March this-and-that

Just truckin' along here in March, hoping that winter will soon be over. A continues loving school, especially math, and swimming, and pretty much every new thing he tries. He's been in a consistently good mood for the last couple of weeks, which has been really nice. D just increased to preschool three consecutive days a week, and I think that's a better routine than the one-on, one-off schedule. He's still highly anxious and that's our biggest concern right now. I love weekends, because he does so much better when the four of us are all together.

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We had a great visit with our friends from Burjii who live in DC, and a Skype session with our friend from Burjii in California. Been thinking a lot about Burjii lately. A has shared a few more vignettes with us. He told us about the two-handled water pump in the village and how he or D would hold the water pail while the adults pumped, about how if they stepped on a thorn an adult would use another thorn to pry it out, and about how they once got shoes made from recycled tires. I can't begin to express how important it is for me - and for them, I think, in the future - to have these little pictures of their early life.

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I am so sick and tired of the sexism in children's books and TV shows. Books are so overwhelmingly male - it's not just that the main characters are usually boys, it's also that when they're animals they're male animals, and when they're vehicles, they're male vehicles and when they're freakin' weather elements, they're still male. Aaarrrrggghhhh. I'm so tired of he, he, he, he, he. I work really hard for equal representation in the books we bring home. A current favorite is "Violet the Pilot." TV shows are even harder - so far the only female-centered shows we've found that the boys like are Dora the Explorer and Doc McStuffins. I would love to hear more suggestions, especially if they're available on Netflix. And the almost complete absence of gay characters is even worse. We've read "Uncle Bobby's Wedding" and "And Tango Makes Three," and I'd love more suggestions.

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Six months ago, A spent a lot of time whining, screeching, barking, and meowing. Today he and I went to the zoo and talked to the keepers of the tigers, aardvarks and meerkats. We spent half an hour giggling over the gibbons. We discussed the strange habit some people have of referring to all animals as "he." On the way home we talked about the marriage equality case going before the Supreme Court. It's pretty amazing how much has changed in six months.