New Year Items

Well, my New Year's Resolutions are mostly the same. I'm going to read more and practice smarter. I ought to handle our money more responsibly and to make an effort to see friends more often. The biggest difference is that I'll be doing yoga.

Yes, I have agreed to do yoga with J three times a week, starting tonight. Since we don't have time to exercise and see each other, we've decided to exercise while we see each other. (I know...there are major flaws in this plan.) But really, this makes a lot more sense that trying to start running. It's too cold to start running, and we wouldn't be able to both leave the house at the same time anyway. So, we'll exercise at the end of the day after she's chased James around for 12 hours and I've practiced for several hours and taught a bunch of lessons. It will be relaxing. (Is yoga relaxing?) At least for J, it will be entertaining. I have the flexibility of the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz (before the oil-can) so she'll have a lot to laugh about.

Here are some new things that James is doing, as of January 1, 2013:

-Loading cans of tomato paste and a box of shredded wheat into his new sled and pushing them around the downstairs. (Sometimes he puts in blocks and Steven Bear as well.)

-Stealing all of my pens. He holds them, waves them around, puts them in his mouth (I think he's copying me...he does this whenever I hold a pen in my teeth) and "scribbles" on books, paper, his parents, etc...

-Trying to put things in the toilet. Mostly pens, although today he toddled into the bathroom holding a clock radio. To my knowledge, he hasn't succeeded yet. Still, I'm trying not to put pens in my mouth anymore.

-Jumping up and down with excitement whenever anyone mentions "brushing teeth." If he's in the bathtub, he immediately clamors to get out for teeth-brushing time. If he's downstairs, he immediately runs to the staircase. Even things that sound like "brush-teeth" prompt him to swish his index finger in his mouth. (e.g. "Christmas Wreath")

-Walking around with one of my white socks around his neck like a scarf. I have no idea where this one comes from. I tried to trade him a brown sock last night, but only the white one will do.

-Pressing his nose up to the microwave whenever anyone turns it on. We don't let him do this, because we don't want him to start sprouting extra limbs from the radiation. He is VERY UPSET about this, and won't give up trying to get back to the microwave until whatever is being nuked has finished. We need to be extra cautious about this because he has taken to twisting the timer knob and adding an extra hour to "cook time." (J would counter that our microwave is so pathetically weak that this doesn't actually make any difference.)

-Answering "Yeah!" to any and every question. I'm not sure when you can officially say that babbling has turned into actually speaking a word (does this involve a notary?) but it's consistent enough that I think it counts.

-Living in abject terror of the vacuum cleaner. Last night I did our weekly monthly yearly(?) vacuuming of our bedroom and J held him in the doorway so that we could giggle at his frantic escape attempts lovingly teach him that the vacuum isn't actually so scary. Once we were finished we sang his bathtime song but left the vacuum cleaner sitting in the middle of his room. (Thereby ensuring that he'd have to walk by it to get to his beloved bath, and, of course, teeth-brushing). He stood about four feet away from it and just watched it for about three minutes, occasionally stealing glances at the door. Then he very carefully toddled sideways around it, back pressed up against the wall, eyeing the vacuum the entire time...until he passed it and pit-patted as fast he could into the bathroom.