Month: May 2006

Santiago’s is our favorite Mexican take out restaurant. 

Frank ran over to Santiago’s for take out on Friday. 

Saturday in the car Jacob asked "Did you go to Santiago’s house yesterday?"  Turns out Santiago is also the name of a boy on Jacob’s baseball team.  He was feeling a bit left out!

Heard the day after my birthday, through the open window:

Stormy is older than you!  She’s 400!

I know I’m a year older but I don’t feel quite that old yet!

"I only had two brownies because I was saving room for dessert."
– Jacob at the dinner table

If you ever go to register for gifts, I have one piece of advice that I didn’t hear or find anywhere.  Discuss with your significant other (or whoever is registering with you) what is appropriate to register for and what isn’t.

We knew what we needed – I had read all the books and made a list and Frank had lots of good ideas and advice from first hand experience.  What we didn’t agree on was what was appropriate to register for.  It’s already uncomfortable enough to be making a list – it feels like you are asking for things – that you really should discuss these things before you get to the store.

Here’s some things you should think about:

• Is it appropriate to register for lots of "big ticket items"?  Will you feel like someone spent too much if they get one of them?
• Should you select exactly what you want (this pooh-bear hat) or are you just selecting things to give people an idea of what you need or like?
• Should you register for toys that you don’t "need" but would really like to have?
• Should you register for all those little items that you’ll need but aren’t typically considered gift items like diaper rash cream and baby soap?
• How many of each thing should you register for?  Are you going to feel greedy if you register for eight bibs instead of two?

Obviously, nobody has to buy you anything, much less anything you registered for, so it really shouldn’t be that big of a deal what you register for or don’t, but I really felt like we were asking people for something and it made me hyperconsious of everything we put on the list.  At one point Frank said, we shouldn’t register for that thing because we can afford it.  And my response was, we could afford everything on the list! So he said, that’s why I didn’t want to register.  To which I responded but people are going to buy us things anyway and most of them like knowing what we need!  We want to make sure we don’t get 30 bibs!  (Or do we want 30 bibs?)

What a useful but strange and awkward custom is all I can say in retrospect.

P.S.  Did you know you need a swing and a bouncy seat for a baby?  The book said so and I didn’t believe it so I made it a swing "or" a bouncy seat and Frank (who thinks I’m a bit silly for reading all the books) was very adament about the fact that we needed both of them.  Maybe we ought to give the baby our room and move into the smaller one ourselves. 🙂

I seem to have a theme lately of "what to do with your life" and this quote resonated.  According to research done by the authors of Freakonomics, practice is more important than talent; you are just more likely to practice what you like so you end up being good at what you like.  (Or vice versa.)  From A Star Is Made – New York Times.

when it comes to choosing a life path, you should do what you love — because if you don’t love it, you are unlikely to work hard enough to get very good. Most people naturally don’t like to do things they aren’t "good" at. So they often give up, telling themselves they simply don’t possess the talent for math or skiing or the violin. But what they really lack is the desire to be good and to undertake the deliberate practice that would make them better.

So the key is figuring out what you enjoy doing whether you are good at it or not yet.