Monday, December 31, 2007

New Years Eve with Anderson Cooper

CNN was the only channel we could find here on the West coast broadcasting the EST New Year's ball drop in Times Square, New York in real time. None of the 3 broadcast networks bothered. I guess they think we enjoy watching the taped version here in California better than the live version, and Shrek 7 and Dr. Phil would bring in more viewers on New Years here in the 7th largest economy in the world or whatever we are.

But we needed a 9 o'clock New Year.

It was a necessity seeing that we had 3 children of ages 4 and 5 who we wanted to take part in the celebration of year 2008. Despite our best planning, said children either broke down or got hyped up beyond put-downable states just as the EST New Year rang in. Pajama sharing, red vs. gold party crowns and New Year's kisses were all in dispute. At least the 2 year old was asleep--the house might have exploded otherwise.

Some bright spots of 2007: Little Erin, who despite being a home wrecker extraordinaire, has learned to charm the pants off us, even as she nearly sets the house on fire. Katie who never ceases to astound me with profound statements of sensitivity, like last night when she said, as she fell asleep holding her sister's hand "Next time Clara [her friend] comes over, I'm going to tell her that Erin can join the game". The tension between big sisters/little sisters and their friends cannot be underestimated, and the generosity of Katie's statement therefore touched me.

Erin will finally sit down in the bathtub, hallelujah--from ages 1-2 she refused to as I traumatized her one too many times with hair washing. The trauma still happens once a week, but at least she can finally enjoy her bath when it's not hair washing night.

Sleep: we are getting more of it, though still not enough. Erin generally only wakes up once a night between 4:30 and 5:30 AM, coming to our bed to nurse, and Katie has stopped coming up at 6 AM to wiggle me into a caffeinated, toothpicks holding up the eyes, state.

Hopes for the New Year:
  • An end to far-right-wing, religious-fundamentalist, corporate-pirate rule of our country.
  • An end, or at least an end in sight, to a war that's been going on since Katie was two months old.
  • More hope, happiness and love for all of us.
  • May we actually send the Thank You cards for Erin's Birthday.
  • That we provide Katie with an enjoyable 5th birthday party which will not result in us, her parents, filing for divorce.
  • Oops, never mind, we can't get a divorce because we're not married.
  • Exercise more and eat more fruits and vegetables (and convince the children that foods besides pasta can be tasty).
  • Pick the best public Kindergarten for our firstborn.
  • Take more vacations.
  • Do more good things.

1 comment:

Janet Byron said...

Amen for all of the above New Year's wishes!

Erin was especially charming when she put on all 10 leis in the New Year's Eve party kit. So cute!

(OK, back to work. What do you think I do, write blog comments for a living?)