date night

a little while back we began trading off baby-monitoring nights with the couple who live on the bottom floor of our building. they have a little boy who i think is almost two years old, and we basically just put our respective kids to bed and hand off a baby monitor. occasionally the kids make a little noise, but for the most part it's been smooth sailing. we don't ever go far, but it gives us a chance to get out of the house on our own, eat some good food, and not worry (too much) about our sleeping baby at home.

last night we went into the city to Betty's Wok and Noodle Diner, across from symphony hall.

mommy put bebe to bed around seven-thirty, and by eight-ish we were out the door. spring time dusk is one of my favorite times. i totally get the west-coast-sunny-and-warm-every-single-day-without-even-thinking-about-it-thing, but you just can't beat that crossover from cold to mild to warm evenings in new england. it's just such an amazing, rejuvenating feeling.

we got to betty's in no time, and after eight the place is pretty empty. you might wonder how they stay in business when at eight o'clock on a friday night they're almost completely empty, but then you would have never seen the place a mere hour before hand, as the symphony hall folks pack the place solid. six o'clock and eight o'clock are night and day in this place. once the show across the street starts, it empties for the unsophisticates such as ourselves.

we got the best seat in the house, a corner booth with a wrap-around bench that let us snuggle up close while we had a pre-meal cocktail- wine for the missus, and a sake mojito for myself. the cuisine is described as asian-latino inspired, and i'd say that's about right.

we don't spend much time talking about bebe, realizing that this is our chance to be two young kids in love with each other, as opposed to two parents in their thirties burdened with the responsibility of raising the brightest, most beautiful little girl on the surface of the planet. that said, there is always at least one moment or two where we compare recently taken cell phone pics of our baby. she's just so cute!

in the shadow of the Pru.

what the eff are you doing? oh, i think you know...

aw.

waiting for godot. i mean, the train.

still waiting. with my big-ass belly. that's embarrassing.

ah, the friday night dating ritual. i never participated in this sort of thing, and i'm usually home weekend nights, but every so often i'm out for a movie or dinner and i'm reminded that this stuff actually happens. just like on tv! here we have the typical three-to-one, male-to-female courting ratio. the girls always over-dress, and the guys all wear the uniform: sketchers dress shoes, jeans of varying color, and printed button-downs, untucked, sleeves rolled. we're headed home to catch some of the game and go to bed, and their night's just starting. good luck, fellas!