The Newbie!

The Newbie!
Originally uploaded by Tokyorosa

There's The Newbie on the day her mama and I went to sort out some dealings with the financial aid people at the community college where the mama's a student. The Newbie kept smiling and smiling, but the minute I'd lift up my cell phone to take her picture, she'd stop smiling and try to grab the phone. So then I'd hide the phone and make her smile again. Then I'd lift the phone up and she would immediately stop smiling. So I'd hide the phone. Turns out babies find that game endlessly amusing.

For months, I've been trying to put my thoughts about babies and motherhood into words. (I'm often mistaken for The Newbie's mother, which has brought those feelings into slightly sharper focus.) The very short version of the thoughts that The Brain has filed under Personal: Babies & Motherhood is: "No No No" and "Never Ever." (The longer version of those thoughts are more complicated and often more vehement. The blog version is coming soon.)

Gifted

And, this, like a gift: Sarah Palin's approval rating among women has fallen 11% in the last week--and 21% since she was first introduced as McCain's choice for vice-president. Let's see, with about six weeks until the election, if she continues on this trend, she'll have lower approval ratings than George W. Bush, pit bulls that have been trained to attack, people who train pit bulls to attack, thalidomide, and bird flu--all combined.

Yay, American women. I'm sorry I ever doubted you.