First post

Welcome to my first real venture into the blogosphere. I've been reading some mom blogs and have been feeling more and more like I would like to join that conversation. It might be good for me. So here I am. I could introduce myself but I'm acutely aware that no one who doesn't know me will read this, except possibly in archive, by which time you'll probably already have a sense of who I am. So it seems a little silly. Let me just launch in.

It'll be Valentine's Day by the time I finish this. A., Z., and I went to the Four Seasons a day early b/c the day itself was booked up by the time we called. Once a year we see what life would be like if we actually had money to spend and make a reservation to have tea there, in the lounge. It's very civilized--the doorman opens your car door for you even if you arrive in a battered Honda with a second-hand carseat and trash in all the footwells. Some years there's been a harpist and there's usually a fire in the fireplace. There are rolled-up cloth towels in the bathroom instead of paper, and expanses of marble and plants everywhere. The food is, of course, impeccably High Tea: tiny cucumber sandwiches, warm scones, clotted cream, dainty desserts, chocolate-dipped strawberries. The weather is usually dreadful. It's the middle of February, after all.

Because it's so close to Z.'s birthday it's also a marker: 2 years ago we were there Before Baby, though I was hugely pregnant and anxious about the due date. I can't believe we were so innocent so recently. Last year Z. was in a high chair they rolled out from some corner (Peg Perego, no less). This year she was in a booster seat covered in chintz, which she loved. She was transfixed by the harpist, she ate 4 chocolate strawberries, and much clotted cream. She said "thank you" and "you're welcome" without being prompted, and she did not dump her food on the floor. (We are working on not dumping.) So, for 23 1/2 months, impeccable table manners.

A. and I have been talking about some of the parenting stuff that has been driving us bonkers: for A., it's Z.'s bedtime (too late); for me, it's Z.'s arrival at day care (also too late). These are linked, of course, but getting Z. earlier to bed and earlier to rise seems to require lifestyle changes that may be beyond us. Still, talking about it is a starting point.