the underwear drawer

blue skidoo, we can too

So as I'm sure I've mentioned before, my family usually goes out to a restaurant for Thanksgiving. Because we're lazy. Last year was an exception, because my dad was out of the country and he's usually the one who orchestrates the reservations, but this year we are resuming the tradition and have a table at Jean Georges. The prospect of this meal has been a minor source of stress at our house. The last time Cal went to a fancy restaurant was almost a year ago, for Chinese New Year, and he was infinitely smaller and more portable at that time. Now it's a little hard to contain him even at a place like Pizzeria Unos, with its high chairs and crayons and children's menu. The prospect of keeping him docile between the amuse bouche and the cheese platter while sitting between Donald Trump and some Japanese cell phone magnate is a little daunting. In fact, I anticipate spending most of the meal sitting with Cal in the hotel lobby, reading Bon Appetit. I know, I know, it doesn't seem like a terribly practical plan to me, to bring a 16 month-old to a four star eaterie and expect anything but catastrophic results, but it seems to mean a lot to my parents (see: tradition and all), so we'll give it the old college try. If anything, it'll make a good case for having next Thanksgiving at Chuck E. Cheese or the like.

In the meantime, in the spirit of "hope for the best, prepare for the worst," I've been assembling a giant kit of toddler amusements to bring with us to the meal. Knowing that books and toys might not just be enough, I also downloaded a few episodes of "Blue's Clues" off iTunes onto my iPod, thinking it might buy us another precious 20 minutes of sitting still before the inevitable finale of screeching and running around and grabbing for the sommelier's tastevin. Having never watched "Blue's Clues," I needed to pre-screen it to make sure that it was suitable and not affiliated with Satan, like some other children's programming that I've seen. I ended up liking it so much that I bought the whole first season. It's a little advanced for Cal right now (the whole figuring out the clues and all that) but it seems like a nice sensible interactive show, as opposed to a half-hour toy commercial. Also, it kind of reminds me of Pee Wee's Playhouse, which is always a plus. Mecca lecca hi, mecca hiney ho.

Since we downloaded the episodes, Joe and I have developed something of an affinity for "Blue's Clues." We may even like it more than Cal does. There's just something so likeable about that show, especially the host, Steve. He just seems like such a nice guy is all. As far as Cal is concerned, we could well have just downloaded one episode and played it over and over again, but Joe and I want to watch all 20 episodes.




Last week, I was working with an attending who, it occurred to me, looked a bit like Steve. He's a youngish attending who has a baby at home too, so after weighing in my mind whether or not I should mention anything, I decided that he might be game for the topic and decided to bring it up.

"Does your son watch 'Blue's Clues'?" I started off, as a way to broach the subject.

He gave me a haughty look. "We don't let our son watch TV," he said. Oh, I'm sorry, your halo is shining so bright that IT JUST BLINDED ME. So I didn't get to tell him that he looked like Steve from "Blue's Clues." Anyway, I think Steve looks more like my friend Andy, to the point that it's kind of distracting to watch the show, because woah, there's Andy.

By the way, I find it very slightly disturbing that Steve has become an indie rocker after leaving his gig at Nick Jr.


Not that he doesn't have a right to break out of his "Steve" role, it's just that the idea of him being anything less than fully wholesome leaves me with an icky feeling. Hookers and blow, Steve, hookers and blow. Luckily, it seems that he's actually a genuinely nice guy and even has a pretty good sense of humor about the whole thing, so I'll allow it.

Oh man, now I'm doing the "mommy-blog" thing, writing an entire entry about "Blue's Clues." Tomorrow, an entry all about poop and the relative merits of Goldfish crackers over Cheerios!

(Not really.)

(You hope.)

Currently reading: An article in the Times about dress codes for medical students and residents while at work. I've certainly seen some less than well-advised work attire in my day, but interesting how the article mainly addresses inappropriate dress in women. Hmmm.