that bringing up baby was all about what “Mama said.”  If Mama says “go to bed”, then baby goes to bed.  If Mama says, “can you please change that music to something a little more dinner appropriate”?,  then baby changes Queen’s “We Will Rock You”, to a more mellow choice.  We have had baby for seven years now, and I was thinking that maybe something wasn’t right with our particular model’s response wiring. Then on television this morning, PBS sung out via some Helpful Heloise act that comes on between shows, “Children learn actions from YOU.”  I thought, “crap, it’s not the model, it’s me.”  And what am I supposed to do about that?,” I said (in my mind).  CHANGE?  And then like a Christmas carol loop that plays over and over over until another one takes its place–“Children learn actions from you.”

I looked around for a user manual. And felt ridiculous.
I thought about my cookbooks.  I love my cookbooks.  It would be nuts to think that I should have been born with all the knowledge a person needs to make a cassoulet.  I found “How to talk so your kids listen and how to listen so your kids talk.)

I’ll let you know.