reading this that i only mention Eva in passing. She's a lovely, smiley almost four month old now but not doing as many exceptionally noteworthy things as her older brother.

Ciao for now.