Of Shoes and Ships and Naughty Corners

Brendan has been sent to the naughty corner three times in his short life. One time was for biting Liam, one time was for hitting me and one time was, well I'm not exactly sure what it was for because it was Liam who sent him there...and he went. Eric and I were in the front room and the kids were in the back and we heard a couple seconds of fussing and then Liam's tiny, authoritative voice direct, "go to the naughty corner." We came out in time to see Brendan marching solemnly to the naughty corner. Liam said he was pulling on his book. Whatever the reason, he listened to Liam, with no fussing. Eric and I haven't learned the secret to getting those results yet.








Here's an op ed piece about AT&T that anyone who has ever dealt with phone and utility companies could appreciate. Check it out if you have a second. http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/the-return-of-the-old-grouch/

Eric and I have been married for seven years and we have lived in seven places. In June it looks like we'll need to find a new home. :o) Someday I would like to check out Colorado and maybe the Netherlands, but I can't imagine living so far away from my family. I wonder if when we are older Eric and I will do the Peace Corps. I'm so happy I did AmeriCorps, but looking back I sort of wish I had done it for two years instead of only one. Alas.

It's 10:50pm and Liam is still talking away upstairs in his room. By the time he's asleep Brendan will probably just be waking up. Perfect...

White Christmas

I think Liam has more than just a little bit of Rachel in him. Sure, Brendan has the red hair, but Liam is just so...practical. Last night we were discussing how Santa flies from house to house. “No, I think the reindeer pull his sleigh on the ground.” “Well that would take too long. They have to go to so many millions of houses around the world. They need to fly.” “How can reindeer fly?” Liam asked me. “Well, it’s just special Christmas magic.” Liam reflects on this. “No, the reindeer must have very skinny bodies and big, huge, large wings. That’s how they can fly.” See, I would have just bought it at magic. When we were saying our prayers last week, I told Liam we needed to say a special prayer for a man at work whose grandson is sick. “Who is he?” Liam asked. I told him he was Dave and reminded him how when Liam and Brendan came to the library Dave gave them matchbox cars. “Yes, I remember him.” So, on we went with our prayers. We were midway through when Liam said, “You should tell Him that.” “I should tell who what?” I asked. “You should tell God.” “What should I tell God?” “About how Dave gave us those cars,” Liam said. So yes, I think he’s definitely related to Rae.
Well in case I don’t blog again in the next few days, Merry Christmas

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - Oh No?

For Liam's 3rd birthday we met up with Santa Claus. It turns out that there are things he likes better. Brendan, to be fair, was just tired, but Liam genuinely did not want to sit on Santa's lap. It is actually an improvement over the Easter Bunny, however, because he wouldn't go anywhere near That Guy. Later he told me, "He was very...big." Liam is very conscious about peculiarities.


Well, I still haven't gotten my grade from class. It just ended like a week and a half ago, but I still want my grade. Patience, Danielson. Also I run out of money after my next class, and I'll still have 6 or 7 classes left, so I hope I will get some scholarships. It would help if I ever had time to apply to any. Maybe I already said this, but it's profound enough to say again. A woman I work with told me that once you have kids, the years go by so fast, but sometimes the days go by soooo slooowly. Also I notice that most days there is not enough time for everything you need to do. Hmm.

It's so incredibly amazing to me how much you love your children even though you know that of COURSE you will love them but then it's so much more than you could possibly have imagined, and then every day you love them so much more. It must be mathematically impossible to continue loving something more than before when before was infinite. You know?

I invented this new charity but I'm not sure how to create it, so Eric said I should blog about it. Maybe that's just cause he wanted me to stop talking about it. Anyway, my idea is that there's a service, like AmVets or Salvation Army, and it comes to people's houses to pick up big bagfulls of toys that their kids no longer play with. For most people I am sure that they have tons of toys that are practically brand new that their kids are done with. How do I know this? Because many of those people want to give those toys to me. Except, because we like so many Americans live in the midst of so much wealth and generosity, I already have a million toys which Liam and Brendan play with. And it's a lot easier for people in the U.S. to get even small cheap toys for their kids when money is tight. But in other countries where there is extreme poverty and where there are refugee camps and orphanages there are probably plenty of kids who have no toys of their own and who would love these toys. So, this truck picks them up, takes them to a facility where they are reviewed for safety and sorted and sanitized (maybe with one of those machines I just saw that sanitizes shopping carts at the grocery store) and then they are put on ships (Eric's idea over my idea of planes) and sent to a companion facility in country X where they are processed and taken to children in need. Can this work? Does this already exist? Because organizations like AmVets make it so easy to give gently used clothes, so why not gently used toys. I know it's very complicated but...

Ok, off to bed and Loving Frank.

Last Day of Two Kids 2 and Under

Well today is the last day I will have two kids two years old and under. Also the last day I will have a 2 year old and a 1 year old. We took Liam to the doctor for his 3 year checkup today. He's 80th percentile for height and 70th for weight (though I thought he seems really skinny since we were sick.) He was extremely shy with the doctor and refused to do anything she asked. We had a Long Talk about it in the car. Liam's in a phase where he alternates between "I was feeling a little shy" and "I was being a baby, eh eh" and "I was being a flutterfly actually." Oh and also he can be very contrary, which he revels in. But knock on wood at least he was very healthy and that's awesome. He and Brendan also got their second flu shots and they took it like champs. Oh and Liam had a vision test and he got 100% except there was an old- fashioned phone where you put the receiver in the cradle on the top and he'd never seen a phone like that so he thought it was a car. It was pretty funny.
Speaking of phones we just had to order a replacement (we ordered two actually) phone for the play kitchen because we can't find the one that came with it and we figure Brendan probably recycled it. He likes to throw things out and recycle. It's hard to remember to check each time before you take the can out to see what Brendan might have been composting.
We got a tree last night - yeah! The house smells awesome even though I didn't used to like the smell of pine. It's nice and today we will decorate it.
We tried to take pictures for the Christmas cards but so far we haven't gotten any keepers. So if you haven't received a Christmas card, well it could still be a while.
I wanted to write a long post about how awful it was being sick and how you cannot be sick when you are a mom because you have to keep going even though you think you are not going to make it because you have to take care of the kids, but it was too exhausting even thinking about it. It really was the pits. Seriously.
Oh, and if anyone knows of a station that plays Christmas BESIDES the Holiday Light, or Holiday Lite or whatever, please let me know. Thanks!