New year's nursery

No baby yet, which is bad news for our 2004 tax return (that's OK) and good news becuase it's getting more likely that our doula, who is in Hawaii and returns Monday morning, will be able to attend the delivery. Knock on wood. We realized yesterday that it was the first day we could answer the question "When are you due?" with one word: Thursday. Two of our good friends from grad school called to announce their Dec. 30th baby yesterday. Hooray for second-generation friends!

Carolyn's parents and I painted the nursery Thursday. (Pregnant women aren't supposed to be near paint fumes.) Painting a room with one's in-laws sounds like a bad sit-com episode plot, but we all get along well, and the process was productive--we're very happy with the room--and even kind of fun, though exhausting. I'm now painting to match the bookcase made of big wooden milk crates and boards that Carolyn inherited from her dad, who made it for himself in grad school.

[someone]: you're right about the tension between Fathead and Pip, but is not a baby a little Pip with a Fat head? Pip is becoming very popular in the family, as Carolyn's mom is actively lobbying for it. It will be interesting to see whether it's one of those pre-natal nicknames that has some traction after the birth.

Avocado lessons

[someone] longs for more comparisons of protobaby to avocados. I agree that comparing the toddler's reading speed to an avocado's could inflate its ego needlessly, but I can see other uses for the comparison, as in

Little Fathead Simpson walks through the Clive SuperTarget, coveting some awful toy or another, approaching the verge of a tantrum. Erik: "Ah, Fathead, take after avocado, your vegetable sibling, who offers up polyunsaturated 'good fats' even to the vegans among us without complaint, hoping only that we enjoy its offerings."

LFS doesn't want to share a Tinky-Winky doll with a playmate. Carolyn: "Remember the guacamole, Fathead! Recall the avocado's willingness to sacrifice its own taste to the spicy goodness around it, finding content in the contribution of its creamy texture to the whole."

Saxophonic names in the feminine

[someone] provides a useful set of girls' names based on the saxy boys' list:

Cannonballa
Pharoaha
Texi
Zootella
Ornetta
Dexterette
Groverine
Boni
Branfordina
Fatheadiqua

Outstanding, say I . Boni! Ha! Is that also the plural of Bono?

Saxophonic names

[someone], checking in by email, sent me a long list of saxophone players' names as baby possibilities. Here are some of the best. Music fans, how many last names do you know?

Cannonball
Pharoah
Tex
Zoot
Ornette
Dexter
Grover
Boney
Branford
Fathead

And sure, all of these are men's names, but some of them could work for girls, too, right? Does "Fathead" have to be a boy? I don't think so!