My mind, and the places it goes

In this week's The Brookline Parent column, mabfan discusses how much screen time Muffin and Squeaker get and how they spend that screen time. Click here to read "Telling Off Television" and to vote in the associated Patch poll.

In this week's The Brookline Parent column, mabfan discusses the places we cut corners and perhaps do not set the best example for our children. Click to read Bad Parenting.

In this week's The Brookline Parent column, mabfan discusses how we spent the last week of December with the girls and how we kept them occupied while both their playgroup and their regular babysitter were on break. Read A Week With Twins in Brookline to see the local resources we used.

Last night, as I was leaving the grocery store, I realized a card that I usually carry in my wallet was missing. This was an annoyance but not calamitous, so after checking the logical places around home, I figured I'd check the environs of my work desk and then, if I couldn't find it, I would replace it.

This morning, mabfan and I were running slightly late due to the vagaries of the Green Line and the subsequent impact on our babysitter's commute. We were discussing something I cannot remember anymore, but I stopped in my tracks when I looked at the light pole near where we were standing. There, tucked into the top of a random flyer taped to the pole, was my missing card.

We then got on the train that arrived. Now, I have a habit of saying "good morning" to the train operator (though I am usually one of the only ones who do so), and this morning was no different. I greeted the driver, and I realized it was a driver I knew, whom I'd seen a number of times while I was unemployed and taking the T back and forth between home and Coolidge Corner. But this morning was the first time he'd seen me and mabfan together in a while. And he remembered that he had last seen us together when Muffin and Squeaker were tiny. In fact, he was the T driver the first time we took Muffin and Squeaker on the T, when they were all of five days old. He was so excited, he asked about how the girls were doing, and he was very surprised it had been almost 2.5 years since he'd seen them.

It was a lovely way to start my morning -- not only did I get back some lost property, but mabfan and I got a chance to take some extra pride in our girls, seeing them through the eyes of someone who had met them and been charmed by them.

In this week's The Brookline Parent column, I talk about celebrating Thanksgiving with Muffin and Squeaker in Muffin and Squeaker Give Thanks.

mabfan has town-related commitments tonight, so after I got Muffin and Squeaker to finally go to bed*, I started getting ready for Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah,** which end the fall Jewish holiday sweep, and Shabbat. To that end, I have:

-- Cooked two pans of macaroni and cheese
-- Cooked a lasagna
-- Baked a pan of chocolate chip cookie bars
-- Made a thing of home-made whipped cream (in this household known as "splorp")
-- Set out the candles for yom tov, including the yahrtzeit lights*** and the candles for lighting things****
-- Cooked eggs for the eiruv tavshilin*****
-- Confirmed location of our Sukkot machzorim******
-- Checked the tires on our big stroller to confirm that they were full of air*******
-- Torn enough toilet paper to get us through yom tov and Shabbat********

And now I'm catching up on TV (some online, some on DVR) that I've missed (and that mabfan doesn't watch) due to yom tov.

( Notes back here )

OK, so the notes are almost as long as the post. :-)

Because Rosh Hashana starts tonight and goes through Friday night (when it runs into Shabbat), our Brookline Parent column is up early. In this column, I discuss how we are trying to pass traditions along to Muffin and Squeaker. Click to read Muffin and Squeaker, Meet Apples and Honey.

In this week's column, I discuss waging The Bedtime Wars and the challenges of getting Muffin and Squeaker down for the night.

10:47 AM: power dip

1:48 PM: power dip

2:42 PM: power dips three times then stays off

9:17 PM: power returns

9:31 PM: power gone again

11:37 PM: power back

After a while, NSTAR Electric was only taking reports of electrical emergencies, for which "we're the only block on the street that's still in the dark" doesn't qualify. The only estimate they were willing to make regarding power coming back was "contact us if your power has not been restored by Tuesday."