Interesting...

Here is a story that uses the controversial picture from the photo contest my company is hosting as a jumping off point for a discussion of male and female sexual socialization. It's an interesting article. It also has a link to the photo, which is odd, because I thought it was decided that the picture wouldn't be published. I still think I'm horrified that it's available. All I can imagine is being that woman, and happening across the photo in the course of a normal day (I mean, how many people read Salon?) and just being devastated by it.

"But the Mardi Gras molesters cannot be dismissed as perverted monsters. They look jovial, clueless, entitled. They are the guys next door, our sons, caught up in an extreme rendering of "boys will be boys." This is, 100% what bothered me the most about this picture; that these boys just looked like what was happening was no big deal, something they were absolutely entitled to see and do. That just makes me shudder. It makes me fear for having a daughter, and glad I don't have a son to raise.

This morning

Widget seems to be coming closer and closer to really talking. Her sounds more closely resemble words, and she seems to be trying harder to communicate particular things to us.

This morning, I forgot to close the gate, and she headed right up the stairs. I tried to entice her to come back down, and she just kept going. I asked her "Are you a baby on a mission?" And got "Yeah!" back. When I said "What is your mission?" She said quite emphatically, "Dada!" and then climbed the rest of the way up the stairs, went into mine and Wiley's bedroom, and seemed very disappointed when there was no Dada to be found hiding up there.

Weekend recap

Yes, I know it's Tuesday. I had a long weekend.

Friday - good day. Widget was cheerful and happy, and I got half my new flower bed planted. Sadly, the bugs (they weren't actually mosquitoes... do gnats bite?) discovered me while I was planting, and had themselves a little early evening buffet. Quite literally, I have 15 bites on one forearm. My other arms and legs aren't much better. And it itches like you wouldn't believe.

Saturday, Widget slept in (9:00) and I got up with her. After she was fed and we were showered, we headed up to a friend's place to return the baby backpack. She reported that a shop in town had one similar to it (retails for $150-200) for $20. We stopped by to find she'd sold it that morning. Poot. Drove home via Rt. 1 so Wiley could get some Dogfish Head beer at Kappy's (And did he ever, 4 6 packs!). Came home puttered around the house, decided to go join Shani, Carrie, Dory and Kieron for dinner. Went out for Tapas, and that was heavenly. Drank too much Sangria, so hung out at their place for a while, playing Apples to Apples. Like Arwen, I kinda felt like no one quite "got" my sense of humor. But it was still really fun. I got awesome birthday presents from Miss Dory and Miss Carrie, and ended up staying out WAY TOO LATE. Finally got home at 1:00 or so, and crawled into bed.

Widget slept in again on Sunday, but Wiley got up with her this time. I heard them leave to go out for coffee, so got up and dressed. It is so nice sometimes to do basic personal care without having to simultaneously chase a baby around. Had coffee and breakfast, then packed into the car to go visit my parents. They're always happy for Widget time, and I got to did violets and other stuff out of their garden for planting in mine. Seems like a fair trade. Miss Widget barely napped on the trip down, and then would not nap on the trip home. Which was kind of poor, since she was tired, and it's a 2 hour drive. So, spent most of the drive contorted around trying to keep her amused.

Then yesterday, Elisa was in Vegas so I took the day off to spend it with Widget. Drove over and got Kieron in the morning, tried to have a nice lunch, ended up with Wendy's takeout to accommodate Widget deciding to nap, and took the boat into the City to meet up with Carrie and her family to go to the Aquarium, which Widget loved. There was one tank we could get right up close to, and she was trying SO HARD to catch the fish. It made me laugh. We met Wiley downtown and took the boat home. He went off to get the new lawnmower (woohoo!) and Widget and I played for another hour or so before she went to bed. Made Sesame Beef for dinner (yummy!) and watched Six Feet Under, then stayed up .way.too.late. reading one of my birthday books.

A very good weekend.