It takes a...

There's a perfectly good reason I haven't blogged in a little bit.. everything has been going so well! Its been generally so positive, and I know that the surest way to bore people to death is it to regale the world with tales of how the times are all so wonderful and pleasant and la la la.

The other shoe will drop soon, but for right now it's so damn good that when it's close to his bed time and we say, "ready to go to sleep" he actually nods his head, says "yeah." Then goes over to the crib ready to hop right in a snuggle off to bed. I can see my father shaking his head and mumbling under his breath, "I battled through being a journalist in Far-East Asia and this is the boring stuff my son can produce. Where's that drama!" as he unsubscribes from the now entirely mundane tales of his grandson.

Yep, life with Kaden has certainly stabilized a lot from the early months of uncontrollable crying and projectile poop. We are in that wonderful blissful period where he sleeps well, plays like a mad hatter, and talks up a storm (although mostly in a language we don't understand). And we are enjoying it as much as possible because if there's one immutable lesson about this child-rearing experience it is that just as soon as you adjust to something, it changes.

Anyway, I can't help but notice that the infamous "terrible twos" are right around the corner. So I'm sure there will be much to post about soon, and in the meantime I'm keeping the photos flowing every week.

Besides, just because he's been generally a fun (if exhausting) little guy to be around, doesn't mean that the rest of the world has been behaving. There was the recent incident in a Starbucks where Kaden was walking around with a plastic bag in his hand and the woman took the bag FROM HIS HAND and then scolded me saying, "he shouldn't have plastic, it could choke him."

I was about to reason with her that I was standing right next to him, so that was doubtful. But then I realized she is the type of person who lives her life in fear and is far from my help. She has commanded her relatives to give only wooden toys, and cowers in fear if she is forced into using a microwave-save plastic bowl in the microwave (if she owns one). Meanwhile her kid is full of splinters and bruises from swinging his heavy mallet-like wooden toys at both his own head and his parents.

I like wooden toys as much as the next person, and I certainly rant about the horrors of cheap, loud, plastic toys as much as the next guy. But do it because you like it, not because you are afraid of something. And please, I understand it takes a village and all, but scolding another adult for something innocuous like a plastic bag of crackers? More like, "it takes a village idiot."