Katherine just bounced downstairs after her nap, a little earlier than usual, but really, I had 1 1/2 hours of quiet, so I can't complain. She and Maggie like to listen to music to fall asleep and this week they changed their CD to Christmas music. Katherine's first question when she came downstairs was "Mommy, what's pounding?"

"Uh, do you mean, like pounding a hammer, like this?" making a hand motion as if I were using a hammer.

"Well, maybe" she answered, unsure, but willing to settle for that answer.

"Why are you asking Katherine?"

"Well, there's a song on my CD, and it says, 'you better not pound, I'm telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town' but I don't know what pound is!"

She wants to be sure to do all the right things, so that Santa will bring her presents. Oh Katherine, that moment of sweet innocence almost makes up for the screaming, yelling and spitting that won you a time out before 9am today. Almost.