nonononononono.

"Lookit Taaaabby."

Joey points to his sister, standing next to the television with her finger on the power button. She looks at me. This child rarely blinks, which is odd because her eyes are as big as golf balls. Her tiny little finger puts pressure on the power button. Off. On. Off. On. Off. On. Off.

"Nonononononononononononononono," she tells me.

Her finger comes away from the television to admonish me (a cat? her brother? the air?).

You always hear that kids imitate what they see. My kids love to admonish each other, help with the dishes, and go bye bye. Joey wants to go shopping every time we get in the car. I wish I shopped as much as he wants to; we really only grocery shop on Saturdays.

I have a contented life, but watching what my kids do in imitation of me is a little depressing. In their eyes right now I'm a grocery shopping, bath giving, no-doling, dishwasher who occasionally slips them a little piece of cheese.

Joey's Current Lexicon

Joey's current words / phrases of choice:

"doan-noe!!" (I don't know)
"yep." (not John's favorite, but better than the repetition of no that I'm so used to)
"ahgosschooo!!" (I got you!!)
"tenkyew" (thank you)
"daddy. mommy. daddymommy. joey. KITTY!! datdbee." (listing off the family members. That last one is Tabby.)

Nerd & bird each are pronounced with a heavy Boston accent. "Nuuuuhd. Buuuuuhd."

Garfield Lives On

I need new checks, primarily because I have to ensure that the checks I write at church have John's name on them as well as mine, otherwise they "don't count." So I'm looking around at checksinthemail.com and there are *three* different Garfield check designs to choose from. I'm thinking about this and it really does make sense, because if you're still writing checks you're probably still way into Garfield.

http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/

Crumbling Morality, and so on

So this morning I go to church and the sermon is basically about how there's a glut of evil in the world, on television, on the internet, etc. and that the whole concept of free will does not mean that we are free to do whatever we want. We have an obligation to do what is right. We have too much SIN on television, which is far too accessible to our very young children. In addition, FOCA is wrong, and it is EVIL. This seriously was the most I've heard the word evil at church, and let me tell you, when he said it, he said it in ALL CAPS every time.

I'm all for having an alternative to the crap available and unavoidable on television and on the internet when it comes to my kids. I'm just disheartened by the lack of "here is what the church suggests as your alternative to turning on the tv to keep your kids out of your hair while you try to cook them dinner." That's your opportunity to make church what I think it's actually supposed to be about - forging bonds between the parishioners and encouraging the community of the church to help itself be more righteous.

Meh.

Zucchini Bread - FAIL.

My mom told me some time ago about a cook book written to sneakily insert vegetables into things kids like to eat. I kind of scoffed at this idea, like, "MY kids are going to eat vegetables totally plain! Steamed, even, and crispy!"

YEAH. RIGHT.

So I made some zucchini bread today in a futile attempt to sneak something green into my son's system. He ate one bite, still warm with melty butter on it, and then crumbled it through his tiny pudgy fingers onto the floor, looking at me as if to say, "what you got, mama? HUH?"

So I'm going to have to cruise amazon.com to find out how to put broccoli into brownies or some crap. Yee ha.

everybody knows

- that the dice are loaded
- this is nowhere
- that kids are music, they are full of music from their heads to their toes
- that the bird is the word
- that the world is full of stupid people, so meet me at the mission at midnight
- your name, and they're always glad you came

baby dogs

We went on family vacation over Christmas, to Elmhurst IL. We stayed with Nonna (my mother in law) who lives in a nice townhouse with floor to ceiling windows in the living room and in the dining room / kitchen. Joey enjoyed looking out the kitchen window to the open back yard, and out the front window to the courtyard. This being Illinois, there are plenty of trees. Trees in the midwest means lots of critters. Joey was absolutely thrilled by this, and would spend minutes at a time staring out the window, sometimes declaring, sometimes whispering, and sometimes shouting, "DAWH!! DAWH!! DAWH!!" at the sight of squirrels.

Translation: Dogs! Dogs! Dogs!

One morning we were sitting looking out the back, and Joey saw a series of squirrels running across branches, telephone poles & wires, and so on.

"DAWH! bee bee."

Baby dogs.

Happiness is...

Pick 5.

- finding a nickel
- baby chortles
- fresh pancakes drenched in butter
- finishing things at work
- brown paper packages tied up with strings
- red shoes
- green olives that have been plucked out of some alcoholic beverage
- friends doing good things for themselves
- lolcats
- clean sheets right out of the dryer
- desperately trying not to crack up while your kid is gleefully spewing sweet potatoes all over the dining room table
- the steam coming off the cup of coffee your man just made for you
- meetings that end early
- the color orange
- sunshine
- little guitars (van halen)
- grandma smiling at you
- sending mail the old fashioned way when it isn't a bill
- fancy paper