Moving and making other life changes

One main reason for the recent and prolonged blog-silence is that we made a major move. A huge shift. Husband is now unshackled from the military, and son is learning more words than I can even keep track of, much less understand.

It's amazing how one settles into old routines once the dust settles. I had been allowing son to watch TV (always PBS or movies) so that I could get other things done, but have come to the conclusion that I have done quite a bit a harm (hopefully reparable), and have had to crack down. This, of course, comes with the standard withdrawal symptoms, which in a toddler are equally as unpleasant as they would in an adult...or, arguably more so because of the tantrums in which he throws himself onto the floor and wails (all the while looking at me as though I've betrayed his heart) or bangs his head against the wall. I have expected this, so I'm not entirely surprised, nor am I completely uncompassionate. We headed out to the park today, and of course, it started to rain. So I thought we might detour and see if the horses were out, which, of course, they weren't. My attempts to lure him into tower-building or book-reading were not successful. In the end, I'd just hold him in my lap, let him have his cry out, and eventually, let him dig through a box of junk that hasn't been sorted through in the month and a half since we moved in.

I recently finished reading Jim Trelease's The Read-Aloud Handbook, which makes a good case for the TV crack-down and my becoming a bit of a dictator about it. I've started to realize that I watch too much tv as well...and then when midnight roles around and I've finished getting my Daily Show/Colbert Report fix, I'm up reading...sorry Jon and Stephen...I love you, but I need sleep. So here I am, writing about it instead of watching, go figure. In any case, the TV is about two steps away from being out the door. We may have to go cold-turkey.

I've also begun to be a bit of an activist...I decided to support Ron Paul, even though it's certain he won't win. Normally, I like to have opinions, but keep them to myself or, at the very least, share them with like-minded others. But on this point, I cannot be more firm: at least check out what he has to say.

Anyways, bed and book call.