This one's for the girls

I did my bit for equality today.

I went to look at a house for rent (we'd like a bigger place) this week. It was an old Federation-style place with large rooms and ornate ceilings. I thought it was in pretty good condition, although untidy, until I got to the kitchen and bathroom. The real estate agent apologetically said that the current tenants - 4 bachelors - were a bit "messy". I won't go into all the yucky, filthy details, but let me just say I honestly don't think the kitchen floor had been cleaned in many months.

One of the tenants arrived home while I was still there. He seemed to be a nice enough fellow and he also apologized to me for the "mess". But then he added with a grin: "There's no wife or girlfriend here!" Well! I just HAD to say something..."That's no excuse! You're a human being; you can clean whether you're a man or a woman!"

The female agent said to me afterwards: "You're game!" I'm just sad that his apology - to a woman - was followed by such a blatant sexist statement.

The big, bad, scary....vacuum cleaner!

We thought she was over it, but apparently not. We usually vacuum (hoover) when one of us can hold her and make the vacuuming exercise into a bit of an entertainment, but I had to go it alone the other day after the carpet was strewn by hundreds of muffin crumbs - quite on purpose, by the way, for our little girl has a penchant for seeing her food in the clutches of gravity.

So there I was trying to fix the muffin situation asap, while Miss Thing was so terrified that she was wailing and clutching her head and falling to the ground as if she was witnessing a most horrible catastrophe. There may have been some gnashing of teeth too! Well that's my excuse for not being able to do the vacuuming, what's yours?

Here are some photos from a more enjoyable time: in Grandma's garden.

Chomping on the doggie's ball was fun

Throw away all those fancy plastic toys...pegs in a pot are the best!

As of this week we have officially entered the "no" period. Oh oh! Raina's emphatic "no"s are accompanied by a fat-lipped pout and big frown. Any reprimand doesn't stand a chance in the face of such determination! Her baby-sign repertoire is steadily growing too: 'eat', 'drink', 'more', 'milk', 'thank you', 'book', 'sleep', 'prayer'; and we are working on 'cracker' at the moment. It is just so cool to see language and understanding unfold.

Now it's time to cheer and applaud: date night is back! After almost 14 months Darwin and I went out to a party TOGETHER last night and had a fabulous time! Happy Birthday again Corinne :) We were nervous, liberated and excited to be out amongst charming company and having lots of mature conversations. Thank heavens for grandparents!