Hi. I’m sure you remember me. It was your first day at the brand new store. You were so proud of your children’s book section. In fact the smile that you greeted me with and the sincerity in your voice when you told me to let you know if I had any questions was quite impressive. You seemed like such a nice girl. I can tell that doing your job well is important to you and I respect that immensly. You were so nice to show me the new book section and you laughed out loud when I commented on Walter the farting dog as if it was the best joke ever. I was really beginning to like you.

Which is why I am so sorry for spilling hot chocolate all over your pretty new books.

I am not usually a clumsy person. I can’t explain how it happened. All I know is that one minute we’re laughing about Walter farting and the next minute we’re frantically looking for something to wipe up hot chocolate from all those nice, new, neatly stacked books.

I know I kept saying sorry over and over again. And even after I ran through Personal Computing to the Starbucks to get napkins and some water and helped you clean up all the splatter marks, I still felt awful. And through it all you had the best spirit! You were so sweet to tell me, “This is the children’s section! At least the books aren’t covered in boogers.” And you even laughed when I told you I’d tote my kids on over this weekend and we’d take care of that one too.

And to top it all off, I really love the book you finally recommended. I Saw an Ant on the Railroad Track is so much fun. I can’t wait to read it to Swee’Pea and TheMonk.

So, once again, I just wanted to say how sorry I am. And I also wanted to commend you on your excellent customer service. Because of you, I know I’ll be back.

I’ll just leave my hot chocolate behind.

Sincerely,

Matthew.

Note: This post was inspired by Idea #21 in No One Cares What You Had For Lunch: 100 Ideas for your Blog by Margaret Mason. Which Barnes and Noble carries, by the way. I know because I made the new staff find it for me. Have you bought your copy yet? Did I mention that I’m in it?

You think changing diapers and feeding an infant at 3:00 a.m. is the worst thing you’ll face?

No, my friend. Not until you have to hold your child while s/he gets his/her immunization shots and cries out in pain and confusion, will you truly be introduced to the downside of parenting.

(Oh, and trying doing it twice in a row – that’s what you get when you have twins.)

Becky tagged me with the following meme this week. Seeing as how it takes up a day of blogging, why not? So here’s all about me and my books.

1) One book that changed my life. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book that changed my life. If I had to choose something I would choose “The One Minute Manager” by Ken Blanchard. It really resonated with me on how I wanted to manage people who work for me. The most basic thing – the one that is still the most difficult for me – is catching people doing things right – instead of looking for things they do wrong. Positive reinforcement works much better than negative reinforcement in both work and life.

2) One book I read more than once. I tend to read many books again. If I find a book that I enjoy, I’ll read it again whenever the mood strikes. I have re-read most Judy Blume books countless times. I have read all the Harry Potter novels more than once. If it grabs my attention, it will do it again and again.

3) One book I’d want on a deserted island. War and Peace. It has lots of pages and they might come in handy if there is no toilet paper on said island.

4) One book that made me laugh. Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor is a great humor-injected book about, well, days on Lake Wobegon. I have never heard Keillor’s radio stories but this book is a classic.

5) One book that made me cry. I recently read a book by Tim Russert called “Wisdom of our Fathers: Lessons and letters from daughters and sons.” This book came about after Russert wrote a book about his own father entitled, “Big Russ and Me: Father and Son: Lessons of Life.” So many people were moved by this book (that I have yet to read) that it inspired them to write to him with stories about their own father, which Russert compiled into “Wisdom.” It’s a great book – just don’t read it in public.

6) One book I wish I’d written. Anything by Dr. Seuss. The man was a genius.

7) One book I wish had never been written. My first-year chemistry textbook in college. My professor wrote the book and we were his guinea pigs. The book was given to us in chapters (as it hadn’t been published yet) and we were the ones that found the errors (after hours of trying to solve an unsolvable equation!). No, I’m not bitter. Why do you ask?

One book I’m reading now. I recently picked up a book that was sent to me via this blog called “Little League, Big Dreams.” It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the 2005 Little League World Series. (MetroDad gets DVD players sent to him. I get books. I need a better agent.) I have a Master’s Degree in Sport Psychology and my thesis topic was the role of parents in pressuring their children in sports. I’m interested to see how this book portrays the dark side of Little League – the parents.

9) One book I’ve been meaning to read. I’m not sure. A Barnes & Noble opens up down the street from me in TWO days (but who’s counting?) so maybe I’ll find something then.

10) Tag, you’re it. Clare’s Dad mentioned memes to me the other day in discussing the NaBloPoMo thingy. So I’m tagging him for sure. How about you Melissa, are you game? Deanna, you too. Oh, and Samantha Jo, we need to know about your book reading habits. And anyone else blogging every day this month who needs something to write about. You’re it.

Bri has a habit of throwing her sippy cup of milk on the floor before she is finished with it. Seeing as how she’s strapped into her high chair, this presents quite a quandary for her as she cannot retrieve it herself.

This day Mommy and myself are in the kitchen as they eat. Mommy hands Swee’Pea her sippy cup and soon thereafter the cup winds up on the floor. As we have begun to do, Mommy takes the cup and hands it to me. “If you’re gonna throw it on the floor, Swee’Pea, then I guess you’re all done.” Swee’Pea understands “all done” and she is not happy. However, instead of throwing her usual tantrum she tries another approach.

She looks at me from her chair. She tilts her head to one side and looks at me. Her eyes become full and almond shape. Her mouth slightly pouts as she looks at me with a mixture of sadness and cuteness that is almost impossible to ignore. For a slight second, I feel myself starting to cave. I fight it with all of my might. It is a fight that I almost lose but at the last minute I dig deep and find a resolve I didn’t know I had. “You’re all done, Bri.” I manage to say.

She continues her piercing look but Mommy, who seems immune to her cuteness, sees what’s going on and breaks the spell by pointing out how cute she looks trying to convince me to give her the milk. We laugh about it as Mommy gets her cleaned up from dinner.

“Yeah,” I say. “That was close.”

Halloween has come and gone. Christmas decorations are already nosing themselves into our daily lives with only a faint nod to Thanksgiving. But before I move onto Turkey and Tinsle, I thought I’d comment on some of my observations of Halloween this year…

On Candy:
- 100 Grand candy bars are the William H. Macy of the candy bars. Excellent – yet not recognized enough for that excellence.

- I bought well over 150 pieces of candy to distribute, thinking I’d get some left over. Yeah, that happened.

- The beauty of having kids that are old enough to trick or treat but not old enough to actually eat any of the candy is that we don’t have to run to the store to buy more candy when we run out.

On Trick or Treaters:
- If you have cleavage while wearing a french maid costume, it’s probably a sign that you’re too old for trick or treating.

- If you cannot get off your cell phone long enough to say “Trick or Treat,” you’re probably too old to be doing this.

- If I give you a piece of candy and you reach for something else in the bowl, don’t expect to get that hand back anytime soon.

- I have gone through the trouble of decorating and buying the candy. I have done my part. Is it too much to ask for you to do your part by at least saying “Trick or Treat!”?

- Who has their 2-year-old daughter trick or treating at 8:45 p.m.? Apparently, one of my neighbors.

- When your children are 16-months-old, the bowl of candy is the best play toy EVER.

On Decorations
- If you deck your whole house out in Halloween decorations, it would probably be a good idea to be home on Halloween. I mean, it kinda looks like you’re open for business. You know what I mean?

- To the house down the street: You must really love Christmas. As you were the only house that had a lit tree in the window and a wreath on the door for Halloween.

TheMonk can’t yet walk. He can take a few steps but then his belly gets out in front of him and down he goes.

The only problem is that he seems to forget that he can’t yet walk. It’s not uncommon to see him look at something more than a few feet away and just start walking over to where he wants to go. Inevitably, he falls down. Luckily this seems to freak me out more than it does him. In fact, he doesn’t seem fazed at all. He just finishes his trip on his hands and knees and bides his time until he tries again.

No fear. That’s my boy.

Update: I wrote this post a few days ago so I could post it in my delusional attempt to participate in NaBloPoMo. It just goes to show that you can’t wait to post something like this because in a second, things have changed. TheMonk is as close to a walker as a walker can be without really walking. Do you know what I mean? He totters. He teeters. He stops. He starts. And he still falls down. But the falls are getting a lot less frequent. We now have two toddlers and zero babies. When did the heck did that happen? I demand a recount.

It’s funny how we are seeing personalities emerge and solidify for both TheMonk and Swee’Pea as we go through our every day lives. Halloween this year was no exception.

We took TheMonk and Swee’Pea out for a little Trick or Treating this year and watching them take in this new journey was interesting in itself. TheMonk, for the most part, seemed fascinated by the process. “People are giving me stuff when I ring their doorbell. This is interesting, indeed.” Swee’Pea, on the otherhand, seemed totally drawn into the social aspect of the event (“Hi-ya! Hi-ya! Bye-bye! Bye-bye!”) while being a little unsure of the whole receiving candy thing (“What does this person want with me? Why is she giving me things and smiling?”).

After our brief trick-or-treating excursion we retreated back to Casa Childsplay and camped ourselves at the front door, awaiting the hordes of kids who would soon be arriving. Over the next hour or so, TheMonk and Swee’Pea played in the bowl of candy, hiding little stashes of chocolates behind them for future use. Whenever trick-or-treaters would arrive, Swee’Pea would do the welcoming. “Hi-ya!” She would wave. She would get especially excited if little girls would come to the door. Her smiles throughout the process were of pure joy and it melted my heart to see her enjoying herself so much. TheMonk, on the other hand, seemed interested in the people coming but was more interested in the big bowl of candy.

Finally, the night was done and it was time for bed. Swee’Pea protested vehemently but as soon as her head hit the mattress, she was asleep. Soon both TheMonk and Swee’Pea were sound asleep, dreaming of chocolate, little princess and a day to remember.