Houses, Dogs, Weather, Babies and Gender-Political Issues (whew!)

I've been house sitting since last Thursday while my brother and his family made the Grand Tour of Iowa to visit family. None of them (except our parents) had met Baby Z yet, so I'm sure it was pretty exciting for all of them. MORE exciting though? Me getting to house/dog sit!!! Here's the highlights:

1. Having people over.  We haven't been able to host a get together or party since we've lived together. It was nice playing hostess and Jake used the grill to make fajitas and everyone enjoyed a porch and a backyard.
2. LAUNDRY. Holy shit I think I've washed everything I own, plus Jake's clothes, plus towels and all our bedding. Not worrying about quarters or timing is an amazing gift.
3. Cable/TV. On Thursday night, I got to watch Project Runway before midnight on a big screen TV. I've been numbing my mind with bullshit shows like "Bridezillas." We don't own a TV, so we normally just play movies on our laptop and watch Netflix/Hulu.
4. Having a Dog. Although Spike is a bit of a jerk, I fell in love with him the first time I watched him for my sister-in-law. Spike and I lived together for three months and I adore him...even if he is a pain.

   

   Our First Kiss, 2008

    
5.  Space to Live. There's an excess of room in this house, and it's spacious, clutter free, and CLEAN. I'm naturally a clean freak, but I've made concessions and sacrifice in the name of cheap rent and love. Having some time to chill and focus has been great. I also like eating at a table instead of on my lap. That's nice.

 The only downfall of getting to enjoy this house is that it's in Burbank, which is farther away from my job, which has meant a longer commute and more gas burned. Since LP's commute is already ridiculously long, he hasn't been able to hang out with me much while I've stayed here. Sad. We miss each other and I don't care much for sleeping alone.

Los Angeles has been cool and rainy while I've been staying here. I'm currently bundled up in my favorite sweatshirt. Hooray Ernie and Bert!!!! I also went to Locali and snagged my favorite vegan marshmallows. These are cheaper than the ones they sell at Whole Foods (Sweet & Sara), which are delicious and gourmet, but cost about $7 for a half dozen. Dandies sell for about $5 and you get 10 oz. and lots of marshmallows that taste exactly like the non-vegetarian variety. I've been eating them plain, making s'mores, and putting them in hot chocolate! I found a great vegan recipe for spicy cocoa. Perfect on these cold nights.

Last night, the family returned to L.A. and this evening marked my first night of watching the baby. Z was pretty strung out from all the traveling and time zone changes, so I wasn't surprised when she cried, and cried, and cried, and eventually cried herself to sleep. Poor thing. Although, she did go down at her usual LA bedtime, so I'm pretty pleased with myself! And Z.

My brother and sister-in-law have a nanny (she's amazing) who watches Z during the day when they work, so she's able to come by while I work a lunch shift. Thursday and Friday though... I'm watching her all day!! Eek!

After work, I stopped by Target to pick up this awesome thermal from the Boys' Department! It's super cozy and it came in a package paired with matching long underwear! Woo hoo! Guess who's going to be snuggly and warm tonight?!?! And, of course, I had to pose for this photo with my "sexy" silly model face. What could possibly be more appropriate?

And that brings me to the final point that I mentioned in this post's title. Gender-Political issues. And babies. As I was strolling past the kids' section at Target, I noticed the cutest little T-shirt. It was baby blue and had a little stethoscope print around the neck! ADORABLE! I was hoping it was appropriately placed in a gender neutral kind of section for babies. It wasn't. It was on a rack labeled "Boys' Licensed T-Shirts" and was displayed next to the Toy Story, Spiderman, Tonka Truck, and other similarly branded clothing. There were also little boy T-Shirts to look like police officer and firefighter uniforms. I figured, surely, these same career related clothes will be located on the girls' rack, too.

In the clothing section for babies and toddlers, the racks are intermingled for boys and girls. But they are clearly defined by pink and blue signs. Labels. At 6 months, we're already putting labels on our kids. When I found the rack for "Girls' Licensed T-shirts" it was NOTHING put princess gear. And pink. How fucking depressing. So you know what I did? I bought the doctor shirt. For my niece. FUCK YOU clothing manufacturers for deciding that my niece wouldn't have career goals some day.

She may decide to become a baker or a stay-at-home mom or a teacher or a CEO or a pop star or maybe, just maybe, a doctor. Whatever she wants to be, that's cool. But maybe we should treat all kids equally, regardless of gender. They can wear whatever they want as they get older and decide what labels they want for themselves...but we don't need to be bombarding them with it from birth. This t-shirt is a little big now, but she'll grow into it soon enough.

If you want to know more about gender-neutral clothing and child rearing. Check out Pink Stinks! or one of my favorites (even though I don't have kids), Offbeat Mama.
Someday, when I have kids, I'll probably dress them in bright, colorful clothes and neutrals as much as possible. There's nothing wrong with having some pink clothes for girls and trucks for boys... hell, I love pink because it looks good on me. But I don't think it needs to be so extreme on each side. I just wish more manufacturers gave better options for kids.

End rant.