The envelope please

And the Oscar for silly nicknames goes to .... Pluto. Player did make her grand entrance on 9/29/09 at 10:29 AM (evidently an hour late, but not as late as this post) and is now a full-fledged member of the Stepford team. We can't remember the ballgame without her. Yep, Player will henceforth be known as Pluto. Pluto sounds a little like spitting up in Hebrew, which she does often and with a sly little smile that says "you need to do more laundry, mommy". And she's the Queen of the World, or at least of Stepford, so as her loyal subject, I kiss her little plut-ey face and toss another load of laundry in the machine. Early on, she looked a little alien too. Like an alien visitor from the Planet Pluto (yeah yeah yeah, we know, but it will always be a planet to us). So .. Pluto ye shall be. But Pluto hardly seems alien anymore. Patoot and Peach are her biggest fans, competing for her love, attention and silly toothless grins. She adores them. Sometimes I think being the third kinda gyps her: always dragged around to everyone else's swimming lessons and playdates, never doing her own thing according to her own schedule. Sometimes I think being the third is the best deal there is: born into a family with four big people to love her, take care of her and raise her to be a fine young Plut. Some of both, I guess. Either way, we're off, out of the gate, up and running: three kids and a dog. More than a little bit Stepford, trying to hang onto that rock n'roll.