Halina, deep into explaining scarecrows to Luke: "Birds are scared of people. To a bird, people are humungous giants. Even you are a humungous giant -- to a little, tiny baby bird."

It's just not as easy to bag adorable quotes as it used to be (and back then I didn't think to do it). But here is one.

Yesterday Luke accidentally tipped over the shredder. He and Halina actually volunteered to sweep up the mess, which buttered me up enough to say yes when they asked if they could play with the shredded paper some more. It quickly became a wild confetti fest in our kitchen (later a wild naked confetti fest). They were having so much fun and it wasn't that hard to clean up. Chris even suggested we save some of it for paper mache, which was pretty inspired of him, considering.

A while ago, I was relishing how Luke said "Lukie" instead of "I" or "me." That changed one day a couple of months ago when he was struggling with how to find words for something and after a long pause said, "I don't know how to say it." That ushered in the "I" and a bunch of eloquence + self-reflection. Since then he's just been such an articulate, amazing talker, so full of self-knowledge. The I's and me's are fast and furious but he still refers to himself as Lukie when he needs to think of himself as someone. Like when he says his name, it's "You call me Luke, and I call me Lukie." And the other day, he and Halina came into the room trying to find his Bob the Builder hat. He said despairingly, "I want to be Bob the Builder, but I'm not. I'm still Lukie."

Unexpectedly, we got a piano. In a twist of fate we ended up with a chance to adopt this lovely, enormous old soul and we decided, what the heck, why not. 800 square feet of living space? No problem. No one here knows how to play? Fine. Bring it.

Actually, I was torn and indecisive. But now that I have it, I can't keep my hands off it. It's so fun to play. I've learned two songs from Halina's Music Together books and one half of the duet Heart & Soul (from youtube).

I've been reading The Happiness Project and coming up with goals for February. Manageable shifts that might make me happier -- or at least get me more in touch with what "happier" means to me. (If you haven't read that book yet, check it out. It's smart, interesting, and encouraging.) Getting a piano was not on the list, but I'm definitely enjoying it. There is something cheering and warming about a piano in the house.