Peanut butter cookie and such

Teanu returned from Liberia a week ago. We were all happy to see him back, a little shy for a few seconds, and soon grateful to have him so close again. He seems healthy so far, except for some intestinal distress. Time will tell. He showed us many pictures of patients and told us their stories. It was a unique moment that brought me to think at a different level. It forces me to humble myself and to stop being a Laman/Lemuel/Lot's wife kind of character. Well..so far.
Teanu has a Duracell type of energy mixed with anxiety and eagerness to have everything back to normal. So he promptly went back to work and to planning and reading. He runs everyday in spite of being tired. He has to get used again to children waking us up several times at night. And I have to get used to a higher pace of cooking and laundering.
Leo turned six months old. Patient, strong, forever hungry, as loud and big as a one-year old. And luckily, not crawling yet.
Noa who just turned four, is THE expert in finding surfaces or objects to draw on, break, throw, and refusing to clean up his experiments. He asks me to confiscate his toys so he doesn't have to clean them up. Do not trust this child. All he needs is five seconds of your absence, and he will have climbed on the counter to find medications, matches, chocolate, and scissors. Or take his boots on a rainy day, escape outside and come back mad and covered in mud. In between his misdeeds, you'll see glimpses of a funny and tender boy: laughing at the rain, delighted to have found a worm or salamander under a rock, giving you a kiss for no reason. Tonight, struggling to fall asleep, he asked me to please light a candle, because said he, the house smelled awful. Why, did he asked, why does it smells bad, I just can't sleep. Well, we cooked fish and changed Leo's diaper, but I'll open the windows. No, he insisted, that won't take care of the smell, please light a candle.
Earlier today, he also said : "I wish Heavens had made me a bird. Then I could fly." He's been showing me often lately the different ways birds move their wings. He loves inventing words and pretending to speak spanish.
Teva is having a difficult time adjusting to changes and has a love/hate relationship with his role as the oldest child. He loves the gospel. When we went to the Sunday morning session of General Conference, he listened and sat quietly! He was happy to see the prophet and will listen attentively anytime we say President Monson is speaking. Teva and Noa both want to read scriptures every night.
Besides their spiritual life, they are quite a duo. They are best friends. They fight horribly. They can be annoyingly silly. And they come up with questions constantly. Here is yesterday's conversation. Teanu was making peanut butter cookie dough, and the boys come with some metaphysical questions:
Teva, very seriously- Dad, where do nose boogers* come from? and what are they made of?
Dad was happy to provide his expertise on the topic. It was now Noa's turn to get some answers about something that I had refused to explain.
Noa- Dad, what are the pouches under my penis and what's inside?
Teva- Yes, what is it? 'cause it moves when I run or jump.
I was laughing hard, and my husband surprised me with his clever reply. He taught them a three sentence reproduction lesson and they were happy.
The last question:
Noa- Dad, what are you making in that bowl?
Dad- A huge booger.

Nice. It is nice to be surrounded by this refined and delicate boys spirit.
At least we had had good mature dialogues at church earlier that day, the boys had fun finding the eggs, and the weather was warm.

* crotte de nez