When I grow up I want to be a famous ballerina the with the New York City Ballet. And after that I want to be a ballet teacher. I want to because I like ballet and stretching, jumping, the costumes, and making up dances. And I want to share the joy of ballet with other people like my teachers did with me.

By: Elizabeth Meade

What I want to be when I grow up

by:Wil Meade

I want to be a movie story board drawer when I grow up because I like to draw. I also like to spread out my imagination as much as possible. I like to work with others and share my ideas. I've always enjoyed movies more than books because movies are always moving and more interactive. My dad said I like stories.

Other signs of growing up going on in the Meade house:

Elizabeth asked for a watch, a jewelry box, and a locket for Christmas. This from the girl who had 30+ toys on her wishlist last year.

Sunday 7:50 AM. Wil: Daddy, can we play chess?

Elizabeth and Wil on the web

Back when I recorded the twins, more than 2 years ago when they were just in kindergarten, I tried uploading some of the files to Ourmedia, which is free. Well, it didn't work very well, so I never went back. But three of them did make it up and I want to make sure they're preserved for posterity:

Take me out to the ball game - Wil
Bethy's ZYXes
O Leaphart - Wil

If you have time, give them a listen. They are so sweet!

Sword fighting, Fencing, Taking a whack at each other

After sword-fighting with his cousins in the Biltmore gardens all weekend, Wil was cautiously enthusiastic about attending his first fencing class yesterday. Not surprisingly, he LOVED it. There are 4 other little boys in his class, but my guess is that he's the youngest. The coach was great - patient, fun, kept them moving. They played games, learned the parts of the foil, practiced beginning footwork, discussed safety, tried on gear, and then got to take a whack at each other with "foam sabers," as Wil called them. The coach called them quarterstaffs.

An Independence Day Interview with Wil

What do you want to remember about today?
"That I got my Ratatouille for DS from Granma for my birthday. I thought of Lord of the Rings: Family Meades and we played it outside while doing sparklers. I pretended I was Aragorn destroying the Black Riders with the sparklers."

Fill in the blanks: I feel ___ today because ___.
"I feel awesome today because I got my Ratatouille game; Daddy finished most of the Lord of the Rings game; and I made up a bunch of stuff which is like a world record for me."

I feel ___ to be an American because ___.
"I feel great to be an American because of freedom, liberty, and to be able to be here with my cousins and friends and not under the rule of the king or queen of England."

"Is that all?"

Wil got in to the spirit of 'The Silver Chair'. One night after reading he said he was looking forward to learning what happened. Then he said 'I jolly well want to know what happens next'. :-)

Wil is a sweet boy

Wil is, in many ways, at the perfect age. He's so helpful right now, it's crazy. Christine's got him earning money based on how many chores he does and he's absolutely looking for ways to do more. Yes, he's earning his way to a Nintendo DS. But he's also pretty happy doing the work. You might now believe it, but I promise you it's not all about the money.

When he wakes up in the middle of the night, he usually comes to our bed. These days, he's putting on his school clothes first so he'll be ready! When we wake up, in our bed, he's dressed! It's crazy!

He's often funny, too. Tonight he was being funny about me telling him what's going to happen in The Silver Chair.

They're learning patriotic songs at school, and he sang My Country 'Tis of Thee, just lying there in the bed, and it was beautiful enough to make you cry.

Then he got to talking about how people must be crazy to think Texas is sandy and has cactuses and cowboys, because he's been to Texas and he didn't see one grain of sand! In fact, he saw snow! It was so funny!

(I did tell him there were some big parts of Texas he hadn't seen :-) He said 'Oh')

And then I had to tell him it was time for bed. I said 'I'd rather keep talking with you and listening to you sing, but you've got to get to sleep so you can have a good day at school tomorrow.'

He said 'Are you serious?'

Oh yes, dear boy. I'm serious. I'd love for this moment to just go on and on and on...

2 in 30 minutes

Wil lost two teeth today - one on the bottom during supper and one on the top when we were clearing off the table. It hasn't been so long since he pulled one during lunch at school. We've lost track, but we think that makes 7.