There are two 3-year-old boys at Angie’s daycare who have a game they like to play.

Everytime a dad comes to pick up a kid, they will share a look, each daring the other to run up and give the man a jab in the crotch.

The other day Kevin was on the receiving end of this game. As both boys looked up grinning at him, Kevin said, “Hey, cut it out!” The grins quickly disappeared.

When Angie’s daycare teacher walked over holding Angie, she overheard Kevin saying to the boys, “You don’t do that!”

She didn’t ask what it was about. Kevin didn’t mind.

Categories: kids and parenting
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Tomorrow my littlest one turns a year old. Today we had a small family gathering at home to mark the event.

Things I love about her at this age:

• Her flirtiness. I love the way she tilts her head, bats her eyelashes, hides her face against me, then peeks out and smiles at people.
• Her toes. They are so yummy.
• The way she smells. She never smells bad, even when her diaper needs changing. Frankly, it’s bizarre.
• Her decisiveness. I still remember when she was a week old, and she really didn’t want to be leaning against my left shoulder. Somehow she kicked and flailed until she ended up on my right shoulder, and only then did she relax. I hear stories like this from her daycare teacher as well. I’m glad she finds ways to communicate her expectations to the people that take care of her.
• She is THIS CLOSE to walking on her own. She’s willing to walk as long as she’s touching my hand. What she doesn’t realize yet is that I’m not in any way supporting her.
• Her willingness to experiment with food. She likes to try things off my plate.
• Her love of shiny electronic things. She likes our laptops, our cameras, the TV remotes, the TV itself, the Wii, etc. She LOVES my cell phone. Sometimes this drives me nuts.
• Her rock musician head banging move. Hilarious!
• The way she talks to herself. One day soon I’ll find out what she’s saying.

Categories: angie
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Friday night I stopped by our neighborhood Blockbuster and rented Marley and Me. What’s not to love about a movie with an overly rambunctious dog named after Bob Marley?

This was my favorite quote from the movie:

Arnie: Take a vacation. Go away for a couple of weeks. Take a month off.

John: Go where?

Arnie: I don’t know.

John: I live in a vacation spot.

Arnie: Then go some place where it’s painful and sad.

Having lived most of my life in sunny So Cal, I’ve had this same exact thought many, many times.

Categories: movies, pets, travel
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I miss having any kind of creative outlet, really.

I also miss my health. Been sick 2/3 of the past month. At least I can finally breathe through my nose again.

I’ve finally found a new TV show to adore. Kevin and I are now watching season 3 of The Office on DVD. We devoured seasons 1 and 2 last week, during the late evenings, after the older kids went to bed. I would nurse the little one to sleep in my lap while we laugh and go “Oh no s/he didn’t!” over and over again.

Hopefully I’ll get to blog about Angie later.

Categories: work-life balance
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