The Lab: Sleep and Play

The Experiment: To see if the kids will sleep better if they play outside (hard) after dinner.

I'm three for three. That's huge. For the past three nights after dinner (and sometimes before dinner, too) I've been taking the kids out in the front yard (where it's more likely that we'll be joined in by other munchkins) and playing with them. I'll pull the play structure out, put out our (third hand) gym mat, bring out balls, baseball bats, etc... For the first two nights the kids ran around really hard. Both following mornings they slept until 6:45 and 7AM respectively, shattering all world records in their 4-year-old lives (making it to 6AM was our previous record). Then last night there were no kids out (Lakers final game), but I wanted to see if we could score another good morning. So we ran up and down the block a few times (I had to try various tricks to keep them motivated, including, sigh, an ice cream sandwich). We actually had fun running, playing catch and swinging the baseball bat. This morning John woke up at 6:45and I had to wake Eve up at 7:15. This is exciting!!!

Happy Decor: Ilan Dei's Latest for Blik

I am majorly freaking on Ilan Dei's latest wall graphics for Blik. They're gorgeous, and would give any wall insta-cred if blue-chip art is lacking. I'm loving that Calla flower growing up the wall, and while I usually shy away from anything remotely Goth, I'm also digging the black roses. Best part: Cheap! $60-$70!