Local co-blogger liveblogs first day home alone with twin infants – hilarity ensues.

Sullivan hates the politicization of kids, whether by overbearing parents forcing their beliefs upon their children, or by, well, overbearing vice presidential candidates using their kids as cheap props. And then a reader of his writes in to say that their kid really does love Obama without any prompting as they voted for McCain in the primary.

And then on a personal level, I’ve heard from 2 different friends with very young children being raised in, ahem, more homogeneous areas of the country who have taken to calling any black strangers Obama.

In preparation for becoming a new parent, I’ve been reading (among other things) The Happiest Baby on the Block, by Dr. Harvey Karp. It’s full of what seems like will be very practical advice for how to soothe a crying baby, which will come in handy on the off chance ours aren’t perfect little angels.

So, anyway, I’m reading Appendix B, “A New Parents’ Survival Guide,” in which Dr. Karp lists ten “survival tips” for new parents. There’s nothing earth-shattering (trust yourself, be flexible, etc.) but I was brought up short by this paragraph in a sidebar titled “Rest: The Essential Nutrient for New Parents:”

The extreme fatigue that goes along with being a new parent can make you feel depressed, irritable, inept, and distort your perceptions of the world like a fun-house mirror. (Some countries torture people by waking them up every time they fall asleep!)

Yeah, some countries. Like, for instance, the United States of America.