Here be dragons

When does a man become ready to be father? One clear sign: eyes start to wander toward the toy offering in department stores. About two years ago I met a most fantastic plush toy dragon at the shelves of a local toy store (first sighting actually at La Guardia airport toy store - something good actually can come out of business travel!). Back then, I knew I would eventually end up buying that piece for some lucky toddler. Now, finally, the time came today, as we welcomed home the first official toy of our future daughter.

Other than that, it was a nicely productive day. Besides me doing research on the 49 different flavors of Jelly Beans , we managed to almost buy a crib and a changing table. Almost because neither was in stock at the stores, but at least the crib is ordered now.

A new learning of today: apparently the grease that is taken out of sheep wool is good for - besides waterproofing home made diapers - as the most popular nipple lotion in the nation. At least it is organic. Amazing what you learn when expecting a baby.

And here is the latest on the dad-hormones front: Does someone else consider the following just appalling? There is a new TV reality show starting around here, called The Baby Borrowers. The plotline: a teenage couple is given a baby (real baby, btw 6-11 months) to care for. They are supposed to take care of it, 24h a day, throuhg all chores and everything. All for the purpose of education, of course. Now, I mean, it is fine for adults to make clowns of themselves in front of a braindead TV-nation, but the babies are defenseless. And what kind of parents are people who pimp their offspring this way in search for money or their 15 mins of fame ? Do not like it a little bit.

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Another fantastic Wikipedia note: "Here be dragons" is a phrase used by cartographers to denote dangerous or unexplored territories, in imitation of the infrequent medieval practice of putting sea serpents and other mythological creatures in blank areas of maps.