the news

i'm afraid i haven't really been a stellar parent lately. i've been getting rather upset with ellen. she can be somewhat infuriating when she wants to be. if you have a sense of humor and roll with things she snaps out of it really quick - but if you let it drive you nuts she'll carry on for days and days. i'm afraid nothing has been funny to me lately, so we've all been miserable. she's had some sort of bum obsession lately. do all kids do that? she just loves going around pinching your bum and just...playing with it. i'm so over my bum being pinched. i told her several times to cut it out yesterday and she just kept at it so i finally lost it and yelled at her. Stop Touching My Bum!!!! That kinda shocked her i think. but i also notice that you get what you give with her. if i yell or am rough with her (like when i'm frustrated out of my mind after she's jumped on isaiah or pushed him over and sat on him or something) as i put her in her trouble chair, she's rougher with isaiah and meaner in general. makes sense...that whole modeling bit. but gee whiz is it hard to just stay level have no reaction other than the calm - you did this, that was a bad choice, so this is going to happen. i gotta say, this is tough work. so for tomorrow we (ellen and i)agreed i'd work on being gentle and not yelling. isaiah has been talking up a storm. he says mom and dad (ma, da ) pretty regularly...mostly if he hears the sound he repeats it. but sometimes when he sees us he'll say it. and he's experimenting with sign language - more (which looks suspiciouly like clapping) and all done (waving his hands in the air). maybe i'll catch it on video soon. he also seems to suddenly be ready for sleeping. not that he's sleeping long periods of a time, but all the sudden he has no problem going to sleep completely by himself. no crying, no moaning. just read him a story, sing him a song, give him his blanket and he's happy to lay in his bed until he falls asleep. i wonder if he wasn't ready earlier...? (is that even possible?) my demarle show/business launch is coming up on tuesday night. hopefully people will show up and be so impressed they'll buy it all. we'll see :) i had today off from school, so i've been reading a bad novel (the regime) and my textbooks. dave's had drama at work as they want him to work even more hours, and his fish stuff is growing steadily. it seems like he's getting a new customer every month. which is awesome, but he's kinda running out of time to do all this work. there are only so many hours in the day, and the bank seems to want a lot of them.