James Dancing

Here is James dancing to the popcorn song by the Barenaked Ladies -- what a performer.

Hawaii

 

Pete's good friend Jeff Herrington called a few months ago to say that he was getting married.... in Hawaii! Of course we couldn't miss it, so we booked the flight, packed a bunch of toddler-friendly activities, and convinced the Agnost family to come with us for a long weekend in Maui. What a wonderful vacation! James loved the beach, but feared the water. His favorite part, however, apart from his Papou, Mimi and Auntie Hillary, was the rental car. He christened it "Blue Car" and it became an important part of our island adventure. James' friend Dillon (and our friends Tracie and Jeff) just happened to be on Maui at the same time, so we were able to get the boys together for a day at the beach. The wedding was breathtaking, the weather was beautiful, and we had a wonderful time. We didn't want to come home.

Aloha!

 

James at the beach

 

James and Dillon, enjoying the beach

 

Going to the wedding

 

James and his Mimi, relaxing

We're back!!

 

We apologize for the long delay in posting to the blog, and hope to catch you up. I'm on Spring Break, so have a chance to catch my breath (well, as much as a busy 19-month old will let me catch my breath). James is happy and wonderful, talking up a storm. And, as you can see from the photo, he loves to be silly. He's just our joy, and so much fun.

We Love This Age!!!

So it seems that with every new milestone James reaches, we enthusiastically exclaim how "this is our favorite." We said that when he first smiled, when he first rolled over, when he first spit out a mouthfull of rice cereal. Now that he's walking and talking, we're saying this every day (and sometimes more). Today James discovered Michael Phelps in Pete's Outdoor magazine. I think this is James' new favorite word, as he attempts to mimic me and say Michael Phelps before dissolving into uncontrollable laughter (maybe it's the goggles).

Lately he's been showing the Munoz genes, wanting to sweep up after he makes a mess of the cat food, straightening his books after he dumps them on the floor, and putting his plastics away in his cupboard. Who knew cleaning could be such fun? He clearly doesn't get this from his mom (who has a pile of laundry that is threatening to take over her closet, and then the world).

We're very much looking forward to the holidays. James makes sure that the tree is lit every morning and afternoon when we come home (he'll actually throw a fit if I don't plug in the lights first thing). We're loving all of the Christmas cards that are rolling in, and are hoping to get ours out before the weekend (but knowing my track record, it will probably be Valentine's Day before they see the happy lights of the post office). My camera batteries are dead, and who knows where the recharger is, but as soon as we have some more crazy James pics, we'll post. For now, you can see him modeling his favorite pair of too-big red boots. Hooray for 15 months.

James the Activist -- No on Prop 8

We took James (and his Grandma) to his first protest rally on Saturday, making him officially a part of the civil rights movement.

Peter and I were very saddened by the passage of Proposition 8, which took away the legal rights of many of our friends, colleagues, neighbors and students to marry the person of their choice. We feel this is a major setback to the civil rights movement, and we hope that with the passage of time, more will come to see and understand how equality is a fundamental right promised by our constitution, and that separate will always be inherently unequal.

When Pete and I were married on June 12, 2004, we promised to love and honor each other in front of our friends and family. Our ceremony was presided over by a police chaplain, and it was a spiritual event filled with love, something no law can ever touch. After the ceremony, however, we signed a marriage license for the state of California, witnessed by our best friends, so that our partnership would be legally recognized. Now we file a joint tax return, fill out joint customs forms when we travel abroad, and have joint insurance policies for our house, cars and health. We are each other’s next of kin in a medical emergency, and should some terrible tragedy strike, we have the right of inheritance, crime victim’s recovery benefits, and judicial protections and evidentiary immunity should one of us be asked to testify against the other. If we decided to leave our great state of CA, these rights would not change just because we crossed state lines. These are the legal rights we, as spouses, enjoy under California state law.

The passage of Proposition 8 took these legal rights away from a specific group of people, those who wish to marry a person of their same sex. Thus, California law now discriminates against this group by providing rights for some people but not for others. We understand that for many, including ourselves, marriage is a spiritual covenant, something to be celebrated before family, friends, and one’s higher power of choice. And sometimes this spiritual covenant discriminates – although Pete grew up Catholic, we were not married in the Catholic Church because I was not raised Catholic. We could not have been married in the Mormon Temple, or in a Mosque, because these also are not a part of our faith. However, our laws do not concern themselves with spiritual unions, but rather constitute legal partnerships.

Unfortunately, the arguments for Proposition 8 conflate these two unions, spiritual and legal, with no thoughts for the equality clause of the 14th Amendment: No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. We have faith in our legal system, which consists not of “activist judges” but of scholars of the Constitution whose job is to protect our civil rights, even when the majority disagrees. Equality in our country has always come at a cost to the majority’s will, and history proves time and time again to be on the side of equal rights, no matter who may have wished otherwise. It is our sincere hope that Proposition 8 be repealed, so that James may grow up in a world that is a little more equal, and a little more free.

Dancing Machine

Our boy has rhythm, and boy does he like to dance. We hope the latent Agnost gene for musical talent has manifested in our little maestro. He's already figured out that the ipod controls the tunes, so several times a day he toddles over to the speakers, points and starts shaking his head -- it is time to dance. Right now his tastes run a bit top 40 (Rhianna's Disturbia is his favorite) and toddler tunes (he marches like dinosaurs with the Laurie Berkner Band). I wish these photos could do his dancing skills justice.