TV

As many of you know, we don't watch TV. We have a TV and it serves as a monitor for DVDs, the occasional VHS tape, the odd video game, and the Roku. If you've ever wondered why we are crazy like this, Randy Alcorn published a great article explaining how his family watches TV.

Long Weekend

Actually, the weekend was pretty good overall. However, it was a bit draining on me because I really took the kids. Amanda didn't feel well yesterday, so I took them out for the weekly errands and then took them to church. I had them outside with me this morning while I did yardwork, vacuumed the cars, and did other little outdoor tasks. I had them while Amanda went shopping with her family since her parents were in town. Finally, I had them after dinner.

The way I see it, I had nearly a whole week off and Amanda was fully engaged. Plus, I'm going to get home late on Monday-Wednesday this week because I'm going to learn how to sail sunfish sailboats. My goal was to let Amanda recharge a little bit.

The problem is that the kids seemed to be particularly emotional this weekend. Lily was flipping out over a ton of little stuff. Noah is getting more communicative, which includes being more whiny. Having to wake him from his nap both days didn't help the afternoons either. I think I got a good taste of what some of Amanda's days are like, and I can't say that I envy her much. Work can be annoying, but it's certainly an easier flavor of annoying to swallow.

Time to start a new week...

Getting Loquacious

Noah is a talking machine now. He's not always understandable, but it's even better than he was before the beach trip. He actually asks for stuff by name now. Sometimes there will even be a verb thrown in for good measure. It's really fun to see this develop.

He also is getting much better at stairs. He can walk down our front steps without scooting on his butt now. He also can climb steps without going down to his knees or using his hands. He's much faster when he crawls, but he can do it without.

And, perhaps most importantly, he turned when getting ready to hit with the big foam baseball bat. Previously he had a very, very wide-open stance. Think Tony Batista wide. Now, like Tony, he actually turns a little bit before you pitch. So that's something.

Home Again

Everyone got back home safely yesterday. I understand that it was kind of a long trip through some storms and a whiny Noah. However, everyone is back safe and sound now.

I'm working from home today and it feels like we haven't missed a beat. Noah was whiny before breakfast and lunch. Lily got a time out before lunch because of a bad attitude about putting away her laundry. Overall, things are great, but it's definitely back to business as usual.

Radio Silence

As much as I enjoy updating this blog every day while I cool down from exercise, there isn't much point. I don't think many of you will care to read about how I spent yesterday working on a paper or how I overslept this morning before running. I don't have any good news to share about the kids since they are at the beach.

However, it does occur to me that I could post some photos of the kids that I may not have posted before.

Entertaining Day

I may have doubled my movie intake for 2009 yesterday. At lunchtime we took the kids over to the McKenzies so Bill could watch them while Amanda, Tiffany, and I went to see the new Harry Potter. We liked it. We had planned on seeing it in IMAX, but it was sold out. The regular movie theater was fine though.

Then yesterday evening Amanda and I watched "21" courtesy of Netflix. I really enjoyed it, but then again I've always been fascinated by blackjack. I told Amanda that the geeks at MIT were pretty accurately written as far as I could tell.

Overall, it was a good day. Amanda was thinking about going to the beach yesterday, but just didn't have the energy for the long drive after dinner last night. She is going to go after lunch today. Let's hope that Noah takes a good, long nap.

Tee it Up

We got a bunch of old toys back from the McKenzies. One of them is the Elmo potty training chair. This is a tiny potty seat that Elmo can sit on. There's even an Elmo that tells you when he needs to go potty and if you get him on the seat in time he affirms that. Lily enjoyed playing with it.

Noah may not be quite ready for potty training, but he is ready to use the little potty seat in his own way. He used it as a tee for his foam baseballs. He put a baseball on a tee and then smacked it with his oversized foam bat.

I'm all for him playing like this!