Seven Un-linked Quick Takes

1.  I have a photo of Joseph on his birthday and I promise to post it soon.

2.  Speaking of Joseph, he has entered that stage of vocabulary in which, upon encountering a new word, he uses it with frequency and tests it out in daily conversation (and in a variety of settings).  His newest word acquisition is addicted and its variants, addictive, addiction and addict.  Here are two examples of this word in daily parlance:

A.  Walking past the table where Jacob was reading while eating his breakfast, "Mom, Jacob is addicted to reading.  Seriously."  (Seriously is a close second to addicted.)  I should note that his remark about Jacob's reading was accompanied by raised eyebrows and a look of disdain as if he wished to tell me that I should have done something about his brother's addiction a long time ago.  (It's tough living with incompetent parents.)

B.  While out on a walk with me, Sarah and Isaac, Joseph weighed in on Sarah's cries of, "Mommy!    Mommy!" as she struggled through the snow, "Mom, our baby is addicted to you.  Seriously.  But I know why."  He waits for me to ask the cause of Sarah's addiction, then he launches into his explanation, "Well, you see, it's because when we got her she was just with you and so she spent the longest time with just you and so she is addicted to just you."  This time he shrugs his shoulders in resignation and trudges on through the snow leaving his mother and her addiction-creating behaviours behind.

3.  Heck, why not three takes about Joseph.  This boy is a bear when he arrives home from school.  And I don't mean a cuddly teddy bear.  I mean a hairy, scary grizzly bear!  Sometimes the scariness starts part way down the street where I can see him collapsed on the sidewalk in some sort of fit brought on by a sibling walking a few feet in front of him.  I used to walk down the road, meet him and cajole him home.  Now I yell, "Get off the ground and don't drag your backpack!"  (I am not addicted to being nice.). Anyway, I have realised that the poor boy's problem is hunger, blood sugar that plummets as he rounds the corner on our street and spies the driveway.  He arrives home at 3pm and by 3:24 he has already eaten three boiled eggs, one massive bowl of cereal and ten crackers topped with cheese.  By the time the food is digested and has circulated its way through his bloodstream and into the mood-altering part of the brain, Joseph is able to quit tormenting Isaac, stop breaking down into tears and come out of his room.  The transformation really is quite amazing.   The exact breakdown of personality vs. blood sugar still remains elusive to me.

4.  My friend Jenna came to visit the other morning with her two young sons and her very new baby. Upon arriving at the door, she passed the car seat to me and I grabbed little Anna and placed her on the floor out of harm's way.  Isaac was quick to notice this tiny little girl and proclaimed, "It's new-Jenna!"  Charming.

5.  The temperature went up to 8 degrees yesterday and took most of the snow with it.  It was magical.

6.  This post has come entirely at the expense of a large bag of mixed beans spilled all over the dining room floor.  Distracted little ones come at a high price.  The soundtrack to my blogging has been the tink-tink of lentils as they hit the floor.  Seriously addictive.

7.  And seven.  I'm looking around for number seven.  It's Dave's staff Christmas party tonight.  These things used to excite me because I got to dress up and look pretty.  Now my joy is essentially derived from not having to make supper for the kids:  it's Kraft Dinner or pizza when there's a babysitter.  Not having to make supper changes the entire landscape of the day.  Foreign lands beckon to me filled with boxed food and free time.  My passport is rarely used.