Ahem. Well, this is embarrasing.

I sheepishly remember scoffing at the blog patterns of many parents I know....starting strong, and then just pathetically drifting off.  A weekly blog, turns monthly, turns...off.  I made lots of excuses - the new house, unpacking, Joanna and fam's visit, Chad's visit, Susie's visit, Ron and Margarette's visit, perhaps there was a partial eclipse I could blame it on?   The truth is so typical and mundane.  When tired, blogging is not nearly as entertaining as surfing the NY Times, engaging in Amazon retail therapy, folding clothes (ok, perhaps it tops that), or watching "Lie to Me" or "Modern Family" with Theresa. Did I mention trying to research a host of home improvement projects, including hot water heaters (including solar!), attic insulation, replacing garage door springs (doh!), new windows, home generators, kids swingsets, arborists (let me save you some time - tree topping bad, wind-sailing good, canopy lifting ok), and deck replacements.  Did I mention water feature replacement research? Car sales and purchases? Mountain bike research? Efficient light bulbs?  It's possible I have a problem.

But enough about my problems.  A typical conversation, since Madelyn started preschool:
   Me: How was your day?
   Madelyn: Can I have a bunnie cracker?
   Me: Seriously, sweetheart, did you have a fun time with Teacher Dianna and Teacher Melanie?
   Madelyn:  Mmmm, milk?
   Me: Did you do any crafts, any painting or drawing today?
   Madelyn:  Down please.

It's a bit disheartening. She comes home with lots of projects (Fall wreaths made with real leaves, Halloween paintings, squishy ziplocks of colorful goop, egg carton creatures, masks made from paper plates...you know the drill.)  Tonight, I knew they had gone on a field trip, and - my ace in the sleeve - Theresa went with, to give me the gouge.

Ha!  We went round and round 4-5 times, with Theresa imploring Madelyn to tell me, trying to give hints.  Nothing.  It's like she's been to SERE training (survive, evade, resist, escape - the Navy's POW training) and she's only 3.  We got irritable.  "Ok, Madelyn, no dessert if you can't tell Baba what you did."  I'm not proud of it. After which she playfully kept repeating "Hmmmm....Madelyn thinking" or just "Hmmmm, M&M?" This went on intermittently for 10 minutes before dinner, with T getting increasingly irritated. I told T to just let it go, Madelyn just seemed to be feeding off the attention (with more Hmmmm's and no answers). We told her Isaac would get M&M's and she wouldn't (since those may be her fav). Nothing. Finally, as dinner was almost over, and we resumed talking about Isaac's pending treat, we hear "Grocery Store!"  They had gone to a local organic grocery store, and the kids got to pick out and buy a variety of fresh items in preparation for a Thanksgiving meal the class is making (Madelyn got leeks.  I'm fairly certain I couldn't pick leeks out from any significant array of green sprout things, and if they were in my yard I'm fairly certain I would be pulling them up whilst cursing. But I digress). There was no relief, no "thank goodness that blasted term finally crept up from my sieve-like brain" feeling, only smug self-assurance that candy was imminent. And it was.  Foiled again.