Ahh.. Back from Thanksgiving at The Farm. After a frustrating day of chasing Eric in circles through the house, up and down the stairs through the bedrooms, the living room, the dining room etc., my dad rigged up some baby gates so we could keep him in the living room. It's not ideal, but at least we could sit down and play with him where he couldn't go running through the house. My sister chased him around for an hour for us. But I feel guilty letting my family chase him when we're just sitting there. It's not like we've got anything better to do. So, the baby-gate in the alcove was the ideal solution.

My mom in her usual yardsale visits found us a few very noisy baby toys that Eric was completely enamored of. It was a good weekend. My friend Alvaro, the actor, has an audition for a Lindsay Lohan movie in January. So we were all very happy for him. His girlfriend, Lauren is off directing operas all over the country. They seemed to be doing well.

It was very nice to have a holiday among democrats. We all expressed our fears about the next four years. As an asthmatic, I have a strong interest in air quality. And the clean air act has been,and will continue to be gutted. I'm worried about my parent's health insurance. They're slightly too affluent to qualify for the prescription drug benefit, but they aren't rich enough to pay for expensive drugs if they end up needing them.

We came home last night to give us a day to recuperate from the weekend. Eric and I went to Boston Museum of Science to hang out in the Discovery Center. There was this woman who pulled into the parking lot with me. She was yacking on her cell. I didn't really give it much of a thought, other than gee.. I wouldn't do that with my kid in the car. Later when I was negotiating Eric out of his umbrella stroller, she must have passed me. I showed the desk-sitter my membership card, and Eric was walking near me and wanted to look at the railing to the floor below, when this woman took a step backwards and knocked him down. She apologized of course and I said it was OK, the I realized that she knocked him down because she was STILL nattering away on her cell phone as she sent her sons ages six and eight (I'm guessing here) into the discovery center, which is intended for kids under five. I take umbrage with this on a number of levels. First of all, she's blabbing on her cell, oblivious to the dozens of toddlers running around her. Second of all her kids were way too old to be in there, and they have a HUGE museum to visit. So why bring them into the baby room. I guess she wanted them in a contained area while she talked on the phone. She continued to yack on her phone for another twenty minutes while we were playing. Eric kept running out of the Discovery Center and into the lobby so I kept passing her. I'm sure I was glaring.

But it was a fun visit. They changed it around a little and they have these over-sized blocks that look like they're made of wood, but they're really this stiff rubbery-foam material. So, they're huge and it doesn't hurt when your baby bonks himself on the head. They have giant teddy bears that he snuggled. We had a really good time, in spite of Mrs. Bitch-faced cellphone woman. She had her boys in matching flannel shirts with different-colored baseball hats.

Then we went to Trader Joes to get some stuff for the week. Very nice. Eric ate graham crackers.

All in all, it's been a most fabulous holiday weekend.