Peanuts

• I kicked the new year off with a bang: I had my Cheerios in whole milk. Hell yes!
  
• Monkey see, monkey do: I complimented Matthew on his balance on Mommy's wobble board -- he's really quite good. As soon as he got off, Melissa jumped on to show her stuff. (Not as impressive.)
• We are now a two-TV family: I got a CRT SDTV at wal-mart for the kids' room. That way, the kids can watch DVDs while the adults do something downstairs. More importantly, I can play Rock Band and Guitar Hero. (Rachel does not want the instruments in her living room.)
• It's fun watching the kids discover things for the first time. Recently they tasted sherbet and loved it. (I'm not sure why it took six years -- I don't think Rachel is a big sherbet fan.) They are also enjoying pop-tarts as part of Operation Get Melissa Some Calories. I never had pop-tarts as a kid and now I am too old. (To my aged taste, they are far too sweet, but kids would eat sugar with a spoon if you let them.)
• Isaac looks like he's on track to sleep through the night by the time he's two, just like his brother and sister.
• When Matthew's mouth starts moving, the rest of him stops. He and Melissa are supposed to help me with the kitchen, and usually Matthew does a lot more than his sister since he's that much more capable. But last night he would not shut up, and Melissa and I did the whole thing while he stood by the silverware drawer chatting and not putting silverware away. As I recall, his subject was how he was going to save up for an iPhone and how cool it was going to be. It's a good thing that anticipation is part of the fun, because that's all he's going to have for a long, long time.
  
• Matthew has been trying to work "heck" into his vocabulary Just Like Daddy. (Sorry, Abby -- that's as strong as my language gets around the kids.) He's not very good at it: "What is heck that?" he will ask. Or this morning: "What is heck smells burning?"
• On the phone with Dad the other day, he mentioned that he liked to get us presents he wanted when he was a kid. Me too! That's why Matthew has so many video games.