There’s a crying baby in my lap. She won’t go to sleep. I kind of want to play/read this for her:

But that would be wrong because she has a cold and probably feels like crap (and because she’s a baby and language and whatever–lighten up already, will you?), so I’m just playing it in my head while I type and let her go through her late-night fit of the overtired grumps with a nearby boob for comfort.

I skipped posting this weekend, but I did experience some calm along the way. I won’t get into all of it.  You’ll just have to take my word for it, though I will say there was a delicious corn chowder recipe involved, with bacon as an ingredient, and it falls firmly into the comfort food category. I know what you’re thinking: you had me at bacon. (And just like that, the baby went to sleep. I bet she heard me typing the word bacon and decided she should dream about it.) Back to the chowder: I can’t share the recipe because I’m pretty sure it’s a copyright infringement, but it’s located on page 72 of Katie Workman’s The Mom 100 Cookbook, which is one of three awesome cookbooks I received for Christmas. My son and my husband liked it, and I loved it. That’s enough to put it into regular rotation around here. My toddler… well, she’s picky as hell, so I can’t even remember whether she liked it because I’m too busy recovering from yet another traumatic meal where she wills herself to gag on foods she loved just a month ago… but it’s a safe bet to say she probably hated it, assuming she actually took a bite. The baby probably would have liked it, but she’s not quite that advanced yet, as I’m trying to narrow down some suspected food allergies with her, so we’re moving very slowly with new foods.

Among our other calm-related efforts this weekend, we started listening last night to the Celebrate Calm CDs (this is not a paid endorsement–in fact, I paid them for the privilege of listening, but I did get them on sale). So far, after hearing only one CD, the ideas make perfect sense, and I’m hopeful we can make some positive shifts in calming down our family interactions, especially with and between the older kiddos. It’s going to take some serious work to break lifelong patterns of yelling speaking passionately, but I’ll be a better parent for it, and my kids will be happier and healthier. This isn’t to say I’m a bad parent now, or that my kids are miserable… but we could all do and be better. Happier. Calmer. (Are you sick of that word yet? If so, you may want to type a new URL into the address bar at the top of your screen.) I’m tired of hearing them speak passionately to/at one another, but I realize this is learned behavior. Want a reality check about your personality flaws and parenting failures? Find a two-year-old to come and live with you, and then just go about your business as usual. On the one hand, she is awesome and spunky and smart and sassy and crazy and funny. So funny. But then there’s the fiery inside bits that come out in waves of moodiness and vitriol, and it’s hard to watch. And to live with. And to be. So we’re both working on being more of that first list and less of the latter.

Humble pie is much less tasty than corn chowder, but I’m going to eat it anyway. <gag> Wonder if it tastes better with bacon?