May 2009 Archives

While one of them frequently opts not to finish her desserts (and today said she was done chewing a piece of gum after no more than 2 minutes), the other is a pure junk food junkie. Unlike the song, Becky has no intentions of pretending that she likes anything else. She'll finish her meal (meaning she'll finish eating the parts that she wants, mashing around the parts she doesn't want, and looking at disgust at anything in between), then in her sweetest, nicest voice request cookies, cake, jellybeans, candy, juice, strawberries, bread and cheese.

She'll get quieter and keep smiling as her requests proceed. Don't be deceived by those requests for strawberries, bread and cheese, since she'll probably make her way back to the cookies, jellybeans, cake and candy… and probably some fruitsnacks. The other day I got a text message from Maria with the following:

Becky snuck a chunk of cake this morning. “Cake, num num!” is a nice give-away that you're eating some.

Turns out Becky had inched the cake platter closer to the edge of the counter, broke through the plastic wrap on the plate, and grabbed herself a fistful of cake. She might have gotten away with it had she not advertised her actions (though the Mini-Mayor, Cecilia, would have ratted her out in another .001 seconds).

Just this morning she got busted rifling through Maria's purse and shoving as many Altoids into her mouth as she could (the spearmint kind). I'm going out on my own here and saying that although Becky's self-soothing as a baby made her a much easier baby, she's so much more mischievous, audacious and selectively hard of hearing that her toddler tendencies are far more difficult to deal with than Cecilia. She's still incredibly lovable and fun to be around… as long as you're willing to bribe her with some candy.

Two quick stories. The girls were headed to the dollar theater today for a cheap activity. It happened to be near lunchtime when they were supposed to go. After Cecilia was told the plan, she opined that she would like to eat lunch at the theater itself. Only too aware of the utter waste of money that would be, Maria told her it costs too much money to eat there. Cecilia, in her obvious state of being a spoiled child, informed her, “It will be okay, Mom. Dad has a lot of money.” Right. A lot of money. And you're going to the dollar theater, on a gift card. Rollin' in the dough.

Becky is talking quite a bit. She doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense, but she's talking a lot. She'll tell you all about her fancy toenails and how Grammy painted them. And if that's not enough, she'll tell you again before you leave. And once more as you're leaving.

We have a little container of orange Tic Tacs in the car. The girls really like them, but Becky can't pronounce the name of them. When she asks for one, it sounds more like she's saying (pardon the language) “I wanna kick ass!” Because Maria and I both find it humorous, we'll deny the initial request, only to make her repeat it – which any child her age will do… over and over and over again, until satisfied. “Kick @ss! Kick a$$! Kick @$$!” Nice.

Cecilia may think I have so much money I can use $100 bills as tissues… but I have Becky trained to be a warrior, willing to do whatever it takes to get the goods.

You need to make a mix. It's that simple. I've wasted four whole months of one of the best years for the next thousand years. While looking at the artwork for (one of my recently linked-to items) Ben Folds Presents: University a Cappaella! I noticed the roman numerals for 2009 are MMIX. It struck me… The Year of the MMix. Your elementary school brain may have suppressed roman numerals along with other bad memories, but this isn't the year to let that get you down. I just can't let this year go by (nor the mention of school) – I'm giving you homework.

When's the last time you made a mix? Seriously. I'm not talking about firing up iTunes and letting it make you a playlist via iTunes DJ or Genius. I'm talking about a heartfelt “This song actually means something to me/us or I want to share it.” type of mix. Whenever it was, it's time to make another one. Honestly now. Don't think I'm just bringing this up once. I'll be harping on this for the rest of the year.

You're 20-something? 30-something? 40-something? 50-something? 60-something? I don't care. It's time. It's time to take advantage of the MMix year. Find a theme, start picking out songs, keep it to CD-length, burn a disc, print a track list, and for extra credit, give it to somebody. Here are some ideas for you:

• The Soundtrack of Your Life – Very few of you were actually reading my site over four years ago when I posted this. I can't give a higher recommendation for a musical activity than this one. It really is very cool to make.
• G2 mixes – More of you may have read my exhaustive documentation about these mixes which I continue to make for Maria. You probably shouldn't make a mix for her, but you could make one for somebody else in your life. I could almost guarantee you they would appreciate it.
• Other themes – I just started making another mix just last week (right before this revelation hit me). I'm aiming for more low-key songs—one might even say chill-out music. It's gonna be slick.

You could do any of these (or all of these), or something totally different. The point here is to make a mix this year. I'd LOVE to hear back from you on this. Post a comment here. Put the track list here if you don't want to post it somewhere else. Get your friends to make a mix this year.

Making mixes isn't just for teenagers and bloggers still in love with their spouse.