2003-06-16-3:27 p.m.
Ro baby has been very friendly toward men lately. He was in more of a woman phase for quite awhile and now he's definitely in a man phase. Other than me and my mother, women no longer seem register on the radar anymore. When Ro baby meets somebody, you can tell if he likes them because he'll offer them his sippy cup. He expects them to take a swig and then give it back. He then likes to repeat the process a few times. It reminds of legends of Indian peace pipe ceremonies.

"The peace pipe is one of the best-known symbols of Native American culture. It creates an instant bond between people as a symbol of friendship and is widely reputed to promote goodwill and health." The sippy cup does too. He he.

A few days ago, Ro baby gave the sippy cup to Daddy's friend, Big, Tall P, who reminded me of a giraffe. Then, he sat in BTP's lap and even gave him a hug. We were pretty shocked because he just doesn't do that sort of thing with strangers. Later the same afternoon, an Arabic fellow, who lives downstairs from us, came home from work while we were playing outside. Ro baby ran up to him and raised his arms for a pick up, which he got. The guy was shocked because last time he tried to talk to Ro baby, Ro baby cried and tried to drag me away from the man. This time he's greeted with open arms and even gets a hug to boot. You can never tell what Ro baby's going to be like in public. It's an absolute dice roll.

public vs. private
Ro baby's variety of public behavior has made me think that too many people base their decision on whether or not to have kids on their reaction to other people's children. I've heard so many people watch a tantruming child and then announce they could never deal with that, so they're never having kids. Basing your decision to have kids on the ones you see in public is a fundamentally flawed set up, because small children don't reveal much of their true personality to anyone outside the family unit. Ro baby doesn't perform. He's not a trained seal, so he's very rarely interesting or cute around strangers anymore. He's at his sweetest when he's just with us (or other family) in a comfortable environment. Like every other toddler I've met, his public behavior varies somewhere between diffidence and being upset, with little bits sweetness here and there -- if you're lucky.

Of course, parents don't help much either because they just say stuff like, "well, it will be completely different when they're your children." Although this statement is completely and utterly true. It's a lame thing to say to a non-parent because no one ever says why it will be different. So, this leaves the non-parent visualizing themselves as the parent of a constantly tantruming kid, but somehow not minding it anymore. I think non-parents occasionally look at parents as being some type of sadist who doesn't mind sleep deprivation, crying, and doing lots of cleaning. They can't visualize all the good parts of having a tiny little person in your life.

new kettle
This weekend, we braved the mall to go to Williams-Sonoma for a new tea kettle. We got this one from Krups. It's pretty heavy duty and hopefully it will last a few years. We did have this Bodum Kettle, but it had a faulty switch, so they replaced it and gave us a new one, which went wonky this week. So, we went through two Bodum kettles in two years, therefore I can't really recommend it. Boiling water 10 times a day was clearly too much for it.

allergy hell
Man --- I'm having a severe, severe allergy attack. The really annoying thing is that I'm allergic to something very specific that grows right by our apartment building and I don't know what it is. If I walk a block away from our apartment, I feel perfectly fine. When I get within sight of the apartment then I get all the usual allergy symptoms: runny nose, itchy/sore eyes, coughing, sore throat, etc. It's lame. I want to claw my eyes out because they're so annoying. I wish I could pack up my computer and go to my mom's house. I'm not allergic to anything in her yard. I don't normally have much allergy trouble, so something this severe is pretty new for me. I took a sudafed last night to try to sleep better because I felt so awful, but I keep forgetting those drugs are stimulants for me, so my allergy symptoms died down but I was up all night. Groan.

previous - next