Happy Halloween

JT set off for school this morning with his Indian costume carefully tucked in his book bag. At noon, the 1st grade put on their costumes and Mama came down with some war paint for her little brave. The parade around the big Elm tree on campus is just the start of the festivities, but it is the highlight of my day.

With a smile like that, it's hard to believe that anyone is going to get scalped.

Sugar (cookie) Mama

Last night JT and I made sugar cookies for the 1st grade Halloween party. We'll decorate the cookies tonight and bring them to the festivities tomorrow. JT was excited to help with the baking ---- that boy can crack an egg with the best of them ---- and as he was stealing yet another taste of cookie dough he said, "Everybody loves the cookies I bring, Mama. You always make me cookies." It made my heart sing.

I have this colossal fear that since I'm now the only parent responsible for the day-to-day, I will become stodgy and boring, while Lisa gets to be Captain Fun ---- the 5 hour a week parent. I try my best to make sure that JT and I have fun every day, but some days that's a challenge. There's laundry to wash and homework to get done; supper to be made; trash to take out and any number of the daily chores that make up my life as a single mama. Sometimes it's hard to find the fun.

But last night, up to our elbows in flour, I realized that JT looks to me for everything: stability, rules, responsibility, and, yes, fun. And he knows that I am always going to be here for him. He knows that I'll tuck him into bed each night and be there with clean clothes and a full lunchbox in the morning. And from me he will learn that loving is more than just the fun, it's the whole package of caring for someone else. I may not be Captain Fun but I'm the cookie Mama and a whole lot more.

I'll take it.

Update: A picture of the finished product.

No, no, no stories

The post over at Sunday Scribblings this week is bedtime stories. Who doesn't love a bedtime story? Without a doubt, bedtime story hour is the best moment of the day for me. The ingredients can't be beat: a warm, clean, sweet-smelling boy wearing pajamas and tucked in with his blankies and me in my pajamas. One reason that JT has a big bed is so that we can be there together for story hour. I picked out warm, soft bedding to make his bed a welcoming place. Each night, we lie in his bed and read and talk and compare notes on our world. Sometimes I tell him a story from when I was a little girl – he loves that. Then the lights go out and the bedtime lullabies are turned on. JT asks to have his back scratched and, as he snuggles under the quilt, I gently pat his head and watch my boy fall asleep.

This has been the bedtime routine for JT since he was first born. When he was very little and regarded sleeping as an unnecessary distraction, he would say "No, no, no stories" when bedtime was announced. But then I would sit in his bed with a copy of "Good Night Moon" and he couldn't resist.

He's learning to read these days and I know that my bedtime story days are numbered. I'll be sad to let those moments go, though the thought of him tucked into his bed reading a book to himself is also pretty satisfying. And maybe one day JT will have a little boy of his own eager to hear a story read to him. And then my son will pass on the tradition, feathering his child's nest, cuddling up with a book and perhaps even talk about the stories his Mama once read to him.

Same Sex Marriage: October Surprise?

In the aftermath of the New Jersey Supreme Court ruling instructing the state legislature to make arrangements to allow same-sex couples to have the rights of marriage (if not the name), there have been some politicians eager to exploit the moment.

Mostly this is Republicans, hoping to use the issue of same-sex marriage to motivate the base to turn out and vote. Turn out is always a concern for both parties and in a year when their president has an approval rating in the dumper, and anti-Republican sentiment is on the rise, the GOP wants to get all of their supporters to the polls. Putting on a big scare about same-sex marriage might help to make that happen.

So as we head into the final 10 days, I'd like to profile a few of the key races where the NJ ruling might have the effect of helping out Republican candidates.

In the very competitive Tennessee Senate race, both candidates oppose gay marriage. Republican Bob Corker and Democrat Harold Ford both say that they will vote in favor of a proposed amendment to the Tennessee constitution that bans same sex marriage. Corker has had the lead in most polls of this race, but usually that lead is razor-slim and within the margin of error. In the last two weeks, Ford closed that lead. If the NJ ruling motivates the Republican base, they will turn out in Tennessee and cast ballots for Bob Corker. Tennessee allows early voting so folks are hitting the polls right now in the Volunteer state. Will this issue bring a few more Corker supporters to the polls?

In New Jersey, there has been relatively little backlash on the same-sex marriage front. Democrat Robert Menendez and Republican Tom Kean, Jr. both say civil unions for same-sex couples are fine with them. But the ruling could motivate the most conservative Republicans in the state (and yes there are a few) to come out and cast a ballot for Kean as the lesser-of-two-evils candidate. This is a tight race to begin with and Menendez is barely holding on to the seat right now. Will the NJ ruling, just 13 days before the election, seal the deal in Kean's favor?

In Iowa 03, in the House race between incumbent Democrat Leonard Boswell, and Republican state Senate President Jeff Lombardi, same-sex marriage is on the table. For starters, there is currently a lawsuit seeking same-sex marriage in the Iowa. Same sex marriage is not real popular with Iowa voters and though both Boswell and Lombardi oppose it, the concern here is about getting hard-core conservatives to the polls on election day. Though he hasn't been all that popular on the campaign trail this fall, President Bush was out for Lombardi on Thursday, the day after the NJ ruling. And in his appearance Bush called on Iowans to support Lombardi because he will help to oppose same-sex marriage and liberal courts. Boswell is one of the few House Democrats in trouble this fall and the NJ ruling could hurt him.

On Saturday, President Bush hit the stump in Indiana 09, hoping to help out incumbent Republican Mike Sodrel, who is facing a challenge by Democrat Baron Hill, a former congressman who is making a comeback bid. As was the case in Iowa, Bush invoked the NJ ruling, asking voters to return Sodrel to Congress to help protect marriage. Hill had opened a very slight lead over Sodrel in the past two weeks. But Bush was there to shore-up the conservative base. Will the base turn out and support Sodrel?

The good news here is that there aren't that many races likely to be effected by the ruling in New Jersey. But the margins in the House and Senate are slim and if the Democrats want to take control, every race counts. So when the Democrats look for the six pick-ups they need to take control in the Senate and the fifteen seats they need to take the House, these races might matter.

My prediction is that Corker will win in Tennessee and I think that Kean will also score an upset in New Jersey. Boswell will hold on in Iowa, but it will be close. Hill will win in Indiana, because he's run an excellent campaign and hasn't slipped up.

10/31 update: Menendez has just started a serious ad blitz in NJ and Kean has yet to respond. If Kean doesn't get on the air soon, Menendez will win this race.

A Proud Parenting Moment

JT has always relaxed after school by drawing pictures. Lately, he's also been writing words on his pictures. That's good news because he could use the writing practice and it means that he's working on spelling words himself, albeit in a creative fashion.

The bad news is that he now has yet another venue to discuss farting, as this picture illustrates.

A Toss-Up

It's not clear to me who is better looking: Tiger or JT.

I do know that neither is quiet.

Real Life Conversations, Part X

Mama: Good morning muffin, it's time to get up for school.

JT: No. School is for suckers.

Okay then. Sounds like the first grade may be a tad rough today.

GOTV

I have always been a fan of innovative GOTV efforts and this one by www.one.org is pretty darned impressive. It was on television and the web last night and makes a good point about what we all have in common.

Republic of Imagination

Tonight I went with some friends from my book group to see Azar Nafisi speak. Nafisi is the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, one of the most terrific books that I have read in the past year. If you haven't read the book, do so right away. And if you haven't heard Nafisi speak, track her down. She was terrific.

Her talk was not about writing but was instead about reading and the things that can be accomplished when we read and have that shock of recognition that other people are just like us. She said that reading helps us to realize that "we are all capable of the best and the worst." She said that when we read we are all a part of the "republic of imagination." She made a pitch for reading and talking about books as the path to the sort of subversion that brings change.

I love that idea. I still remember how much my life changed when I could first read to myself. It was like a whole world was suddenly open to me. Now I could be anyone and go anywhere; I could do anything. Books became my world; at times I have felt that they are my very purpose for being. My whole life I have kept lists of the books I want to read and of the books I want to share with others. Books are a refuge from the world, my very own republic of imagination.

Good

Today's prompt over at Sunday Scribblings is "good." Easy and to the point, a simple prompt, I thought when I read it. But good isn't as simple as it might seem and sometimes it's damned hard to find. Finally I decided to sit down and make list of the first five good things that came to my mind.

- My boy, with his wonderful laugh and the smile that lights his face. And the sound of his voice each morning; the way he says "mama." Most days I can't hear that enough. That's all really, really good.
- My kittens when they curl up on my lap to sleep and make little grumbly kittenish sounds as they sleep.
- My friends, new ones and old ones, the ones who have been here for the hard stuff and who keep coming back. They make me laugh and ensure that I don't feel alone. They'll be here at the drop of a hat and they never let me forget that.
- Molasses cookies fresh from the oven with a warm cup of tea.
- The smell of fall in the air.

And as it turns out, it wasn't hard at all to find five good things and I could have easily found five more. And it's own way, given my life these days, that's the best part of all.