Look, I’m no devotee of Miss Manners—last year I didn’t send one thank-you note sent out after Sophia’s 2nd birthday party.

But now the invites are out for her 3rd birthday and little things like letting me know you’re coming are a bigger deal. Fia goes to preschool now and there are 16 kids in her class. (Somehow this works out to the proper number of kids-per-teacher every day, because every kid doesn’t go every day. Or something.) At this level, you invite everyone in the class. That’s how it works. If nothing else, it’s the way for the parents to meet.

Plus I sent invites to about, oh, 8 others, all of whom have at least 1 parent and possibly 2 in tow.

So far the only RSVPs—in case you didn’t know, RSVP stands for “Répondez s’il vous plaît,” which is “Please respond” in French—I’ve gotten have been the two or three people I’ve seen in person. No phone calls. No surprise responses. Nothing.

This is extremely frustrating. I’d really like to know how many kids are coming, how many adults are coming, and how much grub I need to score at Costco, you know?

Be nice to party planners. RSVP when they ask you to!

I am being very, um, non-hurried about creating/updating my bio page, so for right now I will do an entry that should bring new readers up to date.

• I am married to a guy named Darin.
• We have the two cutest children ever. I know you think you know cuter children; you may even be the parent of children you think are cuter. Sadly, you are wrong: we got ’em.
• I went to high school at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco. Drop a line if you’re a fellow alumna.
• I went to college at Stanford University. I majored in Linguistics. I have never used my degree, which is not to say it was a waste of time. I don’t think it was.
• I worked at Apple Computer as a technical writer. This is where I met Darin, though we didn’t start dating until after he had already left the company. Not that propriety ever stopped anyone else, trust me.
• I got an MFA in Film from USC.
• Darin works on Safari. You can read more about it on his co-worker Dave Hyatt’s blog.
• I have a sister. She’s married and has two kids who are almost the exact same ages as mine. What are the chances?
• Darin is also the eldest of three brothers, and all three of them work for Apple Computer. This sets some sort of record, or at least sets the stage for several of the weirder prophecies in Isaiah. No, really.

Last night at 8 I read a Curious George book to Sophia before turning off the light. When we were all done, she wanted another one.

“No, honey,” I said. “I’m going down to my bed now.”

And I did. Well, I probably turned off the light at 9, when I couldn’t keep my eyes open a moment longer.

Darin didn’t come to bed until 2.

I got up at 3 when Simon woke up.

At 6 Simon woke again and this time he woke Sophia up too. I got up to be with them until 9, at which point Daddy got out of bed. Simon was cranky, so I lay down to nurse him for a while…and the two of us ended up sleeping until 11.

Last time Simon took a 2-hour morning nap: 5, 6 months ago. Last time I did: never.

We finally woke up and the family went out to lunch, although it was clear Sophia was already fading. She didn’t eat lunch, she wanted the people at the table next to us to leave so she could stretch her feet out on their part of the bench, she cried when we left because she hadn’t had a chance to eat her meal. (Evidently she wasn’t counting the previous hour we’d been there.) She fell asleep the second we got in the car.

It used to be that Sophia could take a nap and still go to bed at 8; now it’s take a nap OR go to bed at 8. She used to take her nap at 4pm; now she’s falling asleep at 11am.

Simon used to sleep until 7 or Sophia woke him up. Now he’s waking her (and us) up a good hour earlier.

Everyone’s sleep cycle is off. I don’t know how it got started or what we can do about it. Well, I’m considering black-out blinds for the kids’ room.

Darin will probably fall asleep around 6 this evening. Sophia may just do an all-nighter.

I’ve had my coffee, that’s the important thing.