Aidan can put away groceries. This is a marvelous revelation. All we have to do is leave the groceries outside the front door, and he will take it upon himself ("what, you guys don't know where the canned fruit goes??") to put them away. One at a time, he'll pick a can out of the bag (canned peaches are most important because they're the best), lift it up onto the step, crawl up the step himself, bend down to pick up can with both hands, walk to the cabinet, put the can down, open the cabinet door, bend down to pick the can up, put can on lowest shelf, close door, walk to doorway, hang onto doorjam, lower self to step, start all over again. It's very mindful and Zen-baby of him. I always said he was a Zen baby.

Today at St. Martyr's, every person in the building had ashes on their forehead except me. Yeah, I skipped mass. Sue me. I was kind of afraid the Rapture would happen then and there and Jesus would know who to keep and who to toss by the ash on their forehead, and I'd be out of luck. The priest who did it at this mass also does a really good cross on the forehead, not just a smudge. The big scandal today was that the hot lunch lady planned burgers for today. Couldn't she have planned pizza instead? I bet she would have if she knew the uproar her meat patties were going to cause. I'm giving up chocolate, except that I forgot and had a banana-chocolate energy bar. But I don't think that counts because it's not REAL chocolate. Not like my beloved Nestle Treasures, which I finished last night in preparation for Lent. I'm going to treat myself to those and a bunch of Cadbury Creme Eggs (Yes! My favorite part of Spring!) when Easter's here.

We have entered the terrible twos at 18 months. I've heard that's normal. Aidan has learned the magical word "no." Not just "no," but "nnnooooooooo!" with a whine that suggests I've just told him his father and I are leaving him forever. He also says "yeah!" with such enthusiasm that you'd think we've just told him it's ice cream for dinner from here on out.

What I'm thinking about tonight: What exact threat to marriage and family exists if we allow gay couples to marry? Are the conservatives afraid that straights will suddenly *stop* getting married? And why does the government get to decide that, anyway? If it's a religious issue, then deal with it in church. On Larry King tonight some blonde legislature kept asking Gavin Newsom "What about polygamy? Where does it end?" I suppose we could come back with, "And what about legislating our bookshelves? Are you going to insist we all own and read the King James Version? Where does it end?" Grrrr.

And what's the exact problem with Janet Jackson showing her boob? Why is that soooo much more offensive than the violence of men tackling each other for fun? (FTR, I do like football). I wish people would be as offended by all the commercials targeting our children and all the violence on prime time. I'd much rather Aidan see a boob than see all the gunfighting. Heck, he sees mine all the time (my boob, not my gunfighting). Also, it was pretty obvious to anyone who saw it any of the 10,000 times they showed it that she was surprised afterward and tried to cover up. I believe that that lace thing was supposed to stay on.

:::Off the soapbox::::

Aidan had his first big owie this week. Took a tumble and knocked into the sharp corner of a chair leg. It looked much worse than it does now, honestly. It took 2 hours to see a doctor, and by that time I felt pretty foolish, but I'd already paid my $25 for him to say, "Yep, he's fine." I missed my mom's group dinner, so I sent G out for a bottle of red wine, which I desperately needed by that point.

Bonus:

Reality Show Update:
American Idol tonight! Hope it's better than last week. Update: Yeah - better. Trying to get the rugrat down so I missed the first two. Jon Peter fascinates me, although I don't think he's great. I'd like to see him advance just because he's interesting to watch, sort of like Clay was in the early auditions. Go LaToya - way to represent Oaktown! She was good, but I didn't think she was the best they'd ever seen, so I was a bit surprised by the judges reactions.


Littlest Groom: Good for him for picking the little woman, but really, it was kind of obvious who he had more in common with.


My BFOF: AWESOME finale. I was ready to go live with that family by the end of it (minus Randi). I loved the way the mom just got up and calmly walked out. She didn't even yell at Steve, she just said, "That's fine, Steve, you can tell them." Now there's a mom who doesn't need to yell - but when she's pissed, you know it. I also loved the way the family made the producers beg them to come back. Way to rise above it! Too bad about that money-grubbing middle child, though.

Survivor: Best season ever, though I'm sad to see Rob C go. I think he'd have been at his best after a merge and he never got a chance to do some good scheming. I've heard rumors about who's in the finale and I will be a bit disappointed if it's true. We'll see. Still love "Pretty Boy" Ethan. Also like Lex. Would probably marry Lex if he were single and if I hadn't already gotten my first choice of husband (added that in for G). He guests as a DJ at a local radio station when he's not surviving on a desert island, and he's pretty funny. Beginning to think Rupert might have some delusional system going. Digging down into the sand? Even I know that's a bad idea. Jerri's much more tolerable this time. Jenna's not. Richard's great - loved that he bit the shark back. Oh yeah, and that Tylenol "Push through the Pain" award - great idea. Gotta give it to Goat Farmer Tom this time. Ouch.