Daughter #3 Can has First Date!

Yes, despite daughter #2's first date with a boy resulting in her coming home and announcing she's gay, daughter #3 left a few moments ago on her FIRST EVER date with a boy. I'll feel even better about it when daughter #2 lands a date with a girl. Nobody wants to see their younger sibling reach a true milestone before them :(

Unfortunately for #2, I suspect #3's date will be a little less of a downer. She's the only daughter I have who I'm fairly certain is well under the "3" mark on the Kinsey scale. My experience with my kids reminds me of Mendel's Law. And given that so far my four daughters have produced one bisexual, one homosexual, and one heterosexual, I'd say his hypothesis was pretty spot on. Although it's somewhat difficult to explain the bisexual - I mean the plants he worked with produced purple flowers and white flowers. It didn't produce white-and-purple flowers.

Just goes to show rules were meant for breaking :) I can't wait to see how #4 turns out. Especially given that so far the 'gay gene' seems to be holding it's own as the dominant gene.

Kids are fun. And sometimes trying - sort of like Jack. Jack, btw, has been astonishingly good since he destroyed the light box. I don't mean a little good, here. I mean he hasn't whined much, he hasn't destroyed anything - he even curled up next to me last night, which he seldom does. I think he knows he's in the doghouse.

That, or he knows it's almost Mother's Day. And my birthday. I was born the day before Mother's Day, in 1963. My mother took great delight in pointing out that I was also born during the TV show "Combat." I can't imagine why she thought that so significant...but my kids have decided that this year we're celebrating Mother's Day - and my birthday - tomorrow. My birthday isn't technically until Monday, but #3 works Monday. And she's doing most of the cooking. See, birthdays around here usually revolve around food. "What do you want to eat for your birthday?" is generally the first question.

So this year, I went with Indian food. Which practically guarantees my kitchen will be officially declared a disaster area Monday morning, but hey, they asked. So Lulu and Annie and I trekked to the nearest Indian Grocer, where Annie announced "This place smells funny!", and Lulu and I spent the next hour examining tons of cool stuff. And frequently asking the young son of the proprietor for help.

We found everything but the Tikka paste, which oddly enough, the H-E-B across the street had in stock. But I suspect I'm going to be working rather hard on Mother's Day - it's a main course with three sides and Puri bread. Oh, and chutney. No one person can do this. I don't even think an India native could do it alone - besides, that's what kids are for.

And while my oldest pulls off Thanksgiving dinner unassisted every year (mainly because we're afraid of going in the kitchen when it's "hers"), the timing on Indian cuisine requires more than one pair of hands, imho. So Ele has been cleaning up the kitchen in preparation for the mess to come, and I'm looking forward to Chana Dal. And chocolate cream pie with chocolate chips - Lulu didn't have time to make dinner *and* a cake, so I suggested pie.

I'm so glad I have kids. Mother's Day just reminds me of how much I have to be thankful for. Times 4. Oh, and neighbors, too. Not only did my next-door-neighbor mow the lawn, his wife sent Annie over with a red carnation, for Mother's Day.

My oldest and I figured out one day that our family is just charmed. Things happen when they need to happen. It's one of those things we've learned to trust. Not everything happens the way we'd like, but everything works out, and in the end, it's good. So while I'm slamming stuff onto eBay to make the next few weeks work out - since not driving the cab has taken some change out of my pocket -I wouldn't trade being at home right now for the world.

Like my other neighbor likes to make me say: It's all gonna be alright.