Eri's first trip to the dentist

First off, Happy 2009!

So, now that Erin has turned three, she gets to experience the joys of going to the dentist.  Emily suggested I take them both at the same time, which was a revelation to me because I wouldn't have thought of that myself.  The appointment was on Monday February 2, 2009.  We are lucky in that a. our dentist is just one block away, and 2. our dentist is the wonderful doctor Vivian Lopez, DDS, who specializes in pediatric dentistry.  Oh and c. she has a couple of great technicians/hygenists who really work hard to relate to the kids and put them at ease.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Erin got to watch Katie go through the whole routine first, which in her case really seemed to help.  There was one point when it was Erin's turn to get into the chair so that Tanya, the dental technician, could check her teeth and polish them that a flicker of fear went over her face--but it passed quickly as I put her in the chair, and Katie jumped on to go for Erin's inaugural ride up and down in the chair (3 times since she is 3).

Going to the dentist, in the end, was more like going to a party, with all the presents and balloons they got at the end.  In fact on the walk back home we passed a man who said "it looks like you just came from a birthday party" which of course seemed strange since it was 11 AM on a monday morning.  "No, dentist", I said.

Getting from point A to point B

Erin was very upset this morning that she did not have gymnastics as Katie does. It being a gray day outside, I proposed a bike ride to our local "play cafe", an indoor mini-playground for kids. Erin's tears disappeared almost instantly--right, I thought, lets strike while the iron is hot. 

Already dressed in her leotard, so as to attend gymnastics in spirit, if not in actuality, I suggested we put some pants on her, over the leotard, to protect those almost three year old legs from the cold.  Three pairs later, with much whining and gnashing of teeth, I abandoned the idea that she must keep her legs warm on our bike ride.  After all, she has free will doesn't she?  Perhaps if her legs got cold, she'd "learn something".  OK, almost set to go, I looked up a bike safe route on google maps, got my bike gloves out of my bag, and remembered--oops, I left my bike at work last night.

Erin took this news amazingly well.  She commented that she did that once when she was a baby.   Luckily, I was thinking quickly and decided we'd take the bus instead.  A quick lookup of the bus schedule, and we were out the door.  Less than 10 steps from our doorstep, Erin remembers that she wants to be wearing the "new" (to her) polka dot fleece jacket Momma brought up from the bag of Katie's old clothes.  So, back inside.  New jacket on, socks shoes and leotard clad, we made it to the bus stop.  We got what I interpreted as a few concerned looks from passers by in cars as we sat waiting for the bus--"is that girl naked under that jacket?" I imagined them thinking.  

An hour after the plan was hatched, we've arrived and Erin's happily playing away.  The bus ride was actually an adventure for us, despite the fact that I don't believe AC Transit has a single friendly driver in their vast fleet.  The only other minor setback was a bump on the head, via a roll off of a "hop ball" about 5 seconds after Erin set foot in the play area.  It's good to get those things out of the way at the start.    The rest of the day is looking good.

Wrong side of history

A slim majority of Californians voted last night to take away the right of gay and lesbian people to marry in our golden state.  The millions of Pro-8 voters were driven by fear, mis-information, a belief that their religious views must be imposed on others, as well as a frightful belief that rights are to be whimsically bestowed and taken away from minorities with less thought than is shown towards livestock.  Bigger coops for chickens?  Yea!  Marriage for gays? Nay!

Their hate is a blight on the lives and families of gays and lesbians everywhere.  Under the guise of "protecting marriage", they have stigmatizatized gays and lesbians and our children.  They have asserted that discriminating against lesbians and gays is acceptable and they have ordered that inequality be written into law.

Let's hope that they are on the wrong side of history.  Let's hope that these narrow minds--clearly not thinking rationally, if at all, about how their disconnected actions in the ballot box damage real women, men and children in so many painful ways--will not prevail.

California Constitution

ARTICLE 1  DECLARATION OF RIGHTS

SECTION 1.  All people are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights.  Among these are enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy.

Top 10 Ways Gay Marriage Hurts Straight Marriage

Top 10 Ways Gay Marriage hurts Straight Marriage

10.  Gay marriages have raised the bar for having fun, creative and fabulous weddings.

9.   All the good venues have already been booked by gay couples.

8.  Your friends can't come to your straight wedding because it conflicts with their other friends' gay wedding.

7.  The lines at the county clerk and city hall are much longer with all the gay couples getting married.

6.  Only the people who really want to be there go to a gay wedding, so the straight weddings get all the people who you wish wouldn't come.

5.  All the offspring of gay marriages will be gay (just like all the offspring of straight marriages are straight) leading to a world wide population implosion.

4.  The pressure will increase on straight married couples to have even more children as a result of #5.

3.  Straight married couples will divorce in increasing numbers as a result of all this increased pressure and stress on them to reproduce.

2.  Straight couples will have no money to retire on because they have too many children and alimony payments from previous straight marriages.

1. Straight marriage will completely disintegrate and be viewed as an impossible dream  because of #s 2-10.

Katie's Alarm Clock

Now that she's a big kindergartener, Emily set Katie's alarm clock to go off in the AM to help her wake up before Mamma goes to work, thus avoiding meltdowns and tears at the start of the day. The first day of this new regime, Emily went up to find Katie on the floor staring at her alarm clock (music playing). Asked how she liked it, Katie replied, "I like it, but it waked me up before I was finished sleeping".

Not a day over 65

Conversation overheard at the YMCA today:

Woman 1: Oh, hi, how are you? We never see each other any more.
Woman 2: I'm good, and you? Yea, we don't.
Woman 1: What classes are you taking these days?
Woman 2: Well, I've dropped Sunday mornings, so I'm mostly coming in to do my own workouts--and I'm also taking a Pilates class at Elephant Pharmacy. It's free and it's nice.
Woman 1: Oh, I'm taking a Pilates class too, it is nice.
Woman 2: Well, you look good.
Woman 1: So do you!
Woman 2: Thank you. We gotta work hard.
Woman 1: Tell me about it, we're old broads, we gotta work hard.
Woman 2: Don't remind me, I have a birthday coming up next week.
Woman 1: Which one is it? Is it the same as mine?
Woman 2: No, you're younger than me.
Woman 1: So how old are you going to be? I'm 72.
Woman 2: 71. But we're children, children!
Woman 1: [laughs]
Woman 2: I'm in better shape than some of my kindergarteners [proceeds to bend over and touch her toes].
Woman 1: You're kidding, that's terrible!
Woman 2: Yes, I know, I feel so bad for some of these kids.

Get out your handkerchiefs

Today is Katie's last day of pre-school.  She's been going since she was 2 years and 9 months old, and she's 5 years and 7 months now. We will be attending her "graduation" ceremony this afternoon, and yes, I will be bringing a supply of tissues.  As well as the camera and video cam.  Emily and I are taking turns fighting the urge to choke up--how could this all be happening so fast?  Looking back, it all seems like a blur, and now Erin is getting ready to go to pre-school and Katie to Kindergarten.  Thankfully they both are more forward looking and eager than their parents who are sentimental saps.  Pictures and video to be posted later.