Monday, November 24, 2008

PG-13 Post

It's been a delightful day. I slept in, as promised. So did Duet. What? Of course on the day Bert was supposed to get up with her she slept in until 7:00am. Lucky him.

I met some coworkers for brunch (sans kids). It was nice to pretend to be a grown up for a couple of hours.

Mrs Furious, kid, and baby came over for a few hours this afternoon. We had a splendid time catching up amid blanket forts, couch cushions, and wooden play food strewn about the room. Bert even made lunch for us while we visited. In furious fashion, everyone got along famously. The best part is we get to see them again on Thanksgiving.

Speaking of Thanksgiving. With the holiday this week, all of my classes are canceled so I have the entire week off. To celebrate I'm temporarily lifting my ban on multiple treats per weekday. Some of you may find this disappointing. Deal with it.

In preparation for winter, Bert and I spent the better part of the evening reconfiguring the play spaces in our house. Out of necessity we spend too much time indoors here during the frigid winter months, so in anticipation of the long days ahead we grouped toys together in new (hopefully exciting) ways and de-cluttered some toys that we no longer use (we took a big gamble tossing the talking Dora doll that Una loved in the past but hasn't played with for months. For some inexplicable reason, Duet is terrified of the Dora doll. Not Dora in general, just this particular doll).

The big news of the day is we created Gross Motor Basement. It's special enough that I've determined it should indeed be a Proper Noun. All of the random toys that had previously been in the basement (including the--according to Duet--creepy Dora doll) are now gone, making room for gross motor toys, and gross motor toys only. We're hoping this will encourage the girls to use said toys more, particularly during the months where we're cooped up so much. Behold Gross Motor Basement:
And finally, did anyone see this article in the New York Times? As of tonight, it's the number 1 most frequently emailed article on their website. In the words of Tobias Funke (from Arrested Development, of course) "Let the great experiment begin!" Although in that instance he was refering to creating an open marriage, and I'm pretty sure that's the opposite thing this article would have you do. Since my mom and other people I know read this blog, I'm not going to say whether or not Bert and I will be following Reverend Young's advice. But it's an interesting read.

And with that, I'd best be off for I've got some things (ahem) to take care of before the day is done.

7 comments:

Angie said...

Welcome home Bert! I'm glad that you were able to have some adult time this afternoon with Mrs. F. I know you have needed it. I love the new set-up in the basement. The kids will have a blast.

Grannie Annie said...

What a transformation you have done with the basement. The winter we lived in Detroit, [in a similar townhouse to yours] we put an old twin bed mattress on the floor for your 2 sisters [ages 15 months and 3]to jump on,thinking it was such a clever idea. The objective...they could play while I tended to the newborn who cried ALL DAY LONG for 2 months. However, they wouldn't venture downstairs without me. Hope you have better luck than we did. As for THE ARTICLE, I didn't read it, but did hear about the controversy it stirred. I make no further comment.

Mary Poppins said...

angie--thanks.

baba/ann--we actually do have a twin mattress down there too, you just can't see it in the picture. great minds think alike. about the article, i thought it was very interesting that the pastor was speaking out so (for lack of a better word) passionately about the subject, but i didn't realize it had stirred up quite the controversy. you know me. i love a good controversy.

Angie said...

Ok, just read the article. I forgot to the other night. What can I say...You know me...of course I loved the article. Whoop!!!!

Mary Poppins said...

angie--thought you'd enjoy

Kiki said...

I am loving Gross Motor Basement...you guys did an awesome job!!! When I was young and we lived in NY and PA I'm pretty sure my mom would have loved to have had the same set up. Instead she let us build tent cities in her living room, slide down the staircase in a pillowcase with the pillow inside and cook strange recipes in her kitchen.

Thanks for helping me remember the fun bits about winters spent indoors.

Mary Poppins said...

kiki--we do have the tent city thing going on here but i'd never thought of the pillow sliding. thanks for the idea. Duet occasionally falls down the stairs on her own, but I'm guessing that doesn't count.