Thanks, Dora!

Marley has been pretty good at rote counting for a while now - accurately to ten, then randomly, sometimes including numbers like "eleventeen".  And he's been getting better at meaningful counting of objects, too.  He totally surprised me the other day, though, when he accurately counted out ten goldfish crackers in SPANISH.  Then, he turned to me, eleventh cracker in hand, and asked what came after diez.  Uh...sadly, I had to look that one up.  I knew he'd be smarter than me one day.  I just didn't realize it would happen when he was two!

Back to School

This is the first September in a very long time that I won't be starting a school year. It's kind of odd to have the end of August roll around and not feel that familiar mix of depression for the end of summer, and excitement for the new year to begin.  I really can't imagine going back right now, though.  I'm having so much fun at home with my little class of two.  However, I just couldn't resist buying a few school supplies for Marley.  He's such a good student!

The Method

Marley has decided that there are at least 50 million things he'd rather do in his room than nap.  The list includes: read books, throw books, play with toys, throw toys, write on his door with a pencil, and bang his head against the wall - just to name a few.  The thing is, he still needs a nap during the day - desperately!  When he doesn't nap, bad things happen.  Plus, he falls asleep at the dinner table.

So, I've given up on trying to get him to fall asleep in his room, and instead, have developed The Method.  When followed with precision, The Method has about a 95% success rate.  The first, and most important, step in The Method is to plan a busy morning out that involves returning home IN THE CAR sometime between 1 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon.  Note: If the car is not available, the stroller or carrier can be substituted, but the success rate drops to about 60%.

Now, simply being in the car around nap time is not enough.  Even if he is REALLY tired, Marley is very skilled at keeping himself awake.  So, the next step is to be sure that the area surrounding his car seat is free of distractions.  This includes all toys, food and drinks, loose clothing items, rocks, bits of fuzz, etc.  The final step is to turn on Vampire Weekend (the old one - not new, very important).  The volume should be loud enough to discourage conversation, as incessant talking is another one of Marley's favorite ways to keep himself awake.

The Method works best when there is at least a 15 minute drive home.  It's also very important to make sure Amelia is happy or sleeping.  I've had a near perfect execution of The Method go bad when Amelia decided to start screaming her head off two blocks from home.  Once Marley's asleep the hardest part is over.  He transfers to his bed fairly easily, and usually stays asleep for at least two hours.

I probably won't win any parenting awards for developing The Method, but at least I'll keep my sanity.  Mostly:)

Who doesn't like cotton candy flavored ice cream?

Sleeping Beauty

Gettin' Jiggy

We had a nice evening out as a family on Saturday night.  We walked along the downtown waterfront and, at Marley's request, ate dinner at Red Robin. At one point, he stopped to dance to some music.

He's been coming up with some pretty funky moves lately.

But then a loud motorcycle went by and killed the mood.

Facebook Wars

Jeff and I have been in a long, drawn-out battle of wills to see which of us would be the last remaining person on the planet without a Facebook account.  And...I won!  Now, you'd think I would be pretty excited about my great accomplishment, but it's actually not that fun to be the one without the Facebook page.  Back when neither one of us knew what was going on with our friends or family members or family members' friends, it was blissful ignorance.

Our dinnertime conversations sometimes sounded like this:
Dawn: So-and-so is getting married.
Jeff: Really?  To who?
Dawn: Joe Schmoe
Jeff: No kidding?  Does Joe's ex know?
Dawn: I don't know, So-and-so didn't mention the ex.

Now, they sound more like this:
Dawn: So-and-so is getting married.
Jeff: That's old news.  I saw the pictures of them at their engagement party.  Joe's ex is really ticked, and plans to try and get full custody of the kids.
Dawn: Huh?

Okay, so maybe we don't ever have anything that juicy to talk about, but still, you get my point.  I'm totally out of the loop.  Who knows, a few more conversations with Mr. I-know-whats-going-on-with-everyone and I might just have to get on Facebook myself!