I'm beginning to wonder if Ella's big developmental milestone is giving up napping. This is the second day in a row that she hasn't napped, and before that she's fallen to sleep in the late afternoon. She would definitely be giving up naps (that is, daily naps) earlier than the other two, although Accalia regularly napped for the longest time and that was just until 2 1/2. I hear parents say their four or five years old still nap each day. How is that possible? Is that because there's a required nap time or simply because their children have more of a need for sleep?

Anyway, it rained on and off all day and finally turned from humid to cool toward late afternoon. I think it's supposed to be rainy again tomorrow, so we'll see if Accalia has soccer practice in the late afternoon. Shouldn't be a problem for Cole and storytime, though.

Have you checked out iTunes U? There's a lot of good stuff to listen to from various universities. I was just listening to Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford commencement address, which I think I mentioned on this blog before because some of his statements are just spot on with my philosophies of living and learning.

This is a documentary that I'd like to see.

There's a book by Rachel Herz called The Scent of Desire. I haven't read it (it comes out in October), but apparently at one point Herz talks about vanilla being considered the most universally loved scent most likely because breast milk contains a similar flavor. Makes sense.

I was reading the October issue of Metropolitan Home (I end up being sent lots of free magazines), and one of the factoids from the National Association of Home Builders was that in 2006, 40% of home built had no living room and that this space is used instead as a library, music room or retreat. I found that very interesting that nearly half of all new homes being built have no living room. Are there family rooms or some sort of "front" room or parlor? I just can't imagine having a house that doesn't have that common space for gathering or entertaining guests. Obviously you don't need a living room to do those things, but it's something that has always been part of my image of a home and what has always been a part of my homes, even when the home was an apartment.

In this same issue of Metropolitan Home, there was mention about how if every U.S. home exchanged their five most used bulbs with energy star-qualified bulbs that greenhouse gases would be reduced by one trillion pounds over the course of the bulbs' lives. I think that Cory and I have now managed to switch over all of the light bulbs in our house to compact fluorescent bulbs, which are energy start qualified. What's also nice about CFLs is that you rarely have to change them compared with regular incandescent light bulbs.

Okay, I think I got everything out that was floating around in my head.