I have officially declared that we no longer need to store the small cereal bowls in a drawer at toddler level, as Little Miss Sunshine is now perfectly capable of hopping up on the counter to get one from an upper cabinet. The dishes and I have been enjoying their reunion.

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Over the holidays, I left the oldest (age 12 3/4) in charge of the youngest (8 1/2) twice, for an hour or two during the day. It was a success, in that we all survived, although after the first time I did have this conversation with the Captain upon returning home:

Me: How did it go?

Captain: Good.

Me: Great! How’s Little Miss Sunshine?

Captain: I don’t know…okay I guess.

Me: Well, where is she?

Captain: I don’t know.

Me: What did she do while I was out?

Captain: I don’t know.

Me: What did YOU do?

Captain: Played video games.

Me: HUH.

Then we had a discussion entitled, What It Means To Be A Babysitter. The second time went much better.

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All three kids stayed up until midnight for New Year’s Eve for the first time ever. Sir Monkeypants stayed up with them, watching a movie, while I had a two hour nap on the couch, waking up just in time for the ball drop. Our youngest was pretty disappointed that the “ball drop” did not, in fact, involve dropping a crystal-ball style orb and having it smash all over, but rather a large Christmas ornament making an unexcitingly slow drift downwards while mostly obscured by a giant TOSHIBA sign. Whatevs.

We were worried about the consequences but everyone seems to be at about the normal level of cranky in the two days since, so either that means that we have extremely cranky children with a high baseline, or they have reached an age where the occasional blown bedtime doesn’t mean several days of hysterics and parental payback. It’s the dawn of a new age.

Happy new year!