7 Quick Takes: Vol. 2

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1. I had a rather nice idea last night, as my daughter was having difficulty going to sleep. I thought it would be nice to give her some ways to help herself to get to sleep, instead of falling back on my usual "GO TO SLEEP NOW!" refrain. I, in my most encouraging voice, said "Why don't you make up stories in your head? Or think about things you want to do? Or think about people you love?" Nice, right? Well, she picked the story idea, and then came out of her room every few minutes to tell me another story she had made up. All of them involved a princess and her dog. Sometimes the dog was named "Ruff." Sometimes the dog was named "Ruff Ruff." It sort of backfired on me, and kept her up for more than two hours past her bedtime. It ended with me losing my patience. It was not pretty. Note to self: Do not encourage creativity past bedtime.

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2. My son went on a two day trip with his 5th grade class to the Marin Headlands, for a little outdoor education. There were many highlights of the trip, but for me, the best is that he came home and announced that being outside in a place like that is way more fun than playing video games. Right on.

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3. My youngest is almost totally potty-trained. This is mind-boggling. I've been trying for over 6 months to accomplish this. As it turns out, it's hers to accomplish, not mine, and this latest attempt has been awesome. I am -- she is -- so close. What am I going to do with all that money I'll save not buying diapers? I guess that means I can increase the amount I put aside each month for the kids' therapy fund. College? They're on their own. But I'll pay for the damage I've done over the years with that fund.

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4. My five year old wants to be a cheerleader when she grows up. See? I must be doing something wrong, which necessitates the fund mentioned above.

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5. I find myself completely overwhelmed by freelance projects at the moment. It's going to be a wild ride between now and mid-March. If you are the praying kind, please pray for my kids for the next 6-7 weeks, as their mother will be even more crazed and scattered than usual. I am hoping I at least remember to feed them more frequently than my 9 year old remembers to feed Beans and Bella, his fire-bellied toads. Those things are practically on a starvation diet, and he doesn't even DO freelance work. I'll report back in mid-March on how many of the five kids have survived.

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6. Dinner tonight: Mushroom Barley Soup. Good for the soul. Having a spouse and two kids that love it as much as I do? Even better for the soul. The other three will exist on toast and bananas tonight, as far as I can tell.

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7. Tonight we were sitting in front of a fire with our brood. It was total chaos. It was nice, but it was chaos. One kid was cuddling up to dad, one was jumping up and down on the couch singing for Simon Cowell, one was talking jibberish on purpose LOUDLY, one was yelling from the next room for someone to rescue her from the bunk bed (she can climb up, but not down), one was jumping up and down on dad, and one was playing a computer game with the volume up too loud. Wait, that's six kids. Well, I swear all those things did happen, maybe not at the same time. Rick remarked: "This is the stuff we can't explain to anyone, isn't it?" Yup, that's the stuff. The level of crazy love and activity. This family is not for the weak or squeamish or lazy. Except that we're kind of lazy sometimes, hence the state of the house. But otherwise? This is hard work. And it was still nice to sit there together, and let the loudness wash over us, and look at each other like "What the hell is going on here," and hear stories about the trip to the Marin Headlands and kissing a banana slug, and let this family moment happen. Soon enough, the kids were arguing over the wii, and mom and dad were off in different parts of the house trying to ignore the fighting. For a few minutes, while the mushroom barley soup was simmering, we savored the chaos.

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Go visit Conversion Diary for the original 7 Quick Takes, and links to others.

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