I'm going to come back to my blog little by little hitting the topics that have worked well for me in the past. Readers interested in politics or sports should read my friend Mike's blog (see link below).

News of the kids:
Last night, I put the kids to bed and May was upset because it was me, and not Jill, who was putting her to bed. She was crying.

"Why are you crying, honey?" I asked.
"Because Mommy isn't putting me to bed."
"Is mommy that much better at this than me?"
"Yes she is."
"Why?"
"Because she never yells at me."
"Well, I'm not yelling at you now am I?"
"No, but you do yell at me when I do something dangerous."
"Yes, that's true. But, no one is yelling now, we're just listening to poems and singing rock-a-bye-baby. OK?"
"OK, Di-di."

After I got her in bed, she ran out of her room crying and woke up her brother. This usually makes me angry. I put on a decent scowl and put her back into bed. Then I went to take care of El Destructo.

Ben had turned on his light and was putting on some clothes. He had both feet into the legs of some additional pajama pants and had put on a t-shirt such that one of his arms was sticking through the neck of the t-shirt along with his head.

"Benjamin, " I asked him, "Are you putting on your clothes and getting ready for the day?"
"Uh-huh."
"It's still night time, Ben. You need to go back to sleep."
"Oh."

He went back to sleep with no struggle.