New Years Resolutions

2013 will bring us more teeth, more words, and more activity.

Here are some of my resolutions for 2013 as a parent:

• Sleep through the night, even if it means going to a hotel and leaving him with grandma! My reserves are tapped, and rest is necessary to patiently keep up for a year of toddlerhood.
• Watch what I say. Our little guy is listening, and tone and words can make an imprint. I aim to be less critical of myself and others when I'm speaking and follow the maxim "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." There may be some silence in 2013.
• Or, fill that silence with French. We are committed to raising our son bilingually. My husband speaks to him 100% in French, but I know that he needs to hear more French conversation. My sleep deficit makes clearly communicating even in English a challenge. But this year I aim to have at least one conversation a day en français.

Happy new year!

Breakfast Dates

We are crazy about our little guy, but sometimes he drives us crazy, particularly during breakfast when we are still recovering from waking up a few times the night before. I have a suspicion that any positive effects of caffeine are counteracted if the cup of coffee is consumed while wrangling a toddler whose shrill shrieks of delight reverberate in our eardrums. Goodbye to calm mornings when we read our newspaper "tranquillement" and chat about what we plan to do that day.

We are luckier than most because grandma lives close enough to babysit when we go out in the evenings. Even if we don't get a chance to go out on an evening date very often, we have gotten into the habit of having morning dates.

Once a week we drop our son off at school about 20 minutes earlier than usual (that 20 minutes is saved by not having to make coffee or sit down and eat breakfast at home) and we go to our favorite bakery. We enjoy eating our scones and brioches without a little hand sneaking in to grab what's on the plate or kicking to get let down. And, providing further evidence to support my theory, on those date mornings I never need a second cup of coffee at work.