September 20, 2007 by Barbara.

I was surprised to read today on the CBC website that Nova Scotia had decided to allow same-sex couples to list both names on a child’s birth certificate. Not surprised in the sense of being opposed but surprised that this hadn’t been in place in all Canadian provinces for some time now. Same-sex marriages are legal in Canada. It seems to be a long time that adoption has been open to same-sex couples. I guess I just thought we, as a nation, had moved from judging families to figuring out how to support them. So, here’s to Nova Scotia. From the Ontario government site, we seem to still require a father and a mother. I look forward to that changing soon.

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September 20, 2007 by Barbara.

Ken got a new laptop last Saturday. He did some online research, narrowed his decision to 2 models and walked over to Future Shop to compare them in person. The Future Shop is somewhat notorious (at least in our family) for being a difficult location in which to attract the attention of sales people but it is within walking distance and it did have the laptops Ken wanted. After waiting to be noticed for 10-15 minutes - remember Ken is 6′2″ - Ken came home. He decided on his laptop and ordered it online with an in-store pick-up. When I went to pick it up
the next day, they’d pulled the wrong computer off the shelf and I had to wait while they retrieved it. Ken was happy to see it but noted that
if only CompuSmart had had one, he’d have bought from them. Strong store loyalty, eh.

As he was showing the laptop to Reid and me, I teased him that I still had lots of stickers from the Emerging Technology conference in San
Diego (remember the San Diego stories?) and also from BlogHer 2007 in Chicago (oh, and the Chicago stories were good, too) and said I wanted to be the first to add a sticker to the shiny case. Ken said that, while he didn’t intend to be using the enclosed polishing cloth to keep the case shiny, he didn’t understand why people feel the urge to put stickers on their laptops. Reid didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the exchange but was busy at her easel. She walked over to Ken’s computer and stuck a purple foam fish onto the case. I guess she listens even when she isn’t looking at us. If you can imagine one the laptops advertised in the Hewlett Packard advertisements “Get your shine on” with a purple foamy on it, that’s what Ken’s new computer looks like.

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September 20, 2007 by Barbara.

Reid didn’t sleep well Wednesday night and that means that I didn’t sleep well either. Ken had to go to a meeting in the evening and so my plan for Reid and me was simple - call Grandma Joyce, relaxing bath for Reid (with a little stress around the hair washing part) and early to bed. What really happened:

1.  Reid was a little wild thing while I had Grandma Joyce on the phone and was interested in talking only if I let her stay in the bathroom where the water was running into the tub, which would have been the same as not talking since Grandma Joyce couldn’t have heard her;  
2.  I had to threaten not to read stories to get Reid into the tub, even though she had chosen which bathroom to use and had been in charge of turning the water on and off . I wish she would read the parenting advice books and columns that say that kids will do what you ask if they make decisions or help in the preparation;
3. When we finally headed for bed, Reid asked to go to Daddy’s bed and I agreed. We read four of the new Clifford books we got from Scholastic, and One Fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish by Dr Seuss (the latter while I was combing and braiding her hair). She wondered about reading another and I had to tell her that we both needed to go to sleep, right now. By the time I turned of the light we were late. I thought of stopping reading sooner but I didn’t want her to go to sleep remembering only the prodding and bossing that had happened and I’m not sure that she would have been asleep any earlier in the long run. This way she had a chance to wind down before trying to sleep. Me, I was asleep pretty quickly, as well.

At 3:50am or so I woke up and decided that I might as well get out of bed. We’ll have to see how Reid does when she wakes up and whether the extra 15 minutes does her in.

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