7 Quick Takes

1. This commercial made me smile.

I love seeing his hearing aids taped on. I just...love it.

2. What is being done to harness the mysterious ability of babies and young toddlers to arise from a deep sleep when their mother either a) leaves the premises or b) creates for herself a cup of tea or coffee in a pretty mug, or constructs a plate of real food, to be eaten while seated at a real table, and enjoyed in glorious silence? Surely there is some way we could use this power to our advantage...at the very least shouldn't we be able to make money from it? This is America. We do that here.

3. Along the line of "other things I'd like to see leveraged," what about dried oatmeal as a building material? I've spent so much time painstakingly scraping dried oatmeal off my counter and mostly failing that I've come to question everything I know about construction (which is, admittedly, basically nothing.) You might argue that old oatmeal wouldn't work because small animals and bugs would eat it or the elements would strip it away but one good coat of shellac should do it, right?

4. Last Friday the Dom turned the big 0-4. Four is...not a baby anymore. Or toddler. An older, non-preschool attending pre-schooler is what he is. Even though I'm with him all the time, the fact that he keeps growing up surprises me.

5. His Lordship's cake

6. The sign on the front door for his party, which I left up all week and earned many befuddled looks from the FedEx delivery man and the plumber coming to inspect the sump pump.

Free-handed because..no printables up in here. Old school all the way. Also, I don't own a printer.

7. I'll admit to seeing the latest Hunger Games movie in the theater and then feeling compelled  to acquire a (p)leather jacket from the boy's section at Nordstrom Rack. Every time I wear it Brad asks me if "Timmy is letting me borrow his jacket again," but I don't care because sometimes a mom just needs to feel like a bad-ass.

See more Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary and stay warm this weekend!

Ill-Advised

I love children's books. Good ones. I like to be snobby about them, and because of this I occasionally get my come-uppance.

For Christmas, my sister bought the kids this version of Rumplestiltskin.

 I remember it from when I was a kid and I love the illustrations. I can still hear the deep voice of my elementary school librarian, Mrs. Moore, a woman whose height and bearing was formidable, reading this to us. This story is, like all true fairy tails, incredibly bizarre and slightly creepy. Why would the miller lie to the king about his daughter's ability to spin straw into gold? Why was the miller's daughter never again asked to spin more straw into gold? Had the prince fallen in love with her enough to not care anymore? And most importantly, as Brad says, "What does it all MEAN???"

I don't know, all I know is that at the end of the book, after the miller's daughter correctly guesses Rumpelstiltskin's name, he gets very angry and screams, "the devil told you that, the devil told you that!" Would you like to guess which line from this story is most often repeated in public with great glee and volume? Yeah. The people at Nordstrom Rack really loved it, I could tell they want us to come back reeeeeeeal soon.

Ok, so, other people buying books for your kids can be a gamble, but one of my choices for Christmas also has me kicking myself.

I bought Dom the above title, plus many others by Steve Jenkins, after we'd happened upon this one at the library:

this book is fantastic, by the way

Included in "What Do You Do If Something Wants to Eat You" is a profile on the basilisk lizard, also known as the Jesus Christ lizard, because it can run on the water. After watching a few videos of this creature in action, the kids are hooked. Multiple times a day I overhear Dominic playing and narrating, "The Jesus Christ lizard is running on the water!!!" and every time it startles me because it sounds like he is constantly taking the Lord's name in vain.

You should buy these books; why miss out on all the fun??? Actually, you should buy them because despite the possibility of embarrassing content, they are good books.


Awkward Update: My sister texted my iPad and refuses to take any responsibility for Rumpelstiltskin. So. I'm not sure who bought it for us, but whoever you are, thank you, we love it. Even with the devil parts. Tell me who you are, and you can get blog-thanked.

13 in 2013

January- The Dom turned 3. It was hard.

February- We purchased the 'Burban. Unfortunately it only got 10 miles to the gallon so Brad turned it into a Prius. I miss this car, in a non-materially-attached way of course.

March- Keeping warm playing in the basement.

April- Seedlings on the window looking forward to warmer days ahead.

May- Gianna graduates from Ohio Valley Voices

May- The next morning Pia has bilateral cochlear implant surgery

June- Pia hears for the first time

July- First birthday

August- Garden is growing

September- Gianna begins mainstream schooling at St. Gertrude's

October- Halloween

November- Playing trains with Uncle John and cousin Tom at Thanksgiving

December- Travel to Boston to see Dr. Berson and receive good news of minimal retinal deterioration for Gianna so far. Do we look like we're glowing?

 I can't say I'm all that sad to see 2013 get left behind. It was a rough year during which I feel like I spend a lot of time in a fog. But for now I can feel weight of Usher Syndrome lifting a little bit and I am ready to move out of crisis mode. I hope 2014 will be a year of less yelling and more sleep, more drinking of water and less anxiety, and more patience and less hospital time. Praying for all of you and your families for many joys and blessings in the New Year!

Also...maybe I'll figure out how to have less-ghetto pictures on here. Maybe not though. Thanks Dwija for hosting!