Thanks, Auntie Julie

Lauren and Maddie want to give a special shout-out to Auntie J. for leaving them in charge of her car. They've been giving it lots of personal attention.

Maddie is hoping her appearance in the following will cancel out any extra fingerprints found on the windows:

Leah's Portfolio

The start of school has lowered Leah's output somewhat, but she still finds time to create more pictures than I can keep up with. Among her recurring themes is the Peanuts gang. Ever since Auntie Julie eagerly introduced the troops to A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving a couple of years ago (and then lamented that they made her watch it three times -- be careful what you wish for!), all three kids have been loved collecting the old holiday specials and movies on DVD. In this picture, you can see Schroeder, Lucy, Charlie Brown, and Linus. Now if I could just get her to quit putting eggs in the oven (a la Marcy in It's the Easter Beagle ...), we'd be in good shape and I wouldn't have to try to hide them in the fridge. Good grief!

Frogs at Last

After watching Leah prepare for another school year -- with accompanying new shoes and bags of school supplies --
Lauren and Maddie were quite excited to put on their "first day of school" outfits and pick up their backpacks again. They headed back to the preschool at a nearby Methodist church and professed to be pleased to be in the Frog class (four-year-olds), as opposed to the lowly Tadpole class (the threes). They get to eat lunch at school this year and had fun hitting me up for lunch bags. Lauren picked Little Einsteins; Maddie went for Spider Man. Both have come home tired during the first couple of weeks. Maddie loudly denies that she needs any kind of quiet time in her room, then ends up being the one who conks out on her bed when I ignore protests and make them take it.

D'Oh!

In case you thought Leah was lying low during Maddie's songwriting frenzy, it should be noted that she achieved a milestone of her own recently. We often wondered if or when she'd ever ask us a question, so you can imagine Mike's amazement when she asked him, "Daddy, what's that?"

She was camped out on our bed at the time, scrolling through an episode of The Simpsons on our TiVo. (Another dubious recent achievement is Leah's mastery of, and subsequent obsession with, remote controls. We have had to find some creative hiding places, and when we forget we are apt to find her in a frenzy of rewinding and fast-forwarding to favorite scenes.) The episode featured a vignette called "Revenge of the Geeks," featuring Milhouse wielding a revenge machine against the bullies of Springfield Elementary. We see him choosing from a variety of settings, from 'wedgie' on up. So when Leah stunned Mike by asking him a question, she wanted him to read some words from the screen. Unfortunately, the answer to the first "Daddy, what's that?" was "Purple Nurple" and the follow-up "Daddy, what's that?" was "Wet Willie."

The autism experts always say that language gains come when the kids are highly motivated. As long as she doesn't greet her teachers with a big "Good Morning, Dinguses," we'll probably be all right.

(Off Her) Rocker

In the waning days of our long, hot, strange summer, Maddie seems to be possessed by the spirit of Jimi Hendrix. No longer satisfied with sweet-faced renditions of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," our Madeleine has discovered rock and roll. She announced that she was going to give a concert. ("Not a big one. A little one," she said, holding her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart.) It took Mom a few renditions of Maddie's original single, "Rock it Down," to remember that we had a means of recording it, probably because I was so busy trying to figure out whether there was any way we accidentally let her watch "School of Rock." The visible panty lines -- in Maddie's case, visible over the waistband of her skirt -- give her first music video an extra edgy look. Apologies for the shaky camera work -- recording and laughing are not always compatible.

Just as Elton John announced he will never again perform his Diana tribute version of "Candle in the Wind," Maddie also issued a performance embargo on "Rock it Down" on the grounds that it really isn't funny. Fortunately for her public (and her parents, who are still hoping one of their children will support them in their old age), Maddie wasn't done songwriting. Her new single, "A Rocket Landed on the Roof Last Night," with sister Lauren on keyboards, is about to drop. Below, an exclusive preview:*

* We discovered this morning that most of "A Rocket Landed on the Roof ..." is borrowed from an episode of Between the Lions. I can't decide whether to feel regret or relief that Maddie did not actually come up with the lyrics herself. The arrangement, however, is undoubtedly her own.