Oh, you hate your job? Why didn’t you say so? There’s a support group for that. It’s called everybody, and they meet at the bar.”
~Drew Carey

Responsible Children

The surest way to raise selfish, rude, contentious, unhelpful children is
to have low expectations for what they can and should offer to your family and community. However, if your belief system is built upon the premise that everyone should contribute to the well-being of all, no matter their ages and ability levels, your actions, attitudes, and expectations will reflect that, and your young child will begin to learn the value of responsibility.

From "Wiggle, Giggle, Learn"

Amelia has chores - at 22 months old. She's been helping me with laundry since she was 16 months old (taking the wet clothes from the basket and putting them in the dryer). She helps "unload" the dishwasher now - hands me the dishes from the bottom rack and I put them away. She brushes her own teeth (I follow up, but she still does a pretty good job) and gets her own step stool to see the sink. She helps make her breakfast oatmeal (now I just lay out the ingredients and she can do most of it on her own). She lets me know when she needs a diaper change and goes to sleep when she's told, wherever she's at (unless there is a bed with no rails, and that scares her).

I'm pretty proud of her!!

Books

“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture
every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense
of the beautiful implanted in the human soul.” --Johann Wolfgang Goethe

When Rafe is gone, I will read a little bit in bed at night before I go to sleep to relax. I love to read - you can learn anything in the world you want to by reading. I think college is great, but I always joke around and tell Rafe that I saved a lot of money by never going to college because the professor's job is to tell you what to read, talk about what you've read, and then test you on what you've read.

Last night I skimmed through:
"Turning Hurts into Halos" by Robert Schuller
"Parenting without Perfection - Being a Kingdom Influence in a Toxic World" by David John Seel, Jr.
"Good Night, Sleep Tight: The Sleep Lady's Gentle Guide to helping your child go to sleep, stay asleep, and wake up happy" by Kim West with Joanne Kenen

I highly recommend the Sleep Lady. She's awesome.

Now I need to read the instructions on this blog so I can figure out how to undo my italics and only keep them for the quote. I keep hitting the "i" but nothing changes.