watch your language!

the baron's mother (to baby girl x): once upon a time there was a handsome scottish actor.  he had thick eyebrows, and a nice smile*.

the baron: [listening]

the baron's mother: and he was sexy.

the baron:  mother, what the heck?  you don't say sexy to my infant daughter!

the baron's mother: [hearty laughter]

*the baron and her mother had been reminiscing about this movie, which apparently got the baron's mother thinking about this actor.  hence, the sexy talk.

annoyed. also secretly pleased.

toddler x: sometimes i misbehave. sometimes i misbehave. sometimes i misbehave.

the baron: yes, that is true. but sometimes you behave. can you say that?

toddler x: ...

the baron: toddler x, can you say, 'sometimes i behave'?

toddler x: ... ... sometimes i DON'T misbehave. hahahahahaha.

the baron: (sigh)

it didn't go our way.

miss you, tucker.

this round to tucker

tucker's been a bit down lately, on account of a wicked case of meningoencephalitis (the baron is referring to it as brain fever).

it's been a long week for the baron and the husband (and probably longer still for tucker) as various doctors tried to sort out his diagnosis and treatment, but now, 10 days after the seizure that first indicated he might be ill, tucker is seeming better and better:  he's ambulatory, and has regained his appetite, vision, and sense of smell.  his hearing seems not to be so great, but yesterday the baron did notice tucker's ears twitch at the sound of the cookie jar lid being removed and was heartened by it.

years ago, when the baron and the husband were certain they did not want and would not have children, they mourned the life tucker would not have: he seemed the kind of dog specially bred for a little boy to roam and romp with, best friends armed with sticks and tennis balls.

things are much changed since those early days!  when toddler x was born, among his parents' first thoughts was: how lucky this boy, to have tucker!  and how lucky tucker is, to have this boy!

if things had gone a different way this week, the baron and the husband would have had a hard time putting things back together.  happily and luckily, this round goes to tucker and there will be no mourning, only celebrating.

choo choo for fun

the baron: are we going on a train tomorrow?
toddler x: yes!
the baron: what are we going to do tomorrow?
toddler x: train!
the baron: who are we going to see tomorrow?
toddler x: uncle dylan!

new york city, here we come.

princess... like gay, but worse?

tomorrow the baron, the husband, and toddler x will find out the gender of baby segundo.  both the baron and the husband are hoping for another boy, for reasons that have to do entirely with their self-perceived parenthood FAILS about raising girls and NOTHING to do with the obvious awesomeness of little girls.

for the husband, raising a daughter would perhaps remind him of his teenaged years; viewing a 13 year-old girl from the lens of fatherhood rather than teenage-boyhood might be too much for him to bear, since he'll acutely remember what, exactly, those teenaged boys are thinking about when and if they call upon his daughter.  he has visions of standing guard on the porch, cocked shotgun in hand, warning young men away from the house.  it's not a pretty picture.

for the baron, should she be carrying a daughter, her concern will mainly be about fundamental personality differences between herself and said daughter.  the baron has been informally polling women at toddler x's playgroup and has found that the disposition of the mother is no guarantee about the disposition of the daughter.  in other words, to paraphrase a woman from yesterday's playgroup, a woman whose rather sheltered daughter insisted on being a fairy princess for halloween: 'i used to think girls weren't born to want to be princesses, but she wants to wear her costume all the time.  i have NO IDEA how she got this way.  i'm not like that at all and she doesn't see those things...'

does this mean there's a princess gene?  something that can't be fought or altered, some fundamental part of some little girls that draws them to pink and purple, makeup and jewelry?  if so, the baron and the husband are screwed.

pregnant! again!

but reader, let us not dwell on that fact just now.

instead, as the baron, the husband, and toddler x prepare for an early december trip to new york city, let's read a bit about the city.

...

the baron's favorite part of this article?

“Rats are almost as fecund as germs … a rat at four is older than a man at ninety. ‘Rats that survive to the age of four are the wisest and the most cynical beasts on earth,’ one exterminator says. ‘A trap means nothing to them, no matter how skillfully set. They just kick it around until it snaps; then they eat the bait … I believe some of them can read.’ ”