Calvin's new career in holiday modeling begins with this pumpkin photo shoot...

Too. Cute. Too impossibly cute.

Swings

So tired tonight my eyelids are twitching, so we'll just have to upload the pictures and skip the commentary. Someone needs to tell Calvin that although his sister did the same thing, it is very much NOT all right that he is still waking up two and even three times a night at 10.5 months old. I'm weary of serving as his personal snack bar, but when I try to ignore his calls for Room Service he just keeps dialing and dialing and dialing. Boy but I do have a couple of willful children. Much good may it do them in life, but in the meantime-- I badly need more sleep. This eyelid thing is creeping me out.

A classic, and just as hilarious the 1,000th time as the 1st.

Just about anything you do or say around a baby of 10 months seems to build a new synaptic pathway into his little brain, even the things you'd think he'd grow sick and tired of. Peekaboo, for example. Sure the ending is happy, but it's so... predictable. He just doesn't care. And he'll play peekaboo with anyone: mother, father, sister, stranger on street corner. Smile at him and he gives you the benefit of the doubt, gives your comedy routine a chance.

No. It's the new Yes.

Why does she say "no" to everything? 'Cause it's fun to say. It's spunkier than "yes." And the grown-ups know that you don't really mean it all the time. As a father of three once told me, back before I had kids, "No isn't a word. It's a way of life."

Textbook example-- this morning, 7:00 a.m., the kitchen. Audrey holds out her cup and says to me, "I don't want any orange juice... in this cup."

Yes'm.

Tats

Note to self: perhaps Audrey could use some closer supervision when coloring with markers. But it's all washable, right?

Overheard of the week: "Mom, why are you so crazy?"

A fine question.