Quick takes on a Tuesday because I'm crazy like that

1. Ann Marie will not let me have a napkin. Everyone else at the table can have a napkin, but whenever she sees me with a napkin, be it in my hand or on my lap, she says, "Nope!" and takes it and throws it on the floor. If she's not locked up in her high chair, she will then go to the linen closet and get me an alternative napkin in the form of a dishcloth or dishtowel, usually a dishcloth. Sometimes she wipes my mouth with it, thus ensuring I cannot put an unused dishcloth back in the closet. Again, please note that everyone else at the table is allowed to have a napkin, I, alone, am not permitted.
2. Ann Marie give kisses - REAL KISSES - all the time, and it is the most delightful thing ever. Well, it is less delightful when I'm lying down and she climbs on me and presses her face onto my mouth so that I can feel her teeth with my lips and can't speak, but even then it's pretty amusing. The other night I was putting her to bed and she demanded that I keep my hand in the crib with her. That was a bit of a trial but then she suddenly gave my hand a loud smacking kiss before rolling over to go to sleep, so I let it slide.
3. This one should by rights be a long take and not a quick one, but Nora's first day of Pre-K was today. She's in half days this week, but next week she'll be going from 7:45 till 2:10, five days a week. I admit to getting a little choked up when I followed her class in to "help her unpack," but she had already unpacked and showed me where she was going to sit, then chose a coloring book and said, "Bye, Mom!" So she was fine. She brought home a self portrait. Jack criticized it a bit because Nora doesn't have purple curly hair down to her waist, and also why were her legs weird in the picture? Well, those are her ROBOT legs, Jack. So I think she'll be all right. (I'm glad it was only a half day, though, because on the way home she said that she missed me and wanted to come home HOURS ago.)
4. I signed up for a half marathon in October, so I've been running regularly. I don't talk about it much, but if you'll indulge me a minute, I ran 4 miles this morning and two of my three trips back and forth to school were with the stroller. In both cases, I had to push both girls home, which is uphill. (It's only uphill the one way, Dad.) School is about a half mile away, so I covered 6 miles today, and my feet hurt.
5. On the way to pick up Jack, we ran into another parent on the way to school and the subject of sidewalk parking came up. It came up because Nora said, "We are on a mission to stop people from parking on the sidewalk!" Ahem. He agreed it was unsafe, though, and mentioned that he saw me try and fail to get by a car parked on the sidewalk. But I made contact with a city council member, and I think I'm going to go to a council meeting to plead my case. Interesting fact: In the email, she said she didn't want to mislead me and admitted to parking on the sidewalk for years and years on her narrow street in the city, but she said that the difference was that everyone who did it (which was everyone) made sure that there was plenty of space for a baby carriage. Perhaps. And honestly, I would not be on this crusade if people parked only slightly on the sidewalk, because the streets ARE narrow. But those who completely block the sidewalk have ruined it for everyone. The encouraging news, though, is that there was only the one car blocking the sidewalk. The situation has actually improved a lot since I started complaining.
6. Andrew is coaching Jack's Under 8 soccer team, and was just reading the "Practice Suggestions" or whatever they're called, and the league suggests at least one and no more than two 90-minute practices per week, and says they should start at 5:30pm. Does this sound at all reasonable to any of you? These are six- and seven-year-old kids. Ninety minutes of practice? Really? And starting at 5:30? Even if you consider that the city public schools go from 9:00-3:30 (vs. Jack's Catholic school which goes from 7:45-2:15), it gets DARK in the fall at 5:00! Soccer goes till the end of October! We're supposed to have a bunch of seven-year-olds running soccer drills in the dark? For an hour and a half? Fortunately, Andrew is the coach, so Jack's team will be practicing at 5:00 for one hour, or until dark.