A return to blogging

I guess that nine-month hiatuses from blogging are what happens when you're a parent. My only excuse is that I was busy parenting instead of writing about parenting. It's not much of an excuse, I know, but it's the only one I've got.

Ellie, who now seems to be calling herself by her full name of Elena more often, is nearly five years old. She's warming up for her pre-teen years by breaking out the toss of the head, roll of the eyes, and exasperated sigh whenever her parents say something that she considers stupid. (That's almost everything we say these days, by the way.) She still has the attention span of a four-year-old, however. Last week, my husband Jason was trying to talk seriously to Ellie about her misbehaving at school, and the following discussion ensued:

Jason: "You know that when you're mean or you tell lies, that makes Daddy very sad."
Ellie: "Sad and disappointed."
Jason: "Um, yes, but mostly sad."
Ellie: "Sad. Mad. Those words rhyme. Yay!"

At that point, Jason elected to get up and just walk away from the whole discussion.