Last night was our first baby-free evening since Julian was born. It was good, but we literally didn't know what to do with ourselves. I mean, we had dinner with Lisa and Ray at a nice California-style Vietnamese place called Anise Cafe, and that was tasty. Then afterwards we were all kind of tired, but hey...I'll be godddamned if I go home at 9:00pm on my first baby-free evening that ALSO happens to be Valentine's Day, OK? So we wracked our brains for someplace to go, because I don't even know what babyless people do in the evenings anymore, and anything past 7:00pm feels kind of late.

Dan wanted to go for ice cream, but we just *had* ice cream at the restaurant, so that was kind of overkill, although normally I'm up for double helpings of ice cream. Ummm, walk around Santana Row? Lisa just recently hurt her ankle though. OK, how about going for a drink at the V Bar? I don't know if it's cool or not, I just know that people stand in line for it sometimes. And it's a place that I would not take Julian. That last factor fit the criteria, because we needed to go someplace that we would not ordinarily go with a baby. You know, whether we actually WANTED to go there or not.

Well, it kind of sucked. The bartender didn't know how to make any drinks, she was a complete idiot. Lisa and I ordered chocolate martinis and when the drink came it was a glass full of vodka with Hershey's chocolate SYRUP in it! I kid you not. Now there are a few ways to make a chocolate martini, but vodka and Hershey's syrup is not one of them. It wasn't even mixed...the side of my glass was all goopy with the unmixed syrup. It just made me think, I could be at home having a GOOD drink right now.

I couldn't stop talking about Julian either, though I tried not to. Darn cute baby.

Finally it seemed really late and I asked Dan what time it was. He said "10:10" and I almost crapped my pants imagining the now over-tired baby screaming his head off while Grandma Ida gritted her teeth and swore to never watch him again...but thankfully it wasn't so. Dan called to check in and everything was fine, Julian was having a blast going up and down the steps, nothing to worry about. His bad parents have been putting him to bed so late recently, I guess he's kind of used to staying up. By the time we got there, retrieved him, drove home, and I brushed my teeth and washed my face it was 11:30pm though, and that IS really horribly late for a baby to go to bed, even a big one-year-old boy baby. I mean, that's late for ME to go to bed.

Julian slept late this morning though, had a nice two hour nap at midday, slept on Ashley's lap a little bit this afternoon, and then went to bed tonight at 7:30 pm, so he's making up for it and I don't feel so bad. Need to get back on a decent bedtime schedule though. Not just him, but all of us. We've been burning the candle at both ends lately.

Everyone seems to be having tremendous marital strife lately, and Dan and I have had our share too. We were doing well with the diplomatic self-therapy approach, but then we yelled at each other a couple of times. I yelled that he wasn't helping me enough and he treated me like dirt, selfish bastard, and he yelled that I expected him to be perfect and hey, fuck *this*...and he stomped off to walk the dog and then later I stomped off to go to the hardware store. But then we kissed and made up. Because we really do love each other and don't like fighting. But at least we get it over with and out in the open without too much trauma now. I remember when I used to just give the silent treatment for days on end (which is evil) and Dan would just yell and go nuts like a crazy man (which is evil too), and we've come a long, long, way from those bad old days.

On Julian's birthday I congratulated us for surviving the hardest year of marriage, which is supposedly the first year after having a baby. I don't know that it was the hardest, but it definitely brought about the most change in our relationship.

Anyway, today I was thinking that we DO need some baby-free time together, but just going out for dinner and drinks is kinda lame. Going out for dinner and DANCE lessons though...THAT would be cool. Because we definitely can't take the baby to a dance lesson, and we've always wanted to do it, and hey, it involves physical contact with one another, which is always welcome, and it might even keep us from turning into a couple of rigid old fogies who can't keep a beat. And THAT would be a shame now that Julian is turning into Baby John Travolta.

God, what a crackup. I was dancing with Baby J tonight (is he now officially Toddler J?) to some good beats on satellite radio (which is the BOMB, by the way) and he raised one hand in the air and waved it around while he held onto the coffee table and boogied HARD, bouncing up and down and bending and unbending his knees. It was absolutely the funniest ever. He was copying my dance moves and waving his arms around like a maniac. Oh, and he would point at me and jab his index finger around...he was pointing me out on the dance floor! I touched his finger with mine and he laughed like crazy every time I did, and then danced even harder. I really, really love my boy.

And did I mention that he totally gives a hand sign when he has to poop? Not pee, just poop, but still, that's really cool. It looks like he's doing jazz hands or something, he spreads his palms wide open and then flips them up and down. But it definitely means poop. So far he has mostly done it after or during the deed, but sometimes before.