Kisses

Isaac likes to kiss me on the lips -- rapidly, ardently, and repeatedly. Sometimes it is more like face-butting, as he doesn't purse his lips to cushion the blow, and he doesn't aim very well anyway. I'm not sure he's as fond of kissing other people, but he does like to "make" Craig and me kiss. He'll grab each of us firmly behind the neck and push our faces forcefully together, over and over again.

(I figure that might change one of these days. Aren't little kids supposed to object to their parents showing any signs of romance? When does that Oedipal rivalry kick in?)

Yesterday afternoon we went to San Francisco for the Gay Pride event. Because of naptime we decided not to go to the parade itself, but we went to watch the entertainment at the Civic Center Plaza afterward. My brother was playing with a band (not his band, exactly, but one of the various bands he plays in) and we thought it would be fun for Isaac to see his Uncle Joel play guitar on stage.

The whole trip went very well -- Isaac liked the BART ride, and once we got there he didn't seem overwhelmed by the noise or the crowds. In fact, whenever I set him down, he was confident enough to run through the crowd until something interesting caught his eye -- someone's beads, a dog, a balloon, a tricycle. (The family with the tricycle was friendly and let him give it a try.)

Even though we kept saying, "Look! There's Uncle Joel on the stage!" it took about half a song for Isaac to notice him. Once he finally saw Joel, however, he pointed at him for a good minute and a half straight. Isaac seemed pretty excited.

So Pansy Division was his first real show! He once saw a woman singing and playing acoustic guitar at Studio Grow, but I don't suppose it seemed that remarkable to him. People sing and play guitar to him pretty frequently.

When we met up with Joel after he was done playing, Isaac gave him a hug. Joel gave Isaac a kiss. Then Isaac grabbed the back of Joel's neck and the back of Craig's neck and tried to make them kiss each other. This, you can imagine, made us laugh.

Was it the influence of Gay Pride? Hardly. More like toddler logic -- everyone I love should kiss each other. So we explained to Isaac that even if Joel was gay, which he isn't, he wouldn't go around kissing his brother-in-law on the lips.