Here are Lady Kitty and Lake are twinning with Kendra and Michael when they were the same age: 1 and 4.5, respectively. Lady Kitty and Kendra are clearly pleased to be in the company of their big brothers, and are also rocking the same birthday dress. Another thing Lady Kitty has in common with her Auntie Kendra: having her first word be “ball”… it might have been a fluke hearing Lady Kitty say “ball” and point to her birthday balloon a few days before her first birthday, except that the experience continues to repeat itself. And the story goes, according to Jamma Julie, that Kendra’s first word was “ball!” as she lunged at her big brother Michael who was holding a ball. Kendra went on to be six feet tall, excel at volleyball and eventually coach at the high school level in Ketchikan. Meanwhile, Lady Kitty is about two feet tall, climbed three flights of stairs today when she first took to stairclimbing, and is simply having a ball.

While Lady Kitty astounds us with her “boww” and other priceless vocalizations, eg: “Is that a dinosaur in our living room?” Lake is at the perfect age to delight us with his creative phrasing. I’m amazed at both the magnitude of my enjoyment of his worldly observations, as well as their ephemerality. One minute I’m howling with laughter, and a few minutes later, I cannot recall what he said. So, I’ve taken to grabbing a pen post haste, to be able to share a few gems with you.

Luckily, also, our friend Clarence has a keen ear and a strong memory, so it’s great to eavesdrop on their conversations by way of him texting me later.

For example Clarence shared, “Oh, I forgot from yesterday when the three of us first ventured to “Spinning Chair” Park.

Lake said: “You know what? When I grow up I’m going to be an Acrobat!”

Clarence: “You are? And why is that?”

Lake: “Because I am balanced!””

A perfect 7.0

The day before when I’d walked down to Spinning Chair Park with Lake and Lady Kitty, Lake said:

“Those four leaves were like jogging. The wind was making them jog. And they were like jog. Jog. Jog.”

And then remembering an amazing video clip Michael shared with us earlier, he said, “Keyboard cat is so skillful with instruments. I wonder if he can play the how do you say it? Di’kar? [guitar] or the harmoniker? Harmoniker cat!” He laughs at his own wit. I join in; I’m having an absolute ball.

I’m thankful every day for your entertaining comedy during this ongoing global pandemic and with limited external socializing, I’m especially glad you have each other to grow up together with. A perfect day. I’m glad I spent it with you two siblings.