Happy 3rd Birthday, Urban Kid 2!

Three years ago today, our youngest -- and last-minute -- tax deduction came into the world.  And in a strange turn of events that I have yet to see in a shortie, Urban Kid 2 is denying that the day is happening!  She began her day by rolling over on her stomach, shoving her head under her pillow and declaring, "it's not my birthday!"  And all day long, she has denied the day.  I have a "Today Is My Birthday" button that I let each Urban Kid parade around on their special day; Urban Kid 2 has tried several times to take it off.  When we ask how old she is, she insists that she is still two.

Yes, my Urban Kid 2 is all girl.  Denying that her birthday is happening and lying about her age!

Frankly, it's an approach that I'll likely copy at my next birthday.........

Happy New Year, Everyone!



PS: Sorry about the privacy thing.  I had to hand over my new little Asus friend to my future BIL for an overnight visit. I became concerned about if he could see what websites I'd surfed.  And siit'nce my little corner of the blogosphere here is my deep, dark secret, I had to take a small precaution.  Hopefully, he did not also stumble across the "How To Make It Look Like An Accident" website that I was perusing.  (Ok, really, I'm over-exaggerating terribly on that one.)

PPS: Uptown Girl, I love my new little Asus 1005!  Try to get a six-cell battery, as it lasts almost as long as I'm on line.  And indulge in upgrading it from 1GB to 2GB -- speeds things up and makes streaming video nice and clear.

Going Private For 24 Hours Only

Hi All!  I'm going private with the blog, but only for 24 hours.  Will be back shortly and will openly available.  If I don't catch you beforehand, Merry Christmas!

Checking In Before Checking Out

Oh my GAWD, where have I been???

New Year's Resolution:  Be a better blogger.  Well, better about blogging.  Whether I yammer on about anything all that interesting is clearly subjective. 

Latest here:  I have a new little friend.  It's an Asus Eee PC 1005HA netbook.  It was on sale at Best Buy.  I scored it in a deep red with a 6-cell battery.  I can now be one of those cool people I see in the lobby of my gym clicking away on their laptop.  Or at the coffee shop.  Or even in my living room.  But you see, we don't have a wireless router, and I'm not all that interested in getting one.  I figure I'll use my new little friend where there are secure networks.  So while I click around at home, it's only on places that do not require a password.  Shame.  I can see something like 20 networks on my screen!  But they're password-protected... the nerve of people, huh?  I even saw one that said "REALTOR_NET," which it turns out is my real-estate landlord who lives above us.  Did he pick up on my casual mention that I saw his network?  That I only do password-related stuff when not at home?  Did he offer his password to his favorite tenant ever?  Hmph. 

Also, we're packing up to head to Best Namma Ever!'s house for Christmas and probably New Year's.  Urban Kid 2's birthday is 12-31, so we may stay to celebrate.  Lord knows that no one else is going to consider hanging out with a toddler and her family to be a rockin' way to spend NYE!  And it's nice at BNE!'s.  We relax.  We have built-in babysitters.  We see movies.  Sleep in a bit.  It's all good.

The Urban Kids are overpacked.  I'm overpacked.  (can you tell we're driving)  Urban Dad has packed up all sorts of schoolwork to take along (some things don't stop until June).

I hope to blog a bit more from Best Namma Ever!'s.  SHE has a wireless router.  And after Pink Power Ranger's computer geek fiance gets my new little friend all suped up (Windows 7 for free!) and installs the extra memory that I've ordered, then no one else will see that I have my deep, dark secret blog.  Which is good, because I may or may not have referred to PPR's fiance as her "weenie boyfriend" in the past. (ahem)  But more on my evolving feelings on that situation later.

But hopefully not too much later!

In the meantime, Merry Christmas, if that's your thing.  And if it isn't your thing, well, I'm sharing the love anyway!

As Urban Kid 2 is saying lately, "Police Navidad!"

Another Good Reason That God Makes Kids Short

We Urbans live a few short blocks from a neighborhood theater.  (ok, it's Chicago... who doesn't live near a neighborhood theater, right?)  I think Back In The Day it was a movie theater, but now it's used for live stuff.  It seems to be well-attended too, which is great.  It's always nice to have people come by and drop off their money in our neighborhood!  And living in a neck of the woods that believes itself to be quite edgy... but in a cushier-than-Wicker-Park kind of way... the marquee can sometimes be interesting.

Now keep in mind that Urban Kid 1 is 6yo.  And chatty.  And full of questions that she is not afraid to ask.  And if she thinks that you haven't heard her, she'll ask again and again and again because surely you are not ignoring her in the hopes of avoiding the topic or maybe completing one or two thoughts inside of your own head before checking back in. 

Oh yeah, she's a damn good reader too (if I do say so myself...ahem...).

So recently, this theater had this show advertised in BLACK AND WHITE AND IN ALL-CAPS:

Now I'm not much of a prude.  At least, I don't think I am.  Maybe the guy at the coffee shop who sometimes goes by Paul and other times by Kathy depending on his wardrobe choice of the day might disagree, but really, I think I'm pretty hip to the goings-on in the world.  And frankly, I think the title is pretty funny!

But how exactly does one explain that to a then-5yo?

So I'd distract her by pointing things out that were more at here eye level.  Or, if it was equally (in)convenient, I'd go a slightly different route to get home.  No big deal.  We live here in the city; this can be part of the package.  Becoming a busybody about it would make me a very lonely salmon swimming up a very strong river, anyway.

The show left, a few others have come and gone that would not attract questions that would involve me stammering a bit before finally saying, "ask Daddy to explain that one to you" -- things like Kathy Griffin or Mary Lynn Rajksub (or however you spell her name).

Now these doofuses are back.  With the theater marquee loudly advertising it, because really, in the economy that we're in, who doesn't have money to plunk down to watch a couple of guys diddle themselves?

Yes, back.  They've been here before.  But it was before Urban Kid 1 could read, so no big deal.

I'm open to suggestions on how to explain it!