Filed under: feeding
The bug really likes to have two of one thing. Two rings, two spoons, two blocks. One in each hand. She tries to mash them together – or fit them together – or otherwise map one to the other. You can almost see her brain working to integrate how “likeness” works.
This morning, as I was feeding her, she grabbed the spoon as she normally does. I got another spoon to continue on my way (as I normally do) but this time she grabbed that spoon too. I thought, hmm. I snuck the first spoon away from her, filled it with food, and gave the spoon to her – instead of trying to feed her – to see what she’d do with it. At first, she flapped it everywhere, spilling peaches and oatmeal all over the place.
The next time, we did it again. This time she flapped it a bit more gently before putting it in her mouth and eating it.
Go bug go!
Now she’s flapping my door open and shut.
Filed under: sleep
SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!
SWEET JESUS, SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!
*runs through the house, screaming*
Filed under: Uncategorized
Okay, I admit it. I am completely blown away by Facebook.
Not the stupid pokes, or super pokes, or tests or quizzes or “gifts” or any of that crap. But the genuine connections you can make with people who – in a pre-Facebook universe – would have fallen off of your map. I have made some incredible reconnections with folks who I’ve not spoken to in 20 years – let alone shared daily updates about dentist visits, or favorite wines. I know about their kids, their work trials, and their caffeine addictions.
It is particularly satisfying to reconnect with someone you WEREN’T close with back in the day, and to overcome whatever mishigaas kept you from getting to know them better then.
So, yeah. I’m hooked.
Filed under: sleep
Behavior drifts towards a norm. In other words, habits are hard to break. It has been incredibly difficult to get the bug to sleep on her own – without nursing. Furthermore, she wakes 1-2x a night and wants to nurse. Is this comfort, like many pediatricians say? Or is she genuinely hungry, which is what the results of our experiments would suggest?
Either way, we’re back to nursing her down. She knows how to sleep without it, but recently is not so interested in that.
Dar!
Yesterday was Inauguration Day. As I sit in the quiet dark morning with the bug, I think of the future she will have. How her first memory of our President will be a bright, articulate, compassionate, complex, honest man who also happens to be African American. How she’ll see a man who has lived all over the planet, who has been an outsider AND an insider, whose guiding principle was taught to him by his grandma to “walk in their shoes” when encountering someone new and different.
On Monday, I participated in the local Oakland Day of Service – a particularly well-organized effort to plant 80 oak trees along a scrubby stretch of MLK Blvd. There were speakers – a black female archbishop who gave a prayer. A Blackfeet tribal elder who had worked to prevent the destruction of acres of forests at the hands of developers. A representative from the Dept of Forestry who was delighted to see community organization around such a precious resource. The lady who owns Sweetie Pie and Poppy’s soul food, who donated their parking lot and a bunch of hot dogs to feed folks. A man, who lived on that very block, who’d lost his son to gang violence. A 10 year old boy who read Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech aloud, while his proud mama cried.
There were people of all races and ages there – and all were clearly moved by the unity of voice and vision. All were clearly witnessing the realization of so many of King’s dreams, and all clearly felt the dedication to work hard and work together to ensure those dreams that had not yet been realized might come to pass sooner than later.
It was great to actually plant a tree. To collaborate with folks from all over – young and old, black and white – picking up garbage and making this bleak urban stretch look good. Others planted daffodils along a boulevard adjacent to the trees. I know I will keep an eye on this patch of city to see how they grow and flourish over time.
Coincidentally or not, the bug is now suddenly more like a little kid than a baby. She’s changing at light-speed.
Yesterday she said “mama” for the first time as she held out her arms for me to pick her up.
Filed under: notes to self
So the bug is out of her cold, but it sure did FUBAR her sleep schedule. Sometimes this is so disheartening.
I battle entropy on a daily basis to get her on a schedule, so she can feel a sense of structure, foundation, grounding.
God I wish I were better at this.
The bug has been sick for the better part of the last 3 days. Not the scary, run-to-the-hospital kind of sick, but just lots of phlegm and awful hacking cough. Her spirits seem good, and she has no fever. But man, she is coughing – like a lot. And not sleeping. And this of course means WE are not sleeping. Which might not be terrible when we were 23, but is killin me at 44.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I’ll start with a weird dream that’s been haunting me all day: C and I were in Boston, looking to get on a bus that would take us to the “West Wing” – an area of Boston in the dream. We were seeking an MIT dorm there. Don’t know who was there or why we were going, but there ya go. I’ve tried googling a variety of permutations, and tested for anagrams (often how dreams speak to me) but nothing has leapt out.
I’ve got a couple of intentions, let’s call them, for 2009. In no order:
1) create a better system for financial recordkeeping.
2) be the best mom I can be.
3) improve public speaking skills.
4) improve leadership skills.
5) live my values of family, community and creativity.
6) grow consulting practice and financial abundance.
7) maintain good health, she writes, as she eats a piece of chocolate pannetone for dinner.
balance.
9) pray.
10) dance.
11) DJ more.
12) stress less.
Filed under: parenthood
So, as I mentioned, the bug has learned to scooch. Which means she’s getting into everything that’s between 0 and 12 inches off the floor. The magazine rack, C’s immense pen box, and the cat box are all potential targets. Fortunately the cat box is a little off her beaten path as of now. As soon as she’s crawling instead of scooching, we’ll be worrying about the cat box.
We spent Xmas at C’s brother’s house. We were all in the living room, with an enormous fireplace where they burnt all the wrapping paper. The bug was just rapt watching it all: Her cousins, who bounced between the tree and the rest of us, playing “Santa” — the ribbons and paper and crinkly sounds and the TOYS and OMG OMG OMG the PACKAGING for said toys which came in all manner of plastics and paper and cardboard and all kinds of fun textures. And of course the fireballs that erupted when someone threw in some paper. Those were cool.
Thankfully, it wasn’t as orgiastic as it’s been in years’ past. I made most of my presents this year, since I wanted to save some $$. So early on I bought some cool yarn and knitted a bunch of hats and scarves for folks. Nobody totally vomited or said “what’s this supposed to be?” so I guess they were relatively successful. Maybe next year I’ll have a little more skill besides the knit stitch and basic hats, and can venture into more interesting patterns.
We went to the pediatrician on Dec 23rd, something I really don’t recommend. The bug was the last patient that day – we waited in the waiting room for 50 min before Dr P saw her. And by the time Dr P came in to see us, she was clearly exhausted from a long day, and ready to run screaming out of there.
I asked about food and sleep: Turns out, the bug is now to the point where we no longer have to worry about allergies, so she can eat pretty much whatever she wants I want her to eat. So she’s now eating tofu, carrots from our garden, and lentils. C’s sis-in-law gave her a graham cracker which I wasn’t totally stoked about, but I’ve learned to pick my battles.
Dr P also suggested we do a little “cry it out” to help the bug to sleep through the night. We’ve actually already implemented this during the 3 and 5 AM wake ups and it seems to be working. She doesn’t cry for very long –she may not even be awake. She seems to know on some level she’s supposed to be sleeping, and can soothe herself. Daytimes are a little harder. We’ll get there. One thing I realized is that I prefer to implement change in interations, where Dr P tends to prescribe things in more black and white terms. Definitely something to keep an eye out on. Esp as the bean gets into crawling, I want a ped who can view an issue from multiple sides, and explain the various facets of each. OMM!
Filed under: recommendations
This year, with the economic downturn and all, it’s actually turning into a blessing to be so disorganized. I am finding retailers are falling all over themselves to offer discounts, free shipping, and other incentives at the last-minute.
In years’ past, I have spent hundreds of dollars by this point, most of it well in advance, on sale, etc. But this year, with no income and a baby, the thought of going out shopping, well, something that never entered my mind. So here I am, with NO shopping done WHATSOEVER, combing the interwebs, scraping for deals.
1800flowers has a good one – promo code M99 will get you free shipping. Many of their plants are already discounted. Etsy has some good stuff, too. Any other tips? Please post ‘em for the broke and overwhelmed.
