Tonight Barack Obama just clinched the presidency. As I was hoping, he's going to not only win the 270 electoral votes needed, but he's going to exceed that number by a LARGE margin. The impact of this election is going to be felt around the world, and I truly feel it's for the better. He seems like a very thoughtful, intelligent leader who's going to bring back our reputation in the world, and here at home. The loud minority of right wing, out-of-touch, paranoid people can now fade into the background, and maybe they could try listening to what the majority is saying for a change. Instead of griping about everything that could go wrong, how about accepting the fact that he's now our president, and working TOGETHER to bring about some real CHANGE in this country?? There's no use staying bitter. It's not healthy.

For tonight, the people have spoken....

Yes, that's the new phrase around here. But it comes with the good news that Jake is finally potty trained. It started with us trying to get him to pee in the potty. He's been pretty good at making it to the toilet while he stands up on a little stool his grandpa made for him, and letting it flow. Getting him to do the pooping in the potty was a little more complicated. We've been using this little "mini-potty" that he'd sit on from time to time, but usually he just went in his diaper. Once Jake started wearing his "Big Boy Undies" he was more open to trying the potty. So one day he announced, "There's something in my butt," to which we rushed him to the little potty, and lo and behold, he made a dookie in the potty, causing all three of us to dance and celebrate like he'd just won an award. In order to continue this behavior, we decided to entice Jakey with a mystery prize for every time he poops in the potty. We bought a bunch of Hot Wheels cars, and wrapped them up to make a big production out of it. Now, every time he poops in the potty, he asks for his present. Jake calls his new collection his "Poop Cars" since he's gotten them for pooping in the potty. It's pretty funny.

And the good news is that now he's starting to sit on the actual toilet to poop, as we attach his mini-seat to the bowl so he doesn't fall in. This makes cleanup SO MUCH easier! All this is happening when he's about one month from his 3rd birthday. I guess that's fairly normal. Our little boy continues to grown up.

Jake is also becoming a big fan of They Might Be Giants. I got him a DVD on eBay called "Here Come the ABC's" which he absolutely LOVES! Check out their website to see some samples. It's also really helping him learn his letters and numbers. And the best part is that the music is catchy and edgy enough that we like listening to it, too.

In other (quickly becoming outdated) news, I posted some pictures I took during the DNC. CLICK HERE to view them.

There's also another new edition to my photo page from a recent trip to the mountains to see the fall colors. CLICK HERE to see them.

I attended the Democratic Caucus this evening. Here are the notes I took during the event: