My first Father's Day

On Saturday I took Henry to a birthday party for DJ, whose mother works with me. He had fun eating the cake and playing with toys. He doesn't seem to be at the point of interactive play with other children, though he does play alongside others. DJ looks rather incredulously at the Korn CD I got him for his birthday. Maybe I'll learn over time to buy presents for children.

After the party I drove to Paris to look for some clothes for Henry to wear to his own party next Saturday. On the way I went through the Evergreen Cemetery--I had heard and read about the "Cowboy Jesus" monument there, but had never seen it. Since I had some extra time I drove around until I found it. Note that Jesus is carrying his cross while wearing cowboy boots!
Sunday was typical--we went to church and then came home and rested. I have learned to time our arrival at church to right before it starts, giving me as big a window of quietness as possible. I also don't give him any milk until we get to church, extending the quiet time while he hungrily drinks down a bottle. But I usually end up taking him out into another room anyway after twenty minutes because it is just too stressful to try to keep him still and quiet.

Related to that--I am starting to dread the trip to California next week. Thank goodness I did find a non stop flight to the Santa Ana airport, but the news reports about air travel have made it sound like it is going to be an ordeal. I am flying American, which is supposed to start charging for checked bags. Luckily I am a gold level member so that wouldn't apply to me even if I hadn't bought my ticket in advance of the change. But it will still create tension on the flight, I think.

Also there is the ordeal of getting from my car to the gate via the airport shuttle. When I flew back from Wisconsin I had two bags and Henry as well as a carry on. I had to crawl over people who were sitting by the door because they wouldn't get out of my way. So I'm trying to travel as lightly as possible. I'm taking the all polyester dress shirts I bought for Vietnam--they hand wash easily and dry in less than two hours.

But the carry-ons are a nightmare now. Before they started charging for checked bags people were already trying to bring all their stuff onto the plane, cramming it into the overhead bins. Now it's going to be even worse. I'll have to have my backpack (mostly filled with Henry's stuff), a diaper bag, my laptop, the snuggli, the stroller, and the carseat (which is a mini travel size, it's just a back, there are no arm rests or seat).

Flying back from Wisconsin I wrapped my laptop really well and packed it in my checked bag. Then when I got home and opened the bag the laptop was setting on the top with no padding at all. I'm not sure why the baggage inspectors rummage through the stuff and then don't pack it back like it was, but it makes me fearful about trying to put it in my checked bag.