Who’s Your Daddy?

This Monday saw “Stomach Bug 2: Return of the Stomach Bug” for me. But I managed to see “How I Met Your Mother” so, another recap given from the best of my ability!

Pretty much the main focus of the episode was on Lily and Marshall. Which also means it was on their quest to have a child. You see, they go visit friends who have just had a baby themselves and can’t seem to name the child without arguing. Lily and Marshall don’t think they’ll have that problem…but they do. Lily can’t seem to find a name that doesn’t remind her of a troublemaker from her class. This leads to a bigger rift: the baby’s gender. Marshall reveals to Ted he doesn’t want a girl—he’d be too worried about being that girl’s dad. He thinks of his daughter as high school boys serenade her about how much they want her or…worse…that girl working at a strip club. But wait! There’s more to THAT particular nightmare! The girl ends up dating Barney in an awesome, true-to-character move. By the end, she ends up marrying Barney as a crying Lily and Marshall look on in horror.

But it turns out the Eriksens always produce males. And Papa Eriksen is more than willing to pass on the tips for producing boys. Almost desperate, in fact. Like he doesn’t even want to consider a granddaughter. Anyway, the tips involve avoiding lemons (apparently, they are baby girl fertilizers), eating pickled herring before conception, dunking his “man sack” in a bucket of ice (at this point, Marshall’s mother comes in with the line “Oh, you boys and your football.” It’s hysterical) and then to point Lily due North. When he does, he discovers the basket of lemons by Lily’s side of the bed. Turns out that while Marshall was panicking about having a girl, Lily was worried about having a boy. All the troublemakers in her class tend to be boys. So, she’s been eating lemons, heating up her “lady bits” to a toasty 105 degrees Fahrenheit and pointing South to ensure a girl. Fortunately, they realize they are being silly.

They go back to visit their feuding friends, who have stopped squabbling after a scare with their baby. Turns out the hospital wouldn’t admit their baby without a name and the two realized what complete douches they were being. So, they named their daughter Esther. Lily and Marshall decide to forget about worrying about sex and decide to pick a name that could work either way. They decide on Jamie.

And starring in the “B” plot: Robin, Ted and Robin’s annoyingly perky co-anchor Becky (Laura Bell Bundy). At first, Becky was more like Elle Woods (who Bundy played on Broadway)—the smart person hidden behind the blonde ditz. But this episode reveals she’s just a blonde ditz who acts like a little girl. We see her complaining that all the news stories are sad while Mike just keeps the camera zoomed on her. Robin even asks if she can get in the shot and we see the camera shake “no.” But that’s not all. Turns out Becky shows up to give Robin some chocolate chip cookies (except Becky uses gummy bears) and meets Ted. They go on a few dates, much to Robin’s annoyance. In fact, she doesn’t understand why guys are attracted to women who act like little girls. Finally, Ted reveals its because it makes men feel needed. Which Ted never felt while dating Robin.

This causes Robin to feel bad, so she goes to ask Barney if he felt the same during their relationship. Barney says yes, but that it was what he loved the most about her. They have an adorable moment in which you feel the chemistry between the two again. Then Barney asks Robin to help him. You see, while Robin was pointing out that women don’t go for men who act like little boys, Barney took it as a challenge. He spent the entire episode speaking like a little boy and getting nowhere. When he finally throws in the towel, he finds a woman who likes to role-play “Mother and Child” in the bedroom. But now he needs Robin to get the woman out. She agrees to do so. Meanwhile, Ted has an epiphany while out with Becky. As she licks her ice cream cone, he ties her shoe…only to spy a father doing the same for his young daughter. He stands up and walks away.

Oh! And Lily rules out “Jamie” as a name for their future child. We see paint on her butt as she walks away. Lily, maybe you should stop painting. Or wear a smock like my teachers did while we had paint. Seriously.