Glowing.

It seems all the kids grew out of their clothes and shoes at exactly the same time. Thanks to T's friends and relatives we have bags of the next size up for everyone stashed all over the house. I hunted down new sneaks for the baby, who I am henceforth referring to as Monkey, since that is what he answers to, and T had to suck it up and buy pants for J since he seems to be between sizes and the 3ts aren't staying up, even with a belt, and the 2s just squash his poor little gut. She found some wonderful adjustable pants at The Children's Place for anyone who's looking for something of the like.

Monkey is now just twenty months and he's BARELY squeezing into 2t. Everything fits him comfortably all over, even lengthwise, except around his massive thunder thighs. Zipping him into a sleeper is risky business but s far we've managed. I have some 3s on standby just in case we don't make it through the winter.

T did have to buy a few pairs of fleece lined jeans for R, since she refuses to wear any other kind and we didn't think it wise to continue sending her to school in Capri leggings.

And R is learning the word "wise" this week. Not at school, I don't know what (if anything) they teach at that place. But I tell the kids stories over dinner and we always talk about the new words in them that they don't know or may have heard but don't know for sure what they mean. Wise was one of them, and the other, our main focus the last few days, was poor.

We've talked about Aladdin, the man who met the magic fish who gave him his wish, and Jack and the Beanstalk. The great thing about telling these two stories (two because Monkey tunes out, devours his dinner and then runs laps around the kitchen screaming) is that they eat them up. J's eyes get wide at all the right parts, he even gasps if you draw him into the story well enough. R listens with undivided attention and I have to pause to remind her to eat. Tonight when we were talking about Peter Pan she actually jerked backward in fear when I said Captain Hook snuck up behind Peter Pan in the cliffs and nearly caught him with his hook hand.

It's amazing.

And they always smile at the happy ending and look all relieved at each other.

So, today.

T picked up R for Hebrew school and then retrieved J from school. She took him to work with her, something she does most Thursdays just so I have some down time while the baby is asleep. J used the opportunity to poop in his pants again and all I heard when they came in was her ordering him up the stairs to clean him up.

He's had several accidents in the last few days and he was warned that one more casual dump would lose him his toys. After he was bathed and in pajamas (at 3:30pm) T walked him through this house to confiscate toys and he led the way with a big smile on his face. He also smiled when he soils himself, when he tells you about it and whenever he gets yelled at for it.

When she was through, she put the basket with his toys away and gave him a seriously long timeout. He grinned at me from the corner.

I fed him an early dinner because he started telling me he was tired and in the past, when J says he's tired you have an hour, tops, to get food inside him before he either melts down and screams or gives in and nods off. While we were eating, T came home and dropped R off, who joined us for dinner. J finished his food and then hung out to hear the end of Peter Pan and then Hook and then Return to Neverland. I've never even seen that last one so I had to make it all up to keep R going.

When dinner was complete, I scooped J up to take him upstairs and got a huge whiff of stank.

Yup.

He did it again.

An incredible pooh right in his Mr. Incredible underpants.

I began yelling right away; "it was so organic, it just flowed through me." This is not where I was glowing, this was more like a fiery rage.

He smiled the whole way upstairs until I told him I was not about to scrape dung off Mr. Incredible. He's lost Buzz Lightyear and Diego already this week. We're quickly running out of characters that he likes. We're down to Handy Manny (or Panty Manny as he's known around here) and Spongebob, who they are not allowed to watch anymore since Nanny Kim came along.

I got him all ready for bed and tucked him in and while he was still mourning Mr. Incredible, R came to the bottom of the stairs to ask me if I was spanking J. I laughed and told her no, babysitters NEVER spank. J then wanted to know if I was going to tell Mommy to spank him and gave me a wonderful idea for future discipline. Maybe I don't spank, and to be honest, Mommy really doesn't either except on special occasions, but hey, if J is under the impression that I can order future spankings, this could really help at dinner time when stories aren't working.

I waited until he was calmed down, said goodnight and returned to the Monkey and his keeper in the playroom downstairs. R was dancing around singing about her new shoes. I told her they were beautiful and asked her to bring down her old pair for the donation bag and she said they were already gone.

The store collects old shoes and donates them from there, so her shoes had been added to that donation and she was just as excited about that as she was about her new pair. I asked her if she knew what donate meant.

She didn't.

I told her it was when we gave things we don't fit in anymore, like perfectly good sneakers or clothes, to people who are poor. Right away her face lit up. She knows what poor means: no food, no clothes, no toys. Sometimes, no house. She has already shown interest in hearing about the kids in Africa. She loves her things and really has a heart for people in need because of that.

She reminds me of me.

She asked if her shoes would go to Africa and when I said that they were probably for a child here in America she seemed happy, but then she shined even brighter as an idea came to her.

"Kimmy, next time you go to Africa, can you tell me before you go and I'll give you these shoes if they're old and if they're not I'll give you some other shoes to take to the children in Africa?!"

I almost cried.

Instead, I explained how that was a wonderful idea, and that I wouldn't be going for a while, but that when I do go she will know and we will pack lots of things for the children who need them. She was so excited she resumed dancing and singing around the kitchen.

And I was so happy I did, too.

We glowed.