I survived another meeting of the Stepford Garden Club last night, my sole attempt at community participation. It wasn�t totally awful. There was free wine and I got to play with a hot glue gun. Plus AJ was so trying yesterday, that I was really relieved to get out of the house for a couple of hours.

AJ turns three tomorrow and I�ve been feeling all weepy and nostalgic. AJ and I have been looking at baby pictures and it can hardly believe how small he once was. He�s very excited to be measured on his growth chart tomorrow. He�s been practicing standing extra tall all day.

Almost all of AJ�s imaginary friends and acquaintances have celebrated birthdays in the last week, and amazingly they are all three years old, all love chocolate cake, and all are a little afraid of being sung to. The nice thing about having a stable of imaginary friends, it seems, is a guaranteed consensus of opinion on most things.

A consensus of opinion is not exactly what we�ve been having around here lately, so I suppose it�s lucky he has some imaginary friends to be on his side. AJ seems to be digging in his heels on most things, being contrary for the sake of contrariness in genuine preschooler fashion. We spent most of yesterday arguing about absolutely everything, which was completely exhausting to all of us. After a certain amount of time arguing about stuff that merits an argument, I just get in the habit of it and find myself saying �no� for no real reason other than the fact that I�ve been saying no all day. So today, I�m making a concerted effort towards yes. Yes, you can run around the house screaming with no clothes on. Yes, you can feed your Cheerios to the cat. Yes, you can have blue jello and crackers for lunch. Yes, you are my favorite, favorite boy.

Yes we can! I�m a regular Rosie the Riveter. Aren�t I riveting? Aren't I?

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