Guess What?!

January 8, 2012

Dear Family,

A Grand Adventure is about to begin.
--Winnie The Pooh

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Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or to hatch.
--E.B. White

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Babies are such a nice way to start people.
--Don Herrold

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Having a child is surely the most beautifully irrational act that two people in love can commit.
--Bill Cosby

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Jemmerisms:

"I'm almost one hundred percent sure that we're having a girl [according to proponents of the Shettles Method http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shettles_Method , the odds in this case are more like 75-80%]."

"Really, the sun is a ball that goes around the earth [see Dad, he's a budding astrophysicist! Don't you think he's ready for your classes?]."

"When the baby comes out, the first thing that I'm gonna say is, 'hi!'"

Discussing the concept of corporal punishment after a book we are reading talks about a child getting a "licking": "...They should not spank you if you do something--they should ask why you did the thing."

"I'm gonna save up for a wind-up bus, an' a castle--a REAL castle."

"I'm glad I'm a kid [although] I'd also want to be a tiger."

At a museum: "Someone just said, 'Hello, little person,' and I'm Not Little!"

Pointing to a paper creation: "It's a guy dressed in a space suit who is swimming."

"Trains are my favorite driving things."

"Kids almost know everything."

"Do you know why I gave you this present? ...I thought it would make you happy!" And it did, I say, I love it, 'cause I love you! "Oh," says Jem, "I already know that."

As I turn out the lights at bedtime: "If you feel something hard in the bed that's talking, then you'll know it's me!"

"I played a game, to see who could get the most beans--and I won, and I talked to somebody who wasn't real, just in my mind."

Remarkably perceptive of cultural traditions surrounding him, despite his parents' athiest non-belief in said cultural myths, Jem's tuneful Christmas chanty goes something like this: "...Santa Claus comes to the house and brings presents for everybody, with his raindeer helping, and then goes off down the street to other houses, and flies in his sleigh..."

"When I was sitting in that tree, I was thinkin': 'I want Christmas to be right now!'" (What is absolutely and unequivically the best part of Christmas? "Getting presents.")

Looking out the front window: "I can see dragon scales from the rain."

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Bennerisms:

"That loft makes our house look like a whole different place!"

Jem points out a person who looks like Graham, but Ben disagrees. How do you know that isn't Graham? Jem wants to know. Ben answers: "Graham looks in a Grahammy way!"

Eying his seed packets, labeled as containing 30 seeds: "I'm gonna make SURE there's thirty, not just listen them--make SURE!"

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A very cool sight that Jeff and I chanced to view one evening this past fall:

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111028.html

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Events of Note:

--The boys and I visited The Discovery Center http://www.thediscoverycenter.org/ last month with some friends, and had a super fun time.

--Lots of fun wintertime crafting and reading-aloud and game-playing has been happening in our house. And let us not forget that 75% of our household is in deep study concerning the fine art of Nerf Gun Fights.

--I visited D. in Rochester for our first girl sleepover in....possibly ten or fifteen years (!?!). Was really really fun, and so nice because the boys and Jeff had a fun time at home--and Ben and Jem said, "Bye!" with no fuss at all when I was leaving

--Jeff and I watched "The Social Network", which was very entertaining and also annoying because I spent half the movie wondering whether various scenes were true or fictionalized (and if fiction, what REALLY happened??).

I am positive that other events of note happened recently, but I didn't write them down and therefore my brain has let them slide into the nether world of thoughts.

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Recent Good Books:

"Ginger Pye," "The Middle Moffat," and "The Moffat Museum," by Eleanor Estes

"The Pregnant Body Book", published by Dorling Kindersley

"Mom and Dad and I are Having a Baby," by Maryann Malecki

"The Pregnant Woman's Comfort Book," by Jennifer Louden

"The Pregnancy Book," by Dr. Sears

Any Book with Photographs by Lennert Nilsen is a good one to remind you why a pregnant woman is often super exhausted... (Did you know that if an embryo continues its initial rate of growth throughout a nine months pregnancy, it would weight about 1.5 tons when it was born? And did you know that cells get created at the rate of something like several bajillion per second during the first few months of pregnancy??)

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I am sure that many other fun and amazing things are happening in the world these days, and I hope you are all enjoying and taking part in them and that you'll report back soon.

Happy New Year!!

Love,
Sarabeth