From the wedding in NJ






Aidan coming down his new slide

The boys on Halloween (with their jammies under their costumes)

One small step for a boy, one giant leap for our little Coleman

Cole walked from the middle of the room to the couch.

Dishwasher love

Since we have moved into our new home (2 years now), we have been mourning the loss of the super-awesome (lacking a better description) dishwasher we had at our old home. The whole kitchen was better there, but that's another post entirely. I have been dealing with scale-y build up, unclean dishes, and having to run it half full just to get the dished partially clean. Yuck. Needless to say, dishes have been a sore point and somewhat depressing. And having had a wicked case of depression after A.P. was born, I do not use this term lightly.

I never gave up hope, and right before Christmas, I was dutifully rewarded. I bought a bottle of Cascade Complete. As if to say, this will get your dishes Completely clean. Well, I'll be damned, they are right on! This stuff is worth every penny--I would pay double. The dishes are shiny, sparkly if you will, and not a speck of hard water scale or food to be found. I don't even have to rinse! Hoo-expletive-ray.

This has been a recent highlight of my really, really, really exciting life.

To Send or Not to Send, That is the Question

Aidan's (4 years, 5 months) birthday is August 8. He will be eligible to go to Kindergarten this fall. But now most are sending boys to Kindergarten at closer to 6 years instead of 5. For the most part, this is because boys are not ready for the large amount of sitting and waiting that school requires you to do.

I have done a fair amount, OK, a ton of research on the subject. I have talked to parents of boys, teachers, read online parents' forums, articles, etc etc etc. Exhausting resources is one thing I do well. I found one or two cases where people described their older son, who they waited to send, as bored. But the large majority of the time they are regretting sending them when they have just turned 5. And to add to that, signing songs of good grades, better behavior, and excelling at athletics when they are sent them at just 6 (or even 51/2). Additionally then they are emotionally prepared should they have trouble with the academics at some point. And with his bday in August, he will just turn 6 and then go, where many will turn in Sept or Oct. He will only be slightly older than his classmates, by a few weeks or months. If Aidan had been born two weeks late, he wouldn't even be eligible to attend. That fact is the one that really sealed the decision for me to have him attend another year of preschool. These things along with all the other items in support of waiting outweigh the few that described boredom. I think we'll be able to find ways to challenge him if there are a few times when he is bored over the years. And if he turns out to be MENSA material or a prodigy of some sort, we may go an entirely different path anyway.

The biggest obstacle is getting over that I really wanted him to go this year. I wanted to believe. His teachers say he is ready, and I wanted to just go with that. It would have been a much easier route, that is for sure.

December, days 1-23, you would not be picked first in dodge ball

Sorry 12th month, but it is true. As a whole, the time between Thanksgiving and right before Christmas is not my favorite now that I have children. There is no downtime, not an ounce of time to just "be". I am happy that it is over, and that I have gained the 100 square feet that the tree and gifts take up. I have sorted out most of the overflowing gifts that we all received. The highlight for Joel was an iPod and iTunes giftcards, for me a nice sum to spend at the Juut Salonspa, Origins basket, and a beautiful cotton jersey scarf. Joel's gift signals a return to his love of music, something which has gone by the way of sleep-filled nights in the last four years. Mine, a love of beauty treatments, soft feet, and a warm neck. The last is something that I have tried to achieve since I cut my hair above my neckline for the first time since middle school. My (sic) brother in law Eric drew my name this year (we do this with the O'Reillys). He is such a thoughtful and lovely human being and not just since he gave me such a nice gift. I really have grown to love him.

It was a wonderful Christmas and New Year to wrap up 2007, which was a hard year. I ended the year by going on a date with my darling (and daring) husband. We went to see I Am Legend at the St. Anthony Main theater (the site of many of our pre-child dates). We had both recently finished the short story. The movie is short, about an hour and 40 minutes. Will Smith was a superb hero and much more watchable I thought as the sole actor in a movie than Tom Hanks in Castaway. I believed what was happening to him the entire time. His grief was palpable, his fear, moving. Excellent and recommended, not perhaps for the faint of heart however. It is scary as hell.

I had a weekend of movies, maybe trying to make up for the last couple of months. I went to see Juno at The Heights theater with a friend. A lovely teenage coming of age written by local girl-made-good Diablo Cody (not her real name). Full of sweetness, cynicism, and lots of teenage slang, it was a story of two first-timer friends who wind up pregnant (is that a consequence of sex?). Juno is the main character, named after the wife of Zeus. Michael Cera plays Bleeker, the male main character, and I would see anything starting this talented and unbelievably funny young actor. He has also recently starred in Arrested Development and Superbad.

Then, Joel went out with his friends Sunday night and I topped off this weekend of great movies with a lovely little tale called Once (from Netflix). Just see it, it is so good.

We are glad that it is a new year with a name that rhymes with great.