Speaking of entertaining, does anyone remember that Steve Martin routine that includes something like 'the individualist's creed'? I promise [I promise], to be unique [to be unique].

Yep. That was off the A Wild & Crazy Guy album. My brother and I loved Steve (and that album) in the '70s.

This is genuinely confusing to me because I've seen so many parents who integrate their children's needs into their own and everyone gets what they need. Rather than losing something by having kids, they seem only to see parenting as gaining something in their lives.

This is more of what I was trying to articulate. I just see more and more "parents with kids" rather than "people in families", if that makes any sense.

Speaking of entertaining, does anyone remember that Steve Martin routine that includes something like 'the individualist's creed'? I promise [I promise], to be unique [to be unique].

Yes, I know it's on one of his albums because I played them endlessly growing up. I think it was A Wild and Crazy Guy but it might have been Comedy is Not Pretty. I had them both.

ETA: Hah! Steve Martin x-post. the last line was "I promise not to repeat things other people say [I promise... audience burst into laughter]".

You know, even though I lived through it, I can't even tell you how we drove from Arizona to Ohio and back with a 6- and an 18-month old. But we did it. And I only got thrown up on twice! I remember by the time the trip was over, I never wanted to take that long a drive with kids that young again, but if push came to shove, I would have done it. Is it a chore? Sure. Do you do it anyway, because it needs to be done? Sure. I dunno, when you want kids, you just do whatever needs to be done. I was afraid to change diapers before I had kids. Once I had 'em, well, someone had to clean them up. The dog wasn't going to do it.

Speaking of parenting (OK, not really) I just told my cat to "Stop being naughty." (She was trying to chew my earphone cables again.)

OK, time to hide them....

tommyrot, reasoning with cats is a zero-sum exercise; you know that! I've taken to begging Amarna to get off the tv stand before she starts to scratch the screen (sticky tape only works for so long before she can't resist it anymore and Must.Scratch.), but she just gives me a look of "What?" before trying to get back to batting at the screen. The laser pointer only works occasionally as a distraction.

My coworker just asked me how to keep her cat from flipping out at some mirror or something in the night. My only idea involved closed doors.

tommyrot, reasoning with cats is a zero-sum exercise; you know that!

Yeah, but it's fun anyway. Lately I've been asking her questions, like, "Have you seen my toenail clippers?" or "When do you think they'll turn the heat on?" She hasn't answered me yet....

Actually, I've been trying to teach her the word "Food?" by saying it before I feed her, but no luck there either.

My experiences of traveling with my family were 9 people crammed in a VW bus. My parents had sing-alongs to keep us occupied.

eta that I do understand tenses.

ION, I love that Colbert had the actual Socialist candidate for President on last night.

My experiences of traveling with my family were 9 people crammed in a VW bus.

Heh. We used to have parents and four kids in a big-ass station wagon, a bigger-ass sedan, or in a camper. The camper was the best, as we could lay on our stomachs in the bed above the cab and watch out the front window. And we could hide candy and Mad Magazine in the cabinets or under the cushions. (Yep, we weren't allowed comic books, not even Mad. My dad must have bought all that anti-comic hysteria in the '50s.)