Muppets, Lynx, Jelly Donuts

That sound of silence you hear is of me being on overload; of volunteering to be on too many committees, promising to write too many blog posts, and setting too many fitness goals. I'm not happy or unhappy with these circumstances, I'm just on autopilot - blogging, soliciting food donations for our school's upcoming fun run, going through my tae bo kicks for my new fitness challenge, creating an online safety survey for Luke's school, and, you know, raising kids. Wednesday I was in Luke's classroom; tomorrow I'll be at Zach's school for snow day. And somehow I'm still getting the cooking, laundry and dishes done. Luckily Dave is around to serve as ongoing taxi driver, blog consultant, and overall calming influence.

Luke is having an amazing year of growth. For someone who sees him every day, even I think his physical changes are dramatic - taller, more slender face, more proto-adult expressions. And yet wrapped up in this little man-child is a total sense of innocence. In the evenings, after dinner and homework, we've been sitting together as a family to watch old Muppet episodes. One thing that fascinates me is how he can't quite make the mental leap to remember that the Muppets are inanimate. Every now and then when there's a skit with comic physical violence, he'll look up with concern and confusion and say, "Wait - I forget - does that actually hurt them?"

Zach has had more changes in the past month than most people would ever be comfortable with, and yet he's still cheery and happy-go-lucky as they come. He has this new little obsession with a picture of a mommy and baby lynx that we saw in National Geographic. He carefully tore it out and then hung it up on my bulletin board in Jolly Tomato Land. In the mornings, he likes to go and "visit" the lynx, which involves curling up with me on the love seat, looking at the picture, and talking about how sweet it is. And when just about anyone comes over to the house, he brings them upstairs to look at it. Tonight he designated one of his stuffed cats as the lynx and he built it a little bed, and then sang it a heartbreakingly sweet little song: "Oh little lynx/ I love you/ You are so beautiful/ I will take care of you/ I will keep you warm" and so on. I heard him singing and I told Dave, "We have to record that." And Luke heard me and he responded, as only a big brother can, "Yeah, let's keep it and play it to his friends when he is 16 so he's totally embarrassed."

We lost our beloved Tuesday/Thursday babysitter Rose when she left for college last week. And we thought we had a replacement in Danielle, a friend's babysitter, but she reluctantly had to back out after just one day when her school schedule changed. So in a mad scramble, I went to an online site that refers babysitters, and came up with...Berlin. Yes, Berlin is her name. She is sweet, young, charming, a little shy, and Zach loves her. Is he the kind of person who is bothered by three separate babysitters in three consecutive work days? Apparently not. And so we are moving into the Berlin era, or as I like to say, "Ich bin ein Berliner."