Caleb LOVES to do laundry.  His job is to zip up his hamper, roll it down the stairs, and put the clothes in the washer.  He also helps transfer the wet clothes to the drier.  He has loved this job for a loooonnnggg time.  Today though, as he was getting ready for his nap, he surprised me.

I had just had him roll his hamper down the stairs and told him that after his nap he could put his clothes in the washer.  As he sat on his bed he looked at me very seriously and said, “Mommy, YOU can put my clothes in the washer this time.”

Me: “Oh, I can?  You mean you want me to?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t WANT to?  Why?”

“No.  Because I only do it on Friday.”

<suppressing a giggle> “Oh, really!?  I did not know that.”

<very serious look again> “Yeah, because that’s just how I do it.”

No, I am not going to go do his laundry right now.  #1 — I know he’ll actually be bummed if he doesn’t get to do it.  He was just tired. #2 — It is his JOB, and I don’t think it’s too much to ask of a 3 year old to help with his own laundry just a little bit.   #3 — He does love to practice the art of manipulation, and I’m suspicious that he was doing a little of that in this case.

He’s cute and funny.  But not THAT cute and funny.

I cannot believe that I we just allowed my our children to stay up until 10:35 PM!!! to watch the PBS showing of the 25th anniversary concert of Les Miserables.  (I don’t think I should take all the blame, even though I’m the one who turned it on, and I’m the one who was initially sucked in.  Besides, it’s Spring Break, right?)  Sick little Caleb fell asleep in my lap about 9:45.  He did say to Daddy at one point that “the best thing about this is I get to stay up late.”     Little scamp/ rascal/ cute little mess.  He’s going to bear watching. (He already does!)

Ethan was VERY into the show.  We actually started watching shortly before intermission, so we missed all of the prostitutes singing about their job, and the Master of  the House song.  So it wasn’t too bad.  He asked lots of questions and I didn’t really get to just sit and enjoy it in the traditional way; but I still LOVED it.  (Maybe some day I’ll actually get to see it on stage!)  That is some powerful music paired with a powerful story/ stories of mercy, grace, redemption, deep and abiding love, faith, hope.  A friend of Tim’s once recalled having heard that all great literature retells at least some part of the story of salvation.  The more I’ve thought about it, the more I think he’s right.

Today as I was looking up how to properly season my cast iron, this article on chow.com happened to catch my attention.  Mostly it makes me say, “Oh for Pete’s Sake!” (AMENDMENT TO ORIGINAL POST: And yes, it also makes me say, “Ew.”)  But part of me wants to say, “Why can’t I make money like that!?”  (AMENDMENT FOR CLARIFICATION: that part’s a joke.)      Also, the last line cracked me up.  Enjoy.

“Would you pay $22.50 to eat ice cream made from human breast milk? The question’s no longer a hypothetical; the BBC reports that a London restaurant is selling a dessert called “Baby Gaga,” ‘churned with donations from London mother Victoria Hiley, and served with a rusk and an optional shot of Calpol or Bonjela.’

The stuff is ‘expressed on site and pasteurised before being churned with Madagascan vanilla pods and lemon zest’ at the über-trendy Icecreamists.

This, of course, is not a totally new thing; a Swiss restaurant tried to use the stuff in sauces in 2008 (before getting shot down for health reasons), and a NYC restaurant offered cheese made from breast milk last year. Plus, a restaurant in China’s Hunan Province was doing it back in 2003. And even before that, of course, breast milk was widely used as a sort of folksy homemade food for infants.”  – published on Friday, Feb. 25, 2011, written by James Norton