We love you Old Gray Hair!

I just came from tucking R in. I was lying beside her in her bed and she was telling me I couldn't wear a dress tomorrow and I said, "You're not the boss of me." To which she replied, "No, Old Gray Hair is the boss of you." And then we both laughed so hard we cried. I've never heard a four year old make an actual funny joke and I've never shared a laugh like that with one either. It was quite funny.

For anyone not in on the joke, Old Gray Hair is my poor mother. And also a Native American in The Last of the Mohicans. R decided to call my mom Old Gray Hair on a whim last week and I explained to her that this was also an ooooooooooooold man in a movie. She was quite pleased with her cleverness.

In other news, the iPod in the baby's room is stuck on repeat and has been for two days now. We put music on while he sleeps to block out the noise of the rest of the house. During the blackout that followed the hurricane the iHomes were all useless and the house was SO quiet. I swear that baby has super sonic hearing as well, and he woke up every time we breathed too loudly.

But he doesn't seem to mind the same song (Time to Say Goodbye -- by Some Italian Guy) playing over and over and over and over again all night long. The rest of us do, but he doesn't. Last night T and E were out and I had to take the monitor downstairs with me. I almost ripped my ears off. Then I just turned the volume off and hoped that if he woke up crying I would just see the red light indicating blood-curdling screams in the dead of the night.

Fortunately he didn't wake up on my shift and the very second I heard the garage door open above me I turned off the monitor.

Baby I's new catch phrases include "Oooooooooooooooooo!" and meowing. I take full responsibility for both of them as I like to meow and also exclaim "OOOOOOOOOO!" every time I discover something I like, no matter how mundane.

The doorbell rings and it's a package for me.

"Ooooooooooooo!"

T's blow dryer brushes hair stick straight while drying.

"Ooooooooooooo!"

The garbage man has been throwing away our recyclables because this company doesn't take plastic and if I just stick to glass and metal the right truck will pick it up.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

That was a big moment for me. It's been an ongoing battle since I got here. E and T told me not to bother with the recycling because the garbage man was just throwing it all out but I knew there had to be a reason. And I was right.

This company doesn't take cardboard or plastic. How lame is that? It has greatly reduced the amount of actual recycling we have any given day. And no we are throwing out oodles of plastic and cardboard. Especially right now.

Do you know how many milk jugs, tissue boxes and Cheerios boxes having three kids in the house can produce? Enough. That's for sure.

I spent all of today kneading cookie dough and freezing it for the next few weeks. I baked some and the kids decorated sugar cookies. E came into the kitchen while we were hard at work.

"Ahhhh, Kimberly, I know what you're doing here." He said smugly. "Child labor. Having the kids make Christmas cookies for you. I know that's what's going on."

He couldn't be more right.

I am not even really a nanny.

We were all home all day and the banter and ridiculous accusations have gone on just as long. There was much laughter today.

Except for the baby. He's moody and all he does is throw tantrum after tantrum. He's learned that his gentle "falls" to the ground aren't getting attention and so he has actually begun to throw himself to the tile floor and has several bumps as a result. He's still not getting his way though and it's really ticking him off.

He ran from adult to adult all day trying to get us to give him things he wasn't allowed to have or do things he's not allowed to do to no avail.

So maybe he would be more bothered by the repeating iPod if he wasn't so exhausted from screaming at everyone all day.

I have to go turn the heat down now. It's become something of a sauna in here.

I'm going to put on a sundress and wrap Christmas presents while singing Christmas carols to myself. It should be fun.