New Year Ramblings

It's noon on the first day of the year. I'm fighting a sinus infection, not helped by having to get up with a recalcitrant toddler at 4:37 this morning, a mere 3 1/2 hours after we all finally tucked it in. He did go back to sleep until 8. I got that going for me.

So what I'm saying is, Happy New Year!

But I hope you're not expecting greatness today, because I ain't got it.

I got a picture of an aircraft carrier. THE aircraft carrier:



Yup. Now it didn't go quite as I predicted - he actually thought it was really neat and flew planes around for the better part of the day. Plus, his Mimi got him another plane, so planes have been swooping around and crashing into my tush for a week now. It was cool enough that he didn't remember that Santa didn't give him bike for a few days.

See that one plane? The one that looks like it's got a dinner plate on the back? It's moments like this that my hubby amazes me. He's a pretty atypical guy - I was recently spackling, sanding, priming, and painting a wall while he washed the dishes - but he still has the capacity to surprise me. Like when the toddler busts out the plane with the dinner plate on it and the hubby patiently explains, "Oh, now that's an AWACS plane, probably from 1966."

HUH?

Is this a guy thing? Like when we'd pass a boat of a vintage car on the highway, and my dad would say, "Now that's a '57 Chevy, because they changed the fins from the '56 by three inches." And, as the car full of confused women (Mom and my sisters) thought, what the heck?, he added, "I liked the '58 better. Of course, they fazed the fins out . . ." he could go on for hours like this.

And my hubby - who makes the best damn chocolate chip cookies in the world - knows them all. All five of our new planes and helicopters. And this knowledge has been passed on to the 3 year old. Although he doesn't pronounce AWACS quite right. But he's got it.

Anyway.

So you got any resolutions? I resolve to be more patient, like when I wait to hear from editors and agents and Oprah's assistant (just kidding!) or when the toddler pushes my buttons or when contractors don't show or when I shatter a crown the day before New Year's Eve and no dentist is in the office until Monday. Patience. Gonna get me some.

I also make my standard resolutions, the ones I make every single year. Better posture (don't laugh, I've made this resolution for going on fifteen years now). Healthier eating. Be a better friend. Be a better wife and mother and daughter.

You know. The standard shift.

I wish I could make resolutions for my toddler - more pleases and thank yous, less whining, more sleeping through the night, picking up toys without being asked - but I know that's a pipe dream. Plus, it's bad for my karma.

So I make them for myself. More pleases and thank yous. Get some more sleep. Whine less. Try to keep my dining room table from becoming the dumping ground for the house.

All I can do is hope I keep them, and hope that it rubs off on my little guy.

I wish you all the best for 2009!