The Squee

Oh my gosh, you guys, I got on the blogroll of the Baltimore Sun's parenting blogger. I wouldn't have known except I was checking the stats for my sister project and noticed that I was getting visitors through the Sun's blogs. Hey, thanks, Kate Shatzkin! This is much better news than what I was going to post from my stats, which is that someone actually found this blog by searching on the phrase "economic aspects of cloning dinosaurs."

I love being home. I know Baba is growing weary of my constant presence, and Dino Spouse finds me much more agreeable when I am as wiped out from the daily grind as he is and therefore less full of pent-up social energy. But the kids love having me home, and I like having the time to do things like cut out 100 6"x6" felt squares for church school craft projects and sort out all the family photos. Life without that 72-mile roundtrip commute sure is pleasant. Eeevil Seeestor is going back to work Monday after her maternity leave, and we're both pining for careers that allow us more family time without savaging our family economies. Sigh ...

I finished re-reading War and Peace in the delicious new translation by Pevear and Volkhonsky. It was so yummy that I don't even want to open another novel for fear that it will suck too much in comparison. But I do need to get rid of the 19th century earworm, since now I'm thinking in bad French in addition to contemplating my daily routine in terms that a 19th century gentlewoman might have employed. First I tend to my correspondence, then to my toilette, then to my sewing ... ah, but ma belle-mere is hardly a family retainer, and the children don't have a tutor or governess, and I haven't been to a ball since 1996. Yes, maybe that Easy Rawlins mystery would be a good idea to read after all.

UPDATE: Riley Dino came home and immediately logged on to Club Penguin, resulting in the following mother-son dialogue:

Riley: Why is it so cold in the freezing waters of Club Penguin?

Me: Uh-huh.

Riley: Mommy, do you like big fish or sharks?

Me: Big fish.

Riley: Why?

Me: I like big fish and I don't know why/No other mommy can deny/When I see a big fish/Sittin on my dish -

Riley: Why do I have to be humiliated by my own mother?

Me: How can you be humiliated when no one sees you?

Riley: But this is a public house!

I didn't have the energy to explain why he might not want to call his home a publichnij dom, but I'll get around to it one of these days.