Stuff

• Doodles is now seven months old. Which is not good. Because in the scheme of "nine months on/nine months off" for weight loss, it means I only have two months left to go. Granted, I'm within four pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight, but given the way my new body is shaped, I have more than four pounds to go.
  
• Speaking of "nine months off," I did a little weight lifting at the gym. I used only a five-pound weight and did lots of reps. Simple, right? Right. I can't lift my right arm now. I couldn't figure out why my right arm hurt so much more than my left arm, and then I realized I carry an eighteen-pound weight everyday in my left hand (so I can have my right arm free to do stuff).
  
• The O.C. still rocks even if Paris Hilton did guest star. Everyone's allowed a mistake occasionally.
  
• I just want to take a second to rave about the "thinking moms" out there. For starters, there's the DotMoms blog, which is a great collection of mothers (of kids of all ages) writing about their experiences, good and bad. It represents quite a diverse range of moms and views and backgrounds, and I find reading it to be refreshing. Then there's Brain, Child, which I've just started my subscription to. It's a fabulous literary journal about motherhood (concentrating on mothers, not the kids). Mothers of daughters especially should run out and get the latest copy just to read the essay "The Vagina Dialogues" by Shaunna Harrington, which is hilarious and on the money (mothers of sons will like it too but won't be able to relate in quite the same way). Parents, check out these two things! Okay, advertisement over.
  
• Is anyone else as upset as I am that Bob Edwards is being forced off of Morning Edition (the CNN version of the story)? Bob Edwards is Morning Edition. I've been a supporter of NPR for a while now, but all I ever listen to is Morning Edition. It may be time to reconsider that support.
  
• He's cracking. Adam actually said this morning, "I'm not sure how I feel about Bush these days." Heh heh. Before I'm done with him he'll be reading The Nation and wearing Birkenstocks (not that I actually read The Nation or wear Birkenstocks, but you know what I mean).
  
• Curb Your Enthusiasm is such an incredible show. The season finale was one of the best episodes I've ever seen on TV. I thought I knew where it was going. I was cringing with the mishap that Larry David was getting himself into, that he always gets himself into. And, as happens in 99 percent of those episodes, the show totally took my by surprise. It was hysterical! They use their guest stars so well (in this case, Mel Brooks and David Schwimmer). (If you don't know who Larry David is, he's one of the co-creators of Seinfeld and the character of George Costanza was based on him. The interview he did a decade ago with Laugh Factory is one of the funniest I've ever read.) Watch this show! (End of second paid placement.)
  
• Doodles is now thoroughly enjoying his baths. I, however, am not. Because Doodles is obsessed with the plastic duck thermometer. It floats so nicely. It's made of a very light plastic, which means it's easy for little hands to pick it up. But my child doesn't want to pick it up. My child, lazy little guy that he is, would rather lean precariously over in the water and stick his face on the floating duck to get it into his mouth. Picture bobbing for apples but with a duck instead. Which means I'm constantly on edge, trying to clean crevices and keep Doodles from submerging his face. No matter how many times I hand him that stupid duck, he drops it and leans over, with his mouth wide open. Water on his face doesn't bother him, but it bothers me. So basically instead of him learning to pick the duck up, I'm learning that I need to check the bath water temp before Doodles gets in and then hide the stupid duck.