Thanks

I always feel a little cheesy at Thanksgiving when everyone around the table has to share something they are grateful for. But I have so much goodness in my life. Here is an incomplete list:

• Russell
• Dorian
• Russell's love for me
• Dorian's sweet smiles and happy nature
• my sisters, with whom i can talk about anything
• my students, who let me be completely myself
• my employers, who have given me my life as I know it
• old friends
• new friends
• music
• books. and the library.
• opportunities to learn new things
• unlimited possibilities
• the power to choose
• parents who taught me to think critically
• a big family, with lots of nieces and nephews to love
• electricity, running water, air conditioning, heat
• indoor toilets
• the internet
• garbage pickup
• computers
• digital cameras
• cell phones
• money
• the United States of America
• inlaws who are so loving and generous
• my house
• my car
• airplanes
• funny tv shows like The Office and 30 Rock
• sleep
• cookie dough
• forgiveness
• truth

Dear Santa

Russell always claims I don't know how to spend money on myself. He says I never want anything. But I do want stuff:

• a sewing machine (not a super expensive one, just so I can do mending and make halloween costumes and...quilts...)
• a magic bullet (so i can make homemade baby food for dorian)
• clothes! (i need jeans, skirts, and t-shirts that are long enough to wear without a shade shirt. shade shirts were cool before i started breastfeeding a baby.)
• more clothes (sweaters, hoodies)
• shoes (i only ever own two pairs of every-day shoes at a time. one black, one brown. both my pairs are worn out.)
• magical weight loss abilities (so i can actually look cute in my new clothes)
• books
• Finale 2009 upgrade
• T-Tapp
• a Blackberry, maybe, or another phone/pda that I would like even better

Is it too early to be writing this letter?

Dorian Rolls

He has been practicing this all day. At least he always ends up (approximately) back where he started, so he isn't rolling across the room yet.

Sleep Training Question

I got the following comment on my sleep training post, and since many of my readers commented about having done some kind of sleep training, I thought maybe I would ask for your input again. This mom is right in the middle of it, so if you have any ideas for her, please comment quickly!

Hey, your blog was so helpful b/c I am dealing with the same issues. Our baby is four months old and we are 5 nights into sleep training. she is getting much better and at naps we can put her down awake. the issue is that we put her to bed at 7, and she has been waking up at 11/12 and will not put herself back to sleep. before we started training she would usually go to 1 or 2 and sometimes later, so we don't think she's hungry. so my husband sleep trains her at 11/12, it takes about 1.5 hours. then some nights she's woken up between 2 and 4, at which point i feed her. my question is like yours-- if this is basically behavioral training, and i make her cry at 11 but feed her at 2--- she can't distiguish, so should i not be feeding her at 2?! also, we're a bit baffled at the early 11/12 waking that won't go away... anyone have theories on that?!

It's going to be okay

I'm so not into politics. So I'll keep this short. The 53% who voted for Barack Obama did so because he gave them hope. The other 47% are unfortunately left feeling rather hopeless. But you know, hope is a powerful thing. Maybe just the fact that 63 million people are feeling hopeful will make a difference, you know? And are the rest of us so interested in being right that we are going to mope around for the next 4 years while we watch our country fall apart? Just so we can say I told you so?

I'm not suggesting we fall blindly in line and start supporting everything Barack Obama says. No way; that's not what this country is about. I'm just saying. Let's move forward with our dreams. Let's stop preaching doom and gloom, and prove instead that anything is possible. Life is good. :)