The "Why" Phase

Sometime within the last couple of weeks, Jonah entered the "why" phase.  No matter what a person says, his response is "why?"  It's enough to drive a person crazy!  It reminds me of mom in the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease when she would ask the same question over, and over, and over. . .  During that phase, I also just wanted to scream.

By late last Tuesday afternoon, I simply told Jonah, "I'm not playing the 'why' game anymore." His response, surprisingly, was not "why?"  Instead he said, "I think you should play the 'why' game, grandma.  It's a lot of fun."  Just another example of Jonah going through a typical toddler phase yet adding his own above-average touch :)

Food For Thought

Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could.  Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day.  You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Paris, Here We Come!

Last night I finally booked our second trip to Paris for March 2013. Our first visit to the City of Light was in February 2008 in celebration of our 35 wedding anniversary.  We were there six nights.  For our second visit, we're staying nine nights, so should be able to take a slower pace.

Ideally, the weather will be a little warmer and we can enjoy long breaks at the sidewalk cafes or in the city's many parks.  But, with a longer stay, we also want to take a few day trips.  We definitely want to see Versailles.  And I'm researching Normandy and Mont Saint-Michel.

Most of all, however, we're looking forward to spending time with our nephew who's been studying in Paris since June 2012.  And I'm thinking his ability to speak French will be helpful, especially at the outdoor markets.

Paris is a beautiful city and I'm feeling very lucky to be able to visit her, again.

Check and Check

Today I finally did holiday prep that didn't include decorating a tree.  I finished decorating the dining room and front porch, and wrapped all the presents I've bought so far.  We're scaling back on the gift giving this year, but there's still a lot of wrapping to do with eight people in our immediate family.

Every year, my goal is to finish all the gift buying by Thanksgiving.  That didn't happen this year, but I'm close.  In fact, if I'm happy with the online orders I placed this week when they arrive, I'll be done.

I'm now "itchin'" to do holiday paper-crafting.  I have several projects in mind and am eager to get started.  But first I need to finish cleaning up the hobby room.  Getting all the Christmas gifts out and wrapped was a good start.

I'm feeling extremely accomplished this afternoon.  I just love checking items off a "To-Do" list!