I’m throwing myself a pity party because I’m so sick with a severe cold and slight fever. I have to breathe through my mouth, which makes my already sore throat very dry, and my head feels like it might explode. I feel simultaneously hot and cold (menopause? Just kidding). My shin bones, if you can believe it, feel as though they are made of ice.

Luckily, Jack was tantrum-free today, and we indulged in pretty low-key activities (i.e., I watched Jack climb on all the pieces of furniture and ”read” all the books on his bookshelf, only getting up from the couch to pull him out of imminent danger, provide food or change his diaper). Johnny came home early from work and took Jack to his Friday afternoon music class, then went to buy some chicken noodle soup for me. He also picked up Popsicles, yum. Now I’m simmering the soup and baking some garlic bread in the oven, but honestly, all I want are the Popsicles!

As a sign of how bad I feel, I watched two back-to-back episodes of TLC’s What Not to Wear, and not even that lifted my spirits. The only thing I am looking forward to is going to my parents’ tomorrow to spend the night. My mom’s making a “make-up” hot pot for me, since I didn’t get to indulge with the rest of the family over Thanksgiving. Then, we’re going to watch Love Actually and stay up late. (I’m such a kid. I get giddy about “staying up late” on Saturday nights.) The festivities will begin after Jack goes to bed tomorrow night. I cannot wait.

Thanks for attending my pity party. Don’t forget to pick up the party favor of germs on the way out — misery loves company.

p.s. Speaking of Jack, I am so proud of him. After weeks (months?) of aimlessly flinging a spoon about at mealtimes, something clicked, and he is now using a spoon to eat whole bows of yogurt with minimal mess. At lunch, he also used a spoon to eat some rice sauteed with snow peas, mushrooms, corn, egg and Chinese sausage. For tonight’s dinner of pasta shells with cheddar cheese and mixed veggies, he used a spoon for about 50% of it. He’ll even daintily set the spoon down next to the bowl when he’s drinking milk from his sippy. The fork is another issue — he hasn’t quite figured out that one yet. He’ll stab the food but grab the morsel with his free hand before eating it. There’s a Chinese phrase for this kind of redundant action that loosely translates to “taking off your pants to fart,” and that’s what I say every time Jack does this. I love Chinese phrases.  Anyway, it’s taught me another important motherhood lesson, and that is that no matter how much I push a certain skill, Jack will pick it up when he’s good and ready. In other words, I need patience! And to stop worrying about the possibility that my kid will be the only one who a) never holds his head up; b) never crawls; c) never walks; d) never talks; e) never uses utensils. These are all things I’ve worried about needlessly!

Today’s blog entry is in two parts:

Part One

Someone figure this out for me, please: If babies are born with 300 bones (that eventually fuse to 206 adult bones), then how does Jack manage to turn into a mound of boneless flesh whenever the mood strikes him? His latest thing is to melt to the floor like a limp noodle whenever he’s angry or upset about something. It doesn’t matter where we are — at home, at the post office, at the park — when Jack is displeased, he crumples to the floor in a fit of tears, and when you try to pick him up, he purposely makes his limbs really limp and arches his back, so you can’t sit him down, stand him up or even hold him. All the while, he’s crying at the top of his lungs, and often there aren’t even tears coming out; they’re just manipulative cries.

This morning, Jack threw himself on the floor in front of the elevator because Johnny took away his snack cup before they went on their walk with Atari. Later in the morning, I spent no fewer than 10 minutes wrestling Jack into his stroller to go to the park (he wanted to walk instead). He kept arching his back and slithering out the bottom of the stroller. A few days ago, at the post office, I literally had to pull Jack by the shoulder while the rest of his body dragged on the floor (and of course, he was screaming), because he didn’t want me to hold him, didn’t want to sit in the stroller, and didn’t want me to hold his hand while we both walked along. All he wanted to do was to climb onto the display cases in the post office store. Once you give him what he wants, he’s back to his sweet, angelic self, but I don’t want him to learn that a tantrum = getting what you want. Besides, if Jack had his way, he would either be doing something dangeroues or sucking on a pacifier in front of the TV, with an endless supply of crackers and other snack foods in front of him, all day long. Actually, the latter sounds like an awesome day for mommy (minus the paci), but you get the point. So my usual method is to look him in the eye and tell him that I can’t hear him when he’s like that, and ignore him. Usually he stops in five to 10 very long minutes, and then he is very contrite and will want hugs and kisses. That part’s cute, but the tantrum part is not cute at all, especially not when you’re in public, and people are looking at you like you’re the worst parent in the world. Sigh. So far, Jack is shaping up to be quite the control freak (Johnny says, “Hmmm, like someone else I know”). Just a phase, right??

Part Two

I would really like to add a box to the left-hand side of my blog to list the non-Xanga blogs that I visit on a regular basis. I’ve wanted to do this for a while, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out how. That’s literally all I want to do. Can a fellow Xangan who’s savvier with this kind of stuff help me out, please? If I “know” you well, I’m even happy to give you my password so you can go in there and mess with it yourself. Just leave me a comment or message me. Thank you!

Wow, it’s been six days since I posted?! That means one thing: Too much traveling!  We’ve been back from St. Louis since late Saturday night, but I’ve been so exhausted from our back-to-back cross-country trips, totaling four flights with a lap child, that I haven’t mustered up the energy to do much more than watch Jack and get some work done. Whew! Here I am at long last with my Thanksgiving weekend/Johnny’s high school reunion update. I have to warn you that we really slacked with the pictures … mostly we took pictures of Jack, and we took none at the reunion!

Although I really missed my family’s traditional Chinese hot pot Thanksgiving meal (especially upon hearing that June and Charles got to eat 30 quail eggs! Grr), I had a great time in St. Louis. Johnny, Jack and I stayed with our friends Shannon and Will. They have a gorgeous old house that they fixed up themselves (Will runs a plumbing company with his dad, so he has the know-how), and more importantly, they also have a toddler — 20-month-old Audrey! We spent Fourth of July with them at the cottage in Michigan, so Jack and Audrey were already aquainted. It took them no time at all this time to bash each other on the head with toys.

We arrived on Thursday, and Shannon had put together a beautiful Thanksgiving meal. We had roasted turkey, heavenly mashed potatoes (with two cartons of heavy cream, a few generous glugs of whole milk and a whole stick of butter … yum), sauteed green beans with slivered almonds, cranberry sauce, rolls, a baked sweet potato and apple pie dish, and pumpkin pie.

Here’s Shannon in her huge kitchen (I’m jealous), with the turkey)

Shannon also invited her grandma, brother and aunt, so we had a full Thanksgiving table. Surprise, surprise — Jack’s favorite part of the meal was the cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Here’s the little monster post-dinner:

Rawr! Give me more cranberry sauce!

Friday, we went to the St. Louis Zoo. I’d never been, and it really lived up to Johnny’s claim of being the “best zoo ever.” It’s free, and there are all these great exhibits, including a penguin house where you’re literally a foot or two away from the penguins! Jack loved the whole trip, including lunch (an oh-so-nutritious meal of hot dog pieces, Goldfish and apple sauce. Oh, well, what are you going to do when you’re at the zoo?). His favorite part was probably the bird house, where he got to say “bird” over and over. He also laughed when he saw tigers chasing each other. It was so neat to see his little face light up at all these new sights. And for free!

Some pics from the zoo — you can see how close the penguins were!

For your viewing pleasure, here’s a short video of Jack in the bird house at the zoo. You can hear him saying “bird.”

After we got home, before the reunion, Jack had lots of fun riding on Audrey’s rocking horse (actually Shannon’s from when she was a toddler) and sitting in Audrey’s floral car seat.

Also, since it was the day after Thanksgiving, we put him in his Christmas PJs. (That’s Audrey in the background, now trying her hand at sitting in her car seat backward.)

After we put Jack to bed, we left for the reunion (don’t worry, Will and Shannon were home to babysit!). Johnny had fun catching up with his classmates, and I’m glad! It was interesting for me to put faces to names, but of course, these events are always less fun for the spouse. My job was just to look good. To that end, I tried not to stuff my face with too many barbecue chicken wings and pizza slices.  Johnny’s classmates were all very nice, and I enjoyed chatting with the other spouses. Although I was kind of wistful to miss my own 10-year reunion that same day, in LA, I was also kind of glad. Johnny’s graduating class was only 98 people. Mine was more than 800 … if I found Johnny’s reunion kind of overwhelming, I’m sure Johnny would have been glazed over at mine. Then again, he’s much better in those types of situations, and he has a real conversation starter as a job. Here’s how my job conversations went.

Stranger: “So, what do you do?”
Me: “I stay home with my son, and also do part-time HR consulting from home.”
Stranger: “Oh. [Awkward pause] What’s Johnny up to?”
Me: “He works at Mattel, doing marketing for boys toys.”
Stranger: “REALLY?! Oh my gosh, how cool! How perfect for him! Does he get to play with toys all day? Hey, Johnny, tell me about your job!”
Me: [Return to food table for more wings and pizza.]

That’s OK … I couldn’t ask for anything better than staying home with Jack, and my other job funds all my trips to Target.

Saturday, we all went for lunch at Imo’s Pizza, then let the kids play in Blackburn Park. We left for the airport in the late afternoon and got back Saturday night.

Sunday, after lazing around for most of the morning, Johnny and I took Jack to the Grove. I’ve been wanting to get him a stuffed armchair for the longest time, and over the weekend, when I saw how much Jack loved Audrey’s Pottery Barn Kids pink stuffed chair, I broke down and decided we had to have one. I was going to wait until we move into a house next spring, but I think it was worth the (rip-off) price tag. Of course, Jack enjoyed the chair, but he also liked the empty box!

Jack ripped some tape off of the box, then threw it away properly for the first time! He’s always loved playing with our trash can, but he’s never cleaned up before. We were proud! Wait until he figures out that the lid opens automatically when it senses motion in front of it — right now Jack thinks you have to push the manual override button to open the lid.

I will probably regret applauding the fact that he threw something away

Here’s a video of Jack cleaning up:

And a chair picture from today — Jack loves to read in it. In fact, he spent a blissful 20 minutes in the chair today, reading different books. I really enjoyed the quiet!

That’s all I have to report. Oh, Jack did pretty well with all the traveling, except he did end up with roseola! Apparently it’s a common and mild virus among 6-month-olds to 3-year-olds. It’s characterized by a few days or hours of fever, and once the fever breaks, a rash spreads over the torso, only to disappear in a few hours or days. There’s no medicine for it (since it’s a virus), and once you get it, you’re immune to it for life. Jack had a fever on Thursday, but I thought it was teething-related, and it wasn’t ever very high (and it was very well-controlled by just two doses of Tylenol a day, one in the morning and oen at night). By the time we flew on Saturday, the fever broke, and I thought that was that. When we returned home, I saw a rash that I initially thought was another eczema outbreak. By Sunday morning, I realized it wasn’t that — it didn’t feel dry. It wasn’t bothering Jack, but I made a pediatrician appointment for Monday morning just the same. (Sign #1 that I’m now a semi-experienced mom: I didn’t rush to the phone on Sunday evening to place an “emergency” call to the pediatrician just because of a rash. I’m proud of myself, yay me!) In the meantime, I self-diagnosed Jack with roseola from researching at babycenter.com. I didn’t tell the doctor that, though, and when I brought Jack in on Monday, the doctor said right away it was roseola. Of course, as luck would have it, by the time we went to the doctor, all signs of rash were gone. No worries, I didn’t get it — people over the age of 3 are usually immune to it, and the contagious period is during the fever. By the time the rash appears, the child is no longer contagious. Good things to know! I’m sure (and the doctor is, too) that Jack picked it up somewhere in our travels. Since I refuse to be one of those disinfectant wipe-toting moms in everyday situations (I already look like a crazy person half the time, waving around my diaper wipes and snack traps and toys and sippy cups), I suppose this is what I get! I just view it as building up Jack’s immune system. Jack’s 100% back to normal, and now he’ll never get roseola again. Hooray!

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend!

Tomorrow, we’ll be traveling to St. Louis for Johnny’s high school reunion on Friday, so I wanted to post a Happy Thanksgiving entry today. I hope all of you have wonderful Thanksgiving celebrations with your family and friends! I know I am thankful for many things, chief among them my family (including Atari ), friends, and the luxury of not having to worry about buying groceries or paying rent. I’m also grateful for all of my blog readers … I’m not always sure why you guys read about the random thoughts going through my head, but I’m sure glad you do.  And in turn, you provide me with a lot of great reading material!

I also wanted to report two of Jack’s new tricks:

1. For a while now, Jack’s been capable of following very simple instructions when he’s in the mood (like, “Go get your shoes” or “Go to your high chair!”). Yesterday, though, was the most impressive demonstration of this skill. We were in the living room when we heard my cell phone beep with a text message. The phone was sitting on top of the desk in the master bedroom. Jack looked in the direction of the room, and I told him (in Mandarin) to go get the phone for Mommy. He toddled off and was gone for a good minute or so. I thought he just ended up playing in his room and was about to go check on him, when he re-entered the living room and handed the phone to me! So he had walked past many distractions on the way to the phone, reached up on the desk to get the phone, then remembered to walk back into the living room to hand it to me. I was quite proud!

2. I think Jack is trying to say “thank you.” Yesterday, while my mom was here, she noticed that every time we handed Jack something, he said, “Da du.” June pointed out that Jack’s expression while saying this wasn’t very grateful-looking (it looks more neutral). However, after they left, I continued to notice that he would say it whenever I gave him a toy or a cup or some food. This morning, Johnny was holding Jack, and I gave Jack his sippy cup of milk. Jack said, “Da du!” and Johnny went, “Whoa, he’s trying to say ‘thank you’!” So, we’ll continue to observe, but I think the little hellion is starting to learn manners. Ha.

OK, gotta run … going to lunch with my parents and June, and then it’s back to the apartment for a playdate with Marcus and Milena. Tonight, packing! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone (at least, everyone in the States)!

Hi, everyone! Johnny, Jack and I returned today from a whirlwind weekend in northern Virginia, where we attended our good friend Michelle’s wedding festivities. We also had the pleasure of staying with Jenn and Andy, two fellow happily married Northwestern alumni.  We got in late Friday night, and left early this morning, so I am extremely tired, although we all had a great time.

Friday: It’s a long story, but Jack and I ended up having to take a different flight than Johnny out to Dulles. Jack was good on the 4.5-hour-long flight, but unfortunately, we had the middle seat, and the flight was already overbooked, so there was no chance of switching seats. The woman sitting to my right clearly hated children. When she saw me and Jack sitting next to her, she called someone (her husband?) to complain that she was sitting next to a child. One time, Jack was waving around an empty ziploc bag, and it happened to swipe her on the arm. I apologized right away, but she glared at me and went, “Uh!” and turned her whole body over to the window. Sheesh! Jack ended up sleeping for most of the flight, and only cried for about five minutes total. I think he did very well for someone who was confined to a small lap for almost five hours, but the woman next to us was not amused. I know it’s no picnic to sit next to a toddler, but could she not have a little sympathy for me, who couldn’t drink anything on the entire flight because I couldn’t even go to the bathroom?

Anyway, other than that, the travel was smooth. We met up with Johnny at the airport, claimed our luggage and took a cab to Jenn and Andy’s house. Jenn and I were in Delta Zeta together, and actually, she was (is!) my pledge great-granddaughter. Johnny joked last night that we would be lucky if one day, our real great-grandchildren took as great care of us as Jenn and Andy did this weekend! Jenn and Andy have a beautiful, cozy home, and an adorable, sweet dog. They really went out of their way to make us feel comfortable — they borrowed a pack and play for Jack to sleep in, bought organic whole milk, some of Jack’s favorite snacks, new toys for him to play with, babysat him on Saturday night while we were at the rehearsal dinner, and drove Johnny and Jack around while I was doing wedding party stuff on Saturday. Honestly, I’m not sure how we could have pulled off this weekend without them!

Saturday: After a few hours’ sleep, Jenn drove me to pick up my rental car at the airport (the office was closed by the time we arrived Friday night). I then went to meet Michelle for a pre-wedding mani/pedi at this fancy day spa, then lunch and last-minute honeymoon packing. Meanwhile, Johnny and Jack also had fun with Jenn, Andy and Chloe (the aforementioned adorable dog).

Jenn and Andy practice for the future; Jack finds their kitchen delightful

I returned to the house Saturday afternoon to get ready for the rehearsal dinner and pack an overnight bag, since I would be spending the night with Michelle and Laura (another bridesmaid) at the hotel that night. Before Johnny and I left for the rehearsal dinner, though, Jenn and I played with Jack’s new blocks.

The rehearsal dinner was delicious — we had roast duck with risotto and endive, and a bunch of appetizers, plus a dessert of yummy butterscotch bread pudding. Zach and Sandi sat at our table, along with Laura and a groomsman, and we shared plenty of laughs and inappropriate jokes. The only bummer of the night was that it was so cold. I don’t normally associate DC with temps in the low 30s in November. Had I known it would be that cold, I would have brought a different dress!

Laura, Michelle and I at the rehearsal; Michelle and Eric before their big day

Saturday marked my second night of little or no sleep. Ironically, Michelle, the bride, got plenty of sleep, but Laura and I tossed and turned all night! I don’t sleep well in a hotel the first night, and I was also nervous about giving my toast at the reception the next day.

Sunday: All too soon, 7 a.m. arrived, and it was time to start getting ready. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the ceremony, because I left the camera with Johnny, and he came in a few minutes late with Jack. Johnny was prepared with snacks for Jack, so Jack was thankfully quiet for the ceremony.

The ceremony itself was short but really beautiful. I’d never been to a Jewish wedding before, so everything was new to me. Michelle and Eric were so happy. Of course, Michelle made a gorgeous bride, and the gown she chose was perfect for her. The wedding was at this big manor with lots of windows, so you could see outside to the beautiful fall day.

After the ceremony, of course, the party began!

Johnny and Jack in their yarmulkes (I didn’t know every man and boy got them!); Jack enjoys the cocktail hour band

Picture perfect in his argyle, pinstripes and cords; Jack and I dancing

Sitting down to eat (I had jerk chicken, Jack had a kids meal with chicken fingers, mashed potatoes and peas, and Johnny had the teriyaki salmon with sticky rice)

Michelle’s first dance with Eric; father-daughter dance

More fun dancing!

Jack actually wears his yarmulke long enough for this picture; Michelle and I

Jack rests for a moment; Zach roasts a marshmallow for his s’more (that’s right, tableside s’mores for dessert!)

Here’s a mini-reunion: We all lived in the same dorm at Northwestern!

Oh, my toast went very well. Phew! This was the third one I’ve done, and I’m always so honored to give them, but I get so nervous because I want to make sure my friends are happy with what I say on their big day!

After the wedding, we returned to Jenn and Andy’s, where they had cooked a delicious beef stew for us. After we put Jack to bed, we enjoyed the stew with bread, salad and great conversation. Last night, I definitely fell asleep promptly!

This morning, we got up at 5:45 a.m. to begin our day of travel. Now, we’re home for just three days, and then it’s off to St. Louis for Johnny’s high school reunion! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I actually think that’s an understatement — I haven’t yet come up with the right adjective to describe this weekend!

You may have read about the wildfires in California last week. There were the fires up near Santa Barbara, but over the weekend, wildfires also popped up in Orange County — specifically, in Corona, Brea and Yorba Linda. As a California resident, I hear about these wildfires all the time, but I’ve never personally been affected by them … until Saturday. My mom and sister live in Yorba Linda, and their condo nearly burned down!

Johnny, Jack and I had planned to stay overnight at my mom’s on Saturday, because we were going to meet up with some friends in Irvine on Sunday, and it’s much closer to drive from Yorba Linda to Irvine than it is from our place in West LA. We were on our way when we heard about the fire. It seemed pretty well-contained at that point, and we were already in the car, so I told my mom that we were still coming. After all, it seemed pretty unlikely that the fire would actually reach where she lived. When we arrived, we saw smoke over the hills, and helicopters flying overhead, dumping water on the fire. We went inside, and Charles and Johnny began making statements like, “Maybe we should pack up and leave.” We saw a few neighbors packing up their cars, but for the most part, people were sticking around. June and I made fun of the boys for being such scaredy-cats. At this point, we couldn’t see the flames.

All was well until about 5:30 p.m. We played with Jack, hung out and discussed which movie to watch after dinner. I was really tired and looking forward to putting Jack to bed and relaxing with the adults. At 6 p.m., I put Jack in his high chair and gave him the special dinner of delicious rice noodles that my mom had made for him. That was when Johnny and Charles proclaimed that you could see the fire from the living room window, and that the fire trucks were here. I ran to the living room, and while you couldn’t see the flames, you could definitely see a firey orange-red glow from just beyond the next row of townhomes! It was supposed to be pitch black outside, since the sun had set, but instead everything was glowing, and it looked foggy out because of all the ashes. Johnny ran outside and spoke to the firefighters. We had to leave at that very moment.

Thank goodness Jack was a trooper. He sat in his high chair in the living room, eating his dinner all alone, while the rest of us frantically packed some stuff up.  Luckily, my mom is really organized, so all of her and my sister’s important papers were already in a fireproof box, ready to go. It was hard to decide what to take — none of my stuff is there, per se, but it’s all our family’s furniture, photo albums, my grandma’s things, not to mention my mom and sister’s clothes, TV, everyday items. Charles and Johnny made trips up and down stairs to pack up the cars — our RAV4, my mom’s Highlander, June’s Mini Cooper and Charles’ two-door. I wanted them to come to our place, but my mom decided that they should go over to my Aunt Kathy’s, because she lives closer (but not in the realm of the fires), and it would be easier for them to come back and check on things if the freeways were closed. So we reluctantly parted ways. Jack was visibly scared, but he didn’t cry — he just frantically looked around as we all raced around.

Johnny and I made the long, trafficky drive back to LA. The inside of our car smelled like a giant cigarette. While en route, I called June and learned that they had made a second trip back before going to Aunt Kathy’s, to get my mom’s prescriptions and some more of my grandma’s things. The firefighters had left after everyone evacuated, and they could see the flames on the row of condos behind theirs! Fire was also approaching from a second side, and it was really hot out. So at that point, we were more than 99% certain that their condo would burn, and we were so heartbroken. All of our stuff, all of my grandma’s things, would be gone.

After we got home, I put Jack in his crib (he didn’t even wake up when I changed him into his PJs, he was so exhausted), and then just kind of sat around in a daze. I couldn’t sleep, either. At 2 a.m. I sat up because a little voice in my head told me to call the condo and see if the answering machine still worked. I was so nervous as I waited five rings. Then I heard June’s voice — she’s the one on the outgoing greeting. I’ve never been so happy to hear my sister’s voice in my life! I woke Johnny up and asked him if that meant the condo was safe. He replied that that was likely because the electrical wiring would have been the first thing to go if the fire got to it. Woo-hoo! After that, I couldn’t fall asleep. Finally I couldn’t wait any longer, and at 7 a.m. I called my mom to tell her. Yesterday, she, June and Charles went back to their neighborhood, where police had cordoned off access to the homes. At 4 p.m., they were finally allowed in, where they found that everything was OK! It’s truly miraculous that the firefighters stopped the fire right before it reached their condo. Johnny made a trip out there after we got that call from them, to deliver the stuff in our car, and mostly to see for himself that they were OK.

Thanks for reading, if you’ve made it this far! On a lighter note, I do have some pictures of Jack to share, taken in the last few days:

Jack being silly on the couch before bedtime

Jack making his monster face and playing upon waking up

Notice his wild hair? Well, since we’re going to Michelle’s wedding this weekend, we took him to Fantastic Sam’s for a haircut yesterday afternoon while waiting for news from my mom and June. It turned out well!

New cut (in the last pic, Jack is holding a cheddar cheese stick, while Atari is practically drooling. Alas, Jack didn’t share. He loves cheese sticks!)

And I also have two videos.

Here’s Johnny making Jack laugh before bedtime. It’s kind of long (1:15, I think), but the beginning is fun, and the very end is also cute — Jack blows a kiss!

And here’s a short one of Jack using the computer. I love how he looks at the screen after punching a few keys.

Hope you all had a safe weekend, away from any fires!

Late this afternoon, Jack, Atari and I met up with my friend Milena, her toddler Marcus, and their huge-but-gentle bull mastiff, Mona, at the park. There’s an area where dog owners let their dogs run around off-leash. It’s very open but has a wall on one side and fences on the other sides, so it’s virtually impossible for your dog to run into the street. There’s also a little trail behind the play area, where people walk their dogs on leash.

Atari, Mona and some guy’s lab were running around happily in the open off-leash area when all of a sudden, a lady frantically yelled to us from the trail.

“Get your dogs on a leash now! I’m walking my cat!”

Milena and I immediately looked at each other and burst out laughing. We grabbed Atari and Mona by their collars and looked at the lady. Yup, there she was, walking her black cat on a red leash. Yes, I know there are breeds of cats that enjoy being walked, but this cat looked like your garden variety cat, and he or she was definitely being dragged along. The cat would sit and lick its paws disdainfully about every two steps. Seriously, we couldn’t stop giggling. It’s not that she was walking her cat (although … isn’t the beauty of having a cat that you don’t have to walk it?), it was that she was walking it near a dog play area, but had the nerve to yell at the dog owners to restrain their dogs. You don’t want your cat to be attacked by playing dogs? Tip: Don’t walk your cat near a dog park!

After the lady passed by with her cat (which took forever, since the cat didn’t want to be walked in the first place), Milena and I came up with other animals we could walk near the dogs:

“Get your dogs on a leash now! I’m walking my rabbit/turtle/goldfish/skunk/squirrel!”

It was certainly good for a laugh!

We took these pictures a while ago, but they’re too cute not to post:

Tee hee, bath time!

Where are my bath toys?

Jack absolutely loves bath time. We have two bathrooms, and one of them does have a tub, but it’s so old and grody that I wouldn’t even bathe Atari in it. So, for now, we’re still using Jack’s plastic tub in the giant shower stall in the second bathroom. He loves splashing and being the king of his little tub.

I was going to update about my weekend, but I’m too lazy to upload pictures right now. Sorry! I hope everyone had a great Veteran’s Day!

I’m going to interrupt the usual Jack-centric programming to talk about the election results.

Hooray, Barack Obama won! Along with millions of other Americans, I am now hopeful that our country is headed in a better direction. It was really moving to watch all the celebrations around the nation last night. And, John McCain’s concession speech was truly gracious. I was proud of us as a nation.

However, I am extremely disappointed in my fellow Californians. Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage in California, passed with a 52% majority vote. Let me tell you, the main reason I waited more than an hour in line with a wriggly toddler yesterday to vote wasn’t because of Obama. I knew that California would go to Obama. No, the main reason I went was to vote no on Prop 8. People who know me are well aware of the fact that I’m not usually very interested in politics. And, although my political and social leanings are more progressive/liberal, I can often understand the conservative viewpoint, and I have conflicting feelings on many issues. You could say I’m more just to the left of center than all the way to the left. But, supporting same-sex marriage is something about which I’ve never wavered. Why would anyone take away the right for two consenting, unrelated adults to marry?

All of the reasons I’ve heard for taking away same-sex marriage are so shoddy. “It’s a slippery slope. What’s next, polygamy and incest?” “It’s not right.” “Our children will learn about it.” “It’s against God’s will.” “It takes away from traditional marriage.” “They already have civil unions.” Frankly, it is just insulting to say that allowing same-sex couples to marry will open the door for other “immoral” activities. As for our children learning about it, last I checked, schools don’t have to teach anything about any sort of marriage, and hey, I personally would be happy for Jack to know that any two people who love each other (and are unrelated) can get married. Already on the playground, he has a couple of toddler friends who have two moms or two dads. Wouldn’t it be great — wouldn’t it even promote traditional family values — if those same-sex parents were married? People do not become gay or lesbian — learning about it isn’t going to make your child gay. Realistically, I don’t think it’s any parent’s dream to find out that their child is gay or lesbian, but if that does happen to be the case, wouldn’t you want your child to be able to marry the person he or she loves, and to have a (dare I say) traditional family? Lastly, the religious arguments just make me angry. It’s called separation of church and state, people! If you feel that God will send you to hell for marrying a person of the same sex, then you shouldn’t marry a person of the same sex! Plus, I do think it is possible (and desirable) for a church to be accepting of same-sex couples. Johnny and I belonged to a great church in Chicago where this was the case, and when we got married — in a church — we asked the pastor to change the words in the ceremony so that he said that marriage was between two people who love each other — not just between a man and a woman.

Really, all it comes down to is that people are threatened by and frightened of same-sex marriage. That’s just sad.

I suppose this is meaningful to me not just because I have gay and lesbian friends, but also because it all smacks of how interracial marriage was illegal in some states up until the 1990s. I don’t think anyone was technically enforcing this law, but interracial marriage has only been totally legal for a short period of time. And now look how common it is — people realized that banning it was discrimination. Eventually, they will figure out the same thing about same-sex marriage. That’s my hope, anyway!

OK, stepping off my soapbox now!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Last Halloween, Jack was only 3.5 months old, so we didn’t do much. This year, however, Jack fully enjoyed the festivities.

We went trick-or-treating at Mattel for three hours this morning. We drove into work with Johnny, got signed in, and Jack had his first trick-or-treating experience!

Our little monster

After trick-or-treating, there was a children’s costume parade in the cafeteria. Jack walked across the little stage, holding our hands.

After a long early afternoon nap, we headed out again, this time to a Halloween party in our local community center. We met up with Milena and Marcus.

Waiting for the community center to open … this is my favorite Halloween pic!

Playing on the swings with Daddy

Once Milena and her friend Polly showed up, we got Johnny to take a group picture of the moms and kids:

The party was fun! Jack and Marcus entertained themselves by coloring and touching balloons. Look at them — the monster and the prince!

Jack also learned how to spin a wheel, and the nice lady working behind the booth took a family picture, which I love:

After the party, Milena, Marcus, Johnny, Jack and I went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. We were a bit early, but saw plenty of other toddlers out with their parents. It was Jack’s first time going door-to-door, and he really was delighted by the people cooing over him at each house. He also liked to take candy out of the bowls offered by people, but each time, he would take one candy from his own bag and put it into the bowl, like it was a trade. Ha! Here are some pictures (I really wanted to have Johnny take that first picture, because I remember Shelly posting a similar picture with her and Hannah from last Halloween, and I’ve wanted one like it since!)

It was a very successful first trick-or-treating experience! And yes, Jack did get to eat some of what he brought home — he had a mini Snickers and a mini Milky Way. Yum! Uh, Mommy and Daddy may need to have the rest.

Also, I just realized that two years ago today is when I found out I was pregnant with Jack! How’s that for a happy Halloween?

Finally, if you’re a subscriber, there’s a protected post you can read. Those of you who don’t have Xanga accounts but are really curious about what it is can email me.