Made It

The end of NaBloPoMo.  I managed to write every day except November 1st, because I had forgotten I signed up.  (Also, if you look at the date/timestamps from some of the earlier entries, it looks like I skipped some days because I didn’t realize my time zone was set to GMT.)

I just don’t have enough to say to write every day.  But it was an interesting experiment.

Jack has continued to be in a Daddy phase recently.  Some mornings when I walk into his room, he sees its me and says in a disappointed voice, “Dada”.  Yesterday he fell down and I was right there, ready to give him hugs and kisses, but he ran to find Chris instead.  Everything blue is now cause to mention Dada.  It’s all Dada, all the time!

Nothing At All

I liked this quote from Evany’s blog:

When I first got knocked up and started to consider what it might actually be like to have a baby, I figured I’d miss the impromptu nights out…the dinners with friends, the movies in actual movie theaters, the strip clubs. But in practice, I’m finding that more than anything I miss the plans-free, pants-free days at home doing disgusting amounts of nothing at all.

Chris and I still occasionally get to have date nights or hang out baby-free with friends.  I still go to my book club.  We still see a movie once in a while.  But it’s those weekend days filled with nothing that have gone away.  You can’t tell your 19-month old to just occupy themselves for hours while you veg out.

I’m not complaining; I knew that was something I’d be giving up in trade for having Jack, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  But sometimes I do miss it.

The Day After

My parents and my aunt spent the night last night.  Jack kindly slept in until 8 today!  He went to bed pretty late last night.

We had a pretty relaxed morning and everyone left after lunch.  We took a walk in the afternoon, had a dinner of leftovers, and after Jack went to bed watched Bride and Prejudice.  The best part is that tomorrow is Sunday.

Cranberry Bread and Jell-O Salad

My favorite foods of Thanksgiving!

We celebrated Thanksgiving today.  My parents, my aunt, my sister’s family and a couple of friends all came over to our house to eat and hang out.  Jack had a ball with his cousins and enjoyed both the pumpkin and apple pie.  I am told the turkey was delicious.  I bought too many dinner rolls.  (I always think we need dinner rolls, but everyone eats the cranberry bread instead…)

“Single Ladies” was watched on YouTube.  Games were played.  Chex Mix was consumed.  A good time was had by all.

Thanksgiving

We’re actually celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow.  We are having it at our house, but my brother-in-law is once again doing the majority of the cooking.  Everybody else brings something.  For my part, I made cranberry bread, my favorite Thanksgiving dish.

This morning I went for a long walk with Jack while Chris planted tulips in the backyard.  I took Jack to the little park near the cross-country course; there was a fun run going on and lots of people saying hello and Happy Thanksgiving.

In the afternoon I baked the bread and we got the house ready for all our guests tomorrow.  I kind of like celebrating on Friday and having the day off beforehand.

You might want to keep that to yourself..

After Jack’s swim lesson last week, while getting changed out of our suits, I overheard another mother yelling at her two kids.  She wanted to get them in the shower and she said she was going to spank them.  I was shocked; not shocked she would spank them, but shocked that she would say so in public!  Here in the San Francisco Bay Area!  I am amazed CPS did not show up to arrest her 10 seconds later.

I recently read an article commenting on a BabyCenter survey that 49 percent of parents surveyed admitted to hitting their own children.  A pretty high number in this day and age, right?

I’m not totally anti-spanking.  I don’t have any plans to spank my own kid(s), and of course, think hitting children is abhorrent, but…. if a parent gives their kid an occasional swat on the backside I don’t think it would freak me out.  Or maybe it would; I don’t normally see people spank their kids in public.

That threat of spanking didn’t seem to help the woman in the locker room.  She was threatening to spank them one second, them promising them gummy bears the next.  I’m not sure either one ever happened.

Surprise

I was quite surprised today to get a call back from Planned Parenthood.  She took the details of when the person had called and from what number, apologized, and said she would absolutely take care of the problem.  She also thanked me for calling it to their attention. So there you go, sometimes complaints do get heard.

Finally left the house today!  We went for a long walk, and then out for some errands.

Jack has recently learned how to make himself dizzy by spinning.  Unfortunately he has not learned that when you are dizzy, it is easy to fall over and hit your head on things like coffee tables.  He’s also learned to shake his head “no”, though he doesn’t say the word yet.  It’s so strange to ask “Do you want some water?” and have him shake his head at me.  It’s like we’re having an actual conversation!  I remember when my niece Maggie started talking, and how amazing it was when she could actually tell me what she wanted.

Do Not Call

Today I received a call from Planned Parenthood, asking for donations.  I’m a fan of PP, and I donate to them every year.  But I have also asked them multiple times to never contact me.  I explained this to the woman on the phone, and she said, “But I thought you were a supporter.”  I said “I am; that is why I donate every year,” and re-explained that I did not want to be contacted.  In the middle of my sentence, she said “Oh, ok” and hung up on me.

I was so mad, I called up Planned Parenthood to make a complaint.  They just shunted me to voicemail and I doubt my message will do any good, but still.  Note to charities:  when people who DONATE EVERY YEAR to your organization ask you to never contact them, it means NEVER.  Ok?  No “oh but it’s a special time” or “we thought you wanted to hear from us”.  NO.  Just, no.

I understand charities are hard-pressed for donations, but irritating your donors is NOT the way to get more cash.  In this day and age, with those new-fangled computer things, there’s no excuse for calling/mailing people who have requested to be removed.

In Jack news, he didn’t have a very restful night, but seemed pretty good today, aside from being very stuffed up.  No fever, woo hoo!  I hope he’ll sleep better tonight.

I haven’t left the house since Friday morning.  Unless you count taking the compost out back.  Which, I don’t.

Colors

Jack’s has learned the concept of color.  He was starting to get it for a while; anything red was “Mama” and anything blue was “Dada” (color of our cars), but he definitely didn’t get the bigger picture.  Lately, though, he has been pointing to different objects and saying “bluh” (blue) or “pur” (purple).  I can now say “Where’s the orange crayon?” and he knows which one I mean.

Color is such a crazy concept.. imagine trying to explain it to someone who can only see black and white.  I wonder what finally triggered it for Jack.

Jack’s had a mild fever the last two evenings.  It’s following the same pattern of about 7 months ago when he had croup….. man I hope that doesn’t happen again!

Sick again!

Jack is sick again, darn it.  I know, that’s how it goes with kids.  This time it’s just a cold, so far.  The thing about a cold, though, is that it’ll bring his cough back, which he’s had since…. mid-July.  It was ALMOST gone, he occasionally had a cough when he woke up, but this’ll bring it back. Foo.