David was playing in his toy kitchen by throwing everything on the floor. Listen now for the salad spinner hitting the wooden apples bouncing off the metal bowls and crashing into the floor. Add to that the wooden butter, eggs, and cucumber slices banging the spatulas and yet more metal bowls. Did I mention the really loud metal bowls? Ah the sweet sound of self-amusement. So, in all this mess, he noticed his muffin tin and suggested we make muffins. At first I thought in his play kitchen, but he really wanted to make muffins, and I said sure.

John is the main cook in our house, and David usually makes muffins with him, but we did a fine job. He actually listened to me when I told him to hold the bowl as he stirred and to stir gently. And now we have banana chocolate chip muffins in the freezer.

Rose went off to Sunday School. (Yippee!) And came home in a delightful mood. We cuddled on the couch while she taught me the letter of the day, yud.

After bath time, we cuddled on the couch again and read all of Sarah, Plain and Tall which is a very sweet and well written story.

the ugly

Remember we've learned that with David misery leads to destruction. Well, as I was attempting to clean up before dinner, David threw his sister's sunglasses behind the dresser, ripped open a bag of tiny plastic beads which I had just told him not to open, and started to throw a fragile toy down the stairs. I was stuck. I couldn't finish what I needed to do. I couldn't get him to some place with no potential items for destruction. I had to sit on the floor and physically restrain him. Then I yelled for John who carried the screaming child downstairs and we conned some food into him.

Rose only has to take a bath twice a week. Rose always seems to enjoy her bath. Rose almost always gives me serious grief about taking her bath. Tonight the grief reached operatic proportions. When she calmed down, she apologized, and I told her the new rule. If she yelled or screamed or whined or even strongly objected at the next bath time, we would move to bath time every night. That way there would be no question of negotiation. As is typical of her, she both got very excited about how the new rule might work (I am to give her a second to realize not to freak out before I impose it), and started flexing it (perhaps a shower in the morning would count.) Whatever. We are done this struggle.

No, no, snow! I mean the snow is really pretty and all that glistening in the trees, covering up the cars, filling the roads. But, no way do we want another snow day even a snow delay tomorrow. We want school. We want the big transition to get started. We want to work-out and work. Actually, that's what I want, and I really want it.