Today I picked up Walker from Sofiya’s day care and I got some gelt. For those of you who are not MOT (members of the tribe), gelt is the chocolate money folks give to each other during Chanukah. I don’t know the significance (I’m sure you can find something on Wikipedia) but it’s fun and I think it’s awesome to see both dreidels AND Christmas decorations at Walker’s day care.

A ton has happened since my last post. We had our first Thanksgiving which was lots of fun and everyone ate very well. We met American Bart, my father’s new 4 year old yellow lab. He’s very cute and energetic. After he left (and broke a few bowls as he got excited for his Thanksgiving meal), we saw many wonderful paw prints and nose smears on the windows and patio which may have been recently washed away with the torrential downpour.

We’ve started feeding humming birds from our deck. Dad has a feeder up at Sea Ranch and Larry and I spend long periods of time watching the speedy little birds diving and weaving around the little red ball of sugar water. It’s fun to watch the birds chase each other out of the way as they demand “alone time” with the feeder. Now the urban birdies will get their fill. The cats haven’t caught on but I suspect they will like the feeder too.

Larry and Walker had their first comic book signing last week. We went to the Comic Book Box in Rhonert Park on Saturday and the owner, Kathy Bottarini, was fantastic. She has a wonderful store which may be the pinkest comic store in the entire country. It has a lot of great books and her customers are very friendly. Walker loved seeing his Daddy work — talking comics with fans and reviewing portfolios. We were honored that one person came to see us just a day after his little girl was born! Everyone was very family-friendly there so Walker had some friends to look at and we all shared silly baby stories. Yes, more cult talk. Tony was particularly funny when describing how he was shocked when his son was born — he came out all balled up like a little alien and then, BANG, arms and legs quickly stretch out. “OH MY GOD!” he exclaims. His wife wonders if it’s not the boy they expected. No, it’s a boy with very springy arms and legs. Tony was more prepared when is daughter was born so there were no worrysome exclamations.

Work has been crazy. Today we launched a new design for our site and in standard fashion, our community had A LOT to say about it. As usual, there were people who love it and people who will need some time to adjust to something new. I’ve been looking at the plans for the next year and EVEN I think Adobe is trying to overachieve. I’ve only been back about six weeks and I’m pretty far behind. Every day I get a little more behind. I can’t imagine how buried I will be when I’ve been back a few months! Last night I was a bit sleep deprived, feeling like hell and the stress of work got to me. I got home and sat on the couch practically rigid with tension. Larry was wonderful and brought me tea, Ibuprophin, food, and my son. I played with Walker for about five minutes and everything snapped right into perspective. The tension abated. All was good. I think I may have to figure out how to market that magic (although I don’t think I’d like to wrangle with the FDA for approval).

Oh, I thought Walker had gotten a tooth! He was taking a bath last week and I saw a little white speck on his lower gum. I finally got him to let me peer inside his maw (which is a challenge given his feet are usually jammed in his mouth during bathtime) and I pushed aside is tongue (which he likes to stick out assuming his feet or his hands aren’t in his mouth). There was a small white speck. I rubbed it and it stayed there. I couldn’t feel anything but Walker had been SO CRANKY for the few days before I thought it was “tooth ahoy” despite the fact there were no other indications that one was imminent. The next day during bathtime we looked and whatever it was no longer could be seen. Oh well. Must have been a recalcitrant milk curd and not a tooth. He’ll just have to be Mr Gummers for awhile longer. I’m not anxious for him to grow up, I just feel sorry for his sore little mouth. That’s got to be so darn confusing for the guy.

Mommy got a new computer at work. I thought adding another thing to do was ideal at this relaxing time of year. I have all sorts of extra cycles to get my email, bookmarks, documents, applications and other customizations established on my new Macbook Pro. Sure, why not? It’s not like I have to do holiday cards, figure out what to get a 13 year old girl and 11 year old boy for Christmas, shop for family and friends, and be generally cheerful. I’m annoyed with myself but am presently blogging on said new computer so I think I should stop complaining (because it is minty fresh and I love being able to run both PC and Mac programs — NO MORE HAVING TO CARRY 2 COMPUTERS). It is funny to see me at work right now. I have three computers and five monitors on my desk. I’m also usually wearing headphones for either my iPod or my phone. I’m a Borg.

Before bed I wanted to blog and read a story my sister wrote. By all accounts it’s fantastic and I’m a terrible sibling for not getting to it yet. She’s a very talented storyteller and has been writing in Italian first and translating the stories into English for those of us who aren’t smart enough to retain vocabulary in more than one language (and some might say I can’t even do it in one…) I should mention that she’s living in Milan so it makes sense she’s writing in Italian. It’s not like she’s in Fresno and is just doing it for kicks.

I will sleep well tonight as today I took another step toward being an adult. Larry and I met with a lawyer to draft up all those necessary documents-you-need-for-when-things-you-don’t-want-to-think-about-happen-to-one-or-both-of you. When did I grow up and need this stuff? Wasn’t it just yesterday that I came home from school and had a spoonful of Betty Crocker chocolate icing as a snack? (Note to Walker when he reads this in a few years: NO YOU CANNOT HAVE ICING AS A SNACK. Just because Mommy did it as a child doesn’t mean it’s right so please stop asking. Sit down and enjoy that organic natural peanut butter sandwich on whole grain bread.)