Oh, and there was a woman at one of the booths who was blind and spinning beautifully!

And pronunciation/regional accent question: on the way back we stopped at Ollies for custard and somebody behind us ordered a "sunda" - I'd never heard sundae pronounced that way. Any idea where that pronunciation comes from?

You'll laugh at my reasoning for pants suit: you have fewer occasions calling for a pants suit, so use it when you can! A gorgeous Jesse in a hot looking black dress? Wear that ALL THE TIME!

Ha! I'm sad, because this is the suit I had made, and I'm just not that crazy about it. I don't like pants! At least the pants have pockets, I guess.

The dress isn't hot, per se.

The baby needed changing at one point and he announced that was a "mother's job" which did not sit well with me.

I think he's the one who's missing out there on a chance to bond with his baby. Dad's don't get to nurse the babies, so changing diapers is one of the key moments to just check in with the baby and get to know him/her. And okay, there's still bottles, bedtime and baths, but bottles and baths aren't necessarily daily, and bedtime often defaults to nursing, so... that leaves diapers at the most frequent opportunity to be with baby.

The baby needed changing at one point and he announced that was a "mother's job" which did not sit well with me.

A friend of mine once began work as a receptionist for her husband's little company, and at the end of the week he announced that he expected her to clean the office bathroom because it was "women's work." Very soon after that, there was some sort of plumbing issue and the sewage was flowing all over - when he turned to her to ask her to start mopping she announced that plumbing was "men's work" and went home.

I think he's the one who's missing out there on a chance to bond with his baby. Dad's don't get to nurse the babies, so changing diapers is one of the key moments to just check in with the baby and get to know him/her. And okay, there's still bottles, bedtime and baths, but bottles and baths aren't necessarily daily, and bedtime often defaults to nursing, so... that leaves diapers at the most frequent opportunity to be with baby.

I agree, and it's still a great time to chat with Ryan even at age 2. He has some learning aids stuck to the ceiling above the change table, letter-animal combos (e.g. an 'R' with a cartoon rhino). He likes running through them (with sound effects where appropriate). Also a good time to learn the names of body parts. (He likes to pat his own arm/hair/tummy etc, then pat mine too.) Now that he's noticed that his nappies have pictures of koalas or kangaroos on them, all bets are off.

Afterwards, if it was just a wet nappy, he'll pick up the waste basket, march it into the toilet, and dump the nappy into the waste basket therein. Then he lifts both arms and announces, "Hooray!" (Then he takes the basket back and washes his hands.)

In conclusion, that guy is really missing out.

All of ours were bottle-fed, which meant Stephen and I shared feeding duty, but even so, he became bath guy (and when they were really tiny, he usually did it with me) for the most part, which is another good way to spend one-on-one time with them. He never shied away from a diaper, either, unless it was the explosive toxic waste ones we were both trying to avoid.

We found that the babies were quicker to take a bottle from C than from me because with me they were hoping for a nurse. We needed one or two bottles a day to augement nursing.

Consuela! Some day you need to come to Juliana's restaurant. They make Pisco sours.

Oh, that's good to know. I would like to get there someday.

I am hiding in my house from the party at my sister's place. I'll go back in a few minutes because my niece wants to watch HP2 with me. But at the moment I'm feeling kind of anti-social: I just walked out without saying goodbye to anyone but my folks.

Bah.

Unfortunately, there's a goodly-sized subsection of the masculine population that doesn't see a need to bond with their children, because childcare and child interaction is "women's work." "Men's work" is important stuff like bread winning and family leading and interacting with larger society and dealing with "issues of the day" while the women are tending hearth and home so the poor exhausted man has a peaceful place to come back to and renew his energies. The kids are there to carry his line to the next generation and live their lives in the way he has instructed them. At least the sons are, the girls are then to dicker off to the fathers of other sons--Dad will choose who Daughter sees and approve any potential mates.

I may have been reading too many Quiverfull and patriarchal websites.

I caught up !

I hope your niece wakes up soon scrappy

I am so excited about you house,javachick. You know we actually like house projects - right Now our schedule's can be difficult , but you will need extra hands

I keep watching for Sass sightings.

the only news about me is I have a blister. All the training I have been doing for this walk - and this is my first one. Between toes. which seems stupid to me