T-minus 7 days to cast-off

Jack's cast comes off in a week! They told us when they put it on three weeks ago that he would be up running around on it within a few days. As recently as a few days ago, I thought we might just be getting the cast off before Jack bothered to get up and start walking again, but suddenly he has undergone this transformation from just very gingerly putting weight on it and then looking at me with sad eyes and outstretched hands to be picked up, saying "hurt, hurt," to tearing around like a maniac. A maniac with one leg longer than the other thanks to the extra height an inch of cast and an inch of boot gives him, which results in a run that looks more like a gallop, which only makes him look like more of a maniac. But it is good to see him out enjoying himself again, everyone can agree on that.

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Everyone except maybe the birds. And maybe the man standing there who had been trying to feed the birds. I think he was fairly annoyed. Our friends Jesse and Larisa, however, were highly amused.

They were the reason for our sojourn to the Ferry Plaza this morning, where the above footage was captured, and brunch turned into an impromptu celebration when they shared their news with us that they had just gotten engaged! Happiness abounds! We had missed the party the evening before on account of no babysitters being available on MLK weekend, but it sounded very reminiscent of our own engagement. They took a weekend trip out to California, where they'd met and fallen in love but had since moved away from, Jess popped the question right before they were supposed to go out to dinner with a bunch of friends, conveniently turning the dinner into their engagement party.  It made that day in April nearly six years ago seem not so far away, even if I can't begin to count the number of things that have changed since then. And it's all about to change again!

Big changes coming up! Big, huge! Have I told you about what this next month has in store for us? First, we're having a baby. That I might have mentioned. Second, we're moving downstairs! Which means we get our own bedroom again and don't have to keep telling ourselves that it's totally urban-hip of us to have a bed in our living room and our closet in our kid's room. Third, the Oregon grandparents are moving in upstairs, part-time! Bill is taking a job that is about two weeks a month in San Francisco, and is going to rent the upstairs unit from us. Fourth, we're getting a prius! Well, not really. Really, my parents are getting a prius, but we're going to babysit it for them until they can come pick it up, and I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to not driving the big hulking SUV around anymore. It was getting trickier and trickier to hide my shameful secret from my colleagues on the climate change project that now employs me. Fifth, we're finally getting out of the dumb nanny-share, so Jack will get to see Lo-lo even more now! And I bet there are more things that are escaping me right now because the more room this baby takes up in my belly the less room there seems to be in my head for keeping other thoughts straight!

All the parenting books say not to make any other big life changes when a new baby is coming, so as to not make the transition even harder on the big sib. You know what I say to those parenting books? Tough cookies! Sometimes the stars just align and everything happens all at once and you just have to go with it. Age 2 is as good a time as any to learn that lesson. And so far Jack has handled everything we've thrown at him (including broken metatarsals) with nothing but grace. I imagine he'll approach big brotherhood (and new home, and new childcare situations, and anything else) in much the same way.