The anti-fang

When Rugrat was about five months old, he got a tooth. One little bitty tooth, on the bottom. And that was it...he didn't get any more teeth for five months. We called him "Fang."

So on Saturday, he finally lost his first tooth. That one little bitty fang he sprouted when he was a baby. Most of the kids in his class are already growing in half a dozen adult teeth, but my little Rugrat held on to those itty bitty pearly whites for the loooongest time. And then Saturday, it was so loose - he'd been wiggling it all morning. I gave him an apple with his lunch, and halfway through his lunch it was obvious it was coming out really soon (because it was practically horizontal, barely hanging in there) so we went into the bathroom to wiggle it and monitor the progress. The quesadillas got cold, but we stayed in the bathroom, moving it back and forth until it was only held in place by a couple little bits of gum-flesh on the sides. Ewww, that's a gross visual. Anyway, I went upstairs to get the camera and WHILE I WAS GONE Rugrat pulled it out. Dammit. But anyway, it was done, and he was thrilled ("It didn't even hurt at all!"), and we put the tooth in a little box to stick under his pillow for the tooth fairy (who brought him a nice gold dollar coin for it). I took pictures of his gappy little-boy smile but every one I took had him squinting his eyes shut, so I don't think I'll post them here.

I gotta say, though, I don't think he's going to lose another tooth for five months. The one next to it is a little bit loose, but not so much that it's coming out anytime soon. And all the others are very firmly rooted in. Probably in six months or so he'll have a smile that's more "little old man without dentures" than "little boy with buckteeth." They'll all fall out at once, just like they all came in at once, five months after that first fang.

Mosquito Lounge

I tried a new restaurant last night: Mosquito Lounge, in Brentwood. First impression was good - yes, it's located in a tacky stripmall (not even a good stripmall, like the one with Barnes & Noble), but the decor was AWESOME. I absolutely love the atmosphere in that place. Unfortunately, the food sucked. First of all, they don't have any hard liquor, so my cosmo was made with sake, which...okay, it wasn't disgusting, but it wasn't great. Second, the actual food: I ordered crab cakes to start with, and then dragon prawns. Big servings, but ewww. The crab cakes were just warm, not hot. And they were all mushy like they'd used 90% bread crumbs and 10% Krab and seasonings, and then fried those lumps. The sauce was yummy, and the salad served with it was fine. But the "crab" cakes themselves were horrendous. Then, the shrimp. Dear God, is everything in this place fried? Because they were thinly covered with some kind of fried tempura batter or something. And they were overcooked (but at least they were hot!). Again, the sauce was yummy, but the main focus of the dish? Not so much.

So...I won't be going back.

It's like there's some kind of mental block here - the restaurants in the area are all either 1) boring and kinda gross chain restaurants or 2) great atmosphere, lousy food or 3) great food, lousy atmosphere. I went to Strings with Babydaddy and Rugrat last week (again, strip mall location), and the food was fantastic, but it felt like I was dining in a cafeteria. Babydaddy said he'd gone another day and sat on the other side of the restaurant, which was much more atmospheric. Whatever. It's not something I'd take someone to for a fancy dinner, but it's a damn sight better than Chili's.

Disney photos

Here they are!

This first photo was taken during breakfast on Monday morning, at the Storyteller's Cafe in the Grand Californian hotel (where we stayed during this trip). Really nice hotel. Really bad food at this restaurant though.



This next photo was taken in New Orleans Square.


Look at all the gorgeous decorations up for the holidays!


Here's Rugrat with his favorite character (albeit just a statue) - Jack Skellington.


Look how beautiful Sleeping Beauty's castle is! They repainted it and added lots of gold accents, including the five lovely crowns, representing the five decades of Disneyland. (This photo was taken during our Early Entry morning - the park wasn't always this deserted! LOL)


And here's the Haunted Mansion, all decked out in its Nightmare Before Christmas finery. I tried taking some flash-free photos inside but they didn't turn out well at all. :-( You really can't get a feel for how amazing it is without seeing all the fantastic changes they made inside. It was just incredible. My favorite part was the singing jack-o-lanterns.

Jack Skellington

My little monster-child, prior to trick-or-treatiing downtown on the Saturday before Halloween. (Click for a bigger photo.)