Thanks to my eagerness to block spam, some of you recently got a message saying your comment was being held for review. Well, good thing I reviewed my Junk Comments, as I obviously don't have a handle on how to best help the system distinguish between good comments (yours) and not-good comments (dirty words which I choose not to post). So I think I have returned the filters to their proper settings and caught the real comments from the sea of junk. I'll check the junk again in a few days to make sure of this, but if you notice your comments aren't getting published, please send me an email. Thanks!
MrMan fell asleep in my lap while nursing, and it's kind of nice. Normally, these days, I'd put him down. (I love this somewhat new development of his staying asleep while being moved about.) But my laptop is handy, and I'm happy to hold him a bit longer. Such an occasion is rather rare these days. It reminds me of his younger days, the first few months of his life, when I would nurse him on the couch, and then watch tv while he slept on my lap. We were like this *wraps middle finger over index finger*, just about 24/7.
In a little while, we'll go to the park for playgroup. A change of venue. Should be fun. We decided against dressing him up for Halloween, since we have no trick-or-treating, or parties, in which to participate. And he's pretty anti-things-on-his-head. (With the exception of a hat that he picked out at BabyGap this weekend, and insisted upon wearing through the mall. My child, the fashion plate.) I figure a jack o'lantern bib will suffice until next year, when he'll have a greater appreciation for dressing in unusual fashion.
In other news, is it crazy that the thing that finally pushed me to just go ahead and buy tickets for Thanksgiving was the prospect of seeing blog friends? For a couple of weeks, we've been talking about visiting the Virginians, aka my dad's side of the family, for Thanksgiving. It's been a while since my parents have seen them, Sam and I haven't seen some of them since our wedding four-plus years ago, many of them have yet to meet MrMan, and I have yet to meet my cousin's younger son. But we hadn't bought the tickets yet. But last night, once I found out that The Princess and Freckle Face Girl would also be in the area, I clicked that button to purchase tickets. It wasn't that family wasn't enough to get me there. It was that I wanted to make sure we were there long enough to see friends, in addition to family. So now that's taken care of.
Today felt a bit like a holiday. Well, it was for the kids at our school. And the teachers had a workshop day. But since I don't fit into either of those categories, I could just get stuff done in the library, with no interruptions. Do I sound like one of those librarians that doesn't want people in the library? I think part of the holiday feeling was due to the end of daylight savings - waking up early (as far as the clock was concerned) meant a relaxed start to the day.
We've had a great past few days of weather, with lots of sun. Saturday was truly fantastic - chilly, breezy, and sunny. It really felt like fall. The whole family went to an outdoor art market and an impromptu picnic at The Fly. (It's a park behind the zoo, along the Mississippi River. When I was a kid, there was this concrete building/structure that was shaped sort of like a fly. I was one of many who spent time scampering up the fly's "legs." The structure is long gone, but the name remains.) After we ate, Sam and MrMan chased each other around in the grass. MrMan laughted so hard about it, I thought he wouldn't be able to breathe.
Inspired by various people (including my husband, who went running Saturday morning) and various things (including the awesome weather), I went moving on Saturday. I feel it's time to re-employ a word I used a lot more than fifteen years ago, because I hated to use the word "jogging," but felt I wasn't going fast enough to use "running." I was mentally psyched, but apparently the body wasn't willing. After a minute or so, the heart said, "Halt!" After a couple more minutes, the lungs gasped, "Please!" After ten minutes, my mind and body decided that the stop sign at the corner applied to me. No rolling stop this time. I felt lame about the short moving experience, wasn't even sure if it qualified as exercise. But I cut myself some slack, given that I haven't (formally) exercised in more than twenty months. And I think the last time I ran was December 31, 2004, give or take a day. Eventually, my organs will not protest so loudly.
You may have noticed the new look around here. About time! Spring, and its irises, were over months ago. You may also notice Yoda over to the right. He is my reminder to post every day in the month of November. Mrs. Kennedy came up with National Blog Posting Month, and I'm taking on the challenge.
There was a time when I posted more regularly. I like to think that I was also funnier and more interesting and a better writer back then. Maybe I'm just fooling myself, but I hope to bring back those glory days. And maybe find my writing voice once again, as I feel like it got lost somewhere along the way. Am I Mommy blogger? Am I New Orleans blogger? Am I blogging for me? Am I blogging for you? Am I blogging for the me of the future? I guess the answer to all of those questions is yes, but sometimes I feel like the answer can be only one, and I'm so focused on fitting into that category that nothing comes out of my fingers.
And for those of you not interested in joining the challenge as a blogger, please note that you can still support NaBloPoMo by commenting. Thanks!
now get it into my stomach.
I could really go for an apple right now. It's not so much that I'm hungry, but that I'm having a craving for a delicious Jonagold. I think that, after work, we might have to swing over to Whole Foods.
For most of the past year and a half, I've worn shoes that slipped easily on and off. Casual shoes. Shoes that made me adopt the goal that I should buy shoes that wouldn't easily transition to the beach. And with these shoes, I've rarely worn socks. They would've looked goofy and they weren't needed and, for part of the time, my feet were too big to be kept company by socks inside the shoe. But now, the temperature has dropped and my feet have shrunk and I've busted out the closed shoes, and socks. The drawback of this is that I actually have to bend over to pick things up from the floor. I'm only now realizing how much I've come to rely on my toes to "hand" myself stuff.
Dear MrMan,
Yesterday, you turned eleven months old. Last week, I was marveling at the fact that your birthday was in five weeks. Now I'm getting all teary-eyed thinking about the fact that in one month you're turning one year old. How can it be almost here already? Yet how can it be less than a year since we first met face to face?
This past month has been one of great movement. You do not like to spend time sitting still. If you're awake, you're crawling around, moving furniture, opening doors, carrying toys from one area to another, climbing onto low things, trying to climb onto higher things....
Within a few days of my having written last month's letter, you mastered the kitchen door. For weeks, you'd been trying to get the door open. You were finally able to open it, but not quite enough to get past it. And then, one day, boom! you figured it out - how to open it and position yourself to get past it, and how to open it enough for it stay open - and then, you were in the kitchen. This new skill of yours resulted in my going to the store for baby gates. Eventually, you will figure out how to climb the gate, or how to climb a chair that you've pushed over to the gate, but for now, it serves a purpose.
You continue to push everything you can - furniture, your stroller, shopping carts (while in our arms), even Daddy. You think it's great fun to get him on the floor and then push and roll him about. If you're not able to push it, you try pulling now. You climb anything on which you can get traction. Thankfully, you've yet to figure out how to climb onto a chair. Once that happens, in conjunction with your penchant for pushing, nothing will be out of bounds.
A few days ago, the night of the 15th, you took your first step. I don't think you really realized what you'd done, as you were so intent on getting closer to Corporal*. MamanJan got him a new cage, thinking it might make your interactions easier. Once we put him in the cage, it became apparent that it was too small for him, and too easy for you to push, as demonstrated by your moving it to the other side of the kitchen. You've now taken one step a few times. One. And then you gracefully lower yourself to the floor and crawl or sit. Your balance in doing this is very good. Your improved balance also manifests itself in the fact that you're cruising much more, and sometimes just use vertical surfaces, like walls, to keep yourself upright. There's a part of me that wants you to stay crawling for as long as possible, as I suspect my life will become more complicated once you can walk. But, at the same time, I look forward to your walking, as I think it will open up a whole new world to you and that that world will be exciting for everyone involved, especially you.
You love animals, it seems. You continue to be intrigued by cats and dogs. I'm often alerted to their presence by your unique barking sound when you spot one. Last week, Daddy took you to the zoo and, when you left, you burst into tears. I guess it's appropriate that one of the toys we recently bought you is a Little People Noah's Ark, filled with Noah and Naamah and various animals. You are actually pretty adept at putting the animals into the ark through the door in its side. We still don't bother to take toys out with us though, as you are most entertained by the non-toys, either by pushing them or by batting them around as if you are playing soccer. Your favorite song is "Three Little Monkeys (...swinging from the tree, teasing Mr. Alligator, 'can't catch me'...)."
Your appetite is increasing, as are the foods you like. Things you tried this month which you really liked included risotto and macaroni and cheese. Your first cheese experience. You don't like 7-Up, which we gave you after your body purged some spoiled noodles. (So sorry about that.) While I wasn't excited about the puking, I was happy that your defenses are in order. Speaking of solids, and waste, I'm loving the new poop. Sure, it stinks, but diapers are so much easier to deal with when they contain solid matter.
You can maneuver a spoon into your mouth, but you are just as likely to use your fingers to pick the food up from the spoon and use your fingers to put the food in your mouth. Your meals these days tend to end with your intermittently dropping food on the floor - you hold the food out between your fingers and deliberately drop it, often with a defiant look on your face. Sometimes, our attempts to catch it result in your giving the food to us, or in your deciding that you would actually like to eat it. As your stomach fills, the more likely you are to drop the food, seemingly with the intent of cleaning off your tray. You also start screeching, in hopes that MamanJan will pick you up - it seems that you view eating off of her plate as dessert, even though it's the same foods you've just tossed on the floor.
You help dress yourself - when I put a shirt over your head, you move your arm into the sleeve. Assuming that you're not trying to crawl across the floor or climb down from the bed. You endure shopping carts by turning yourself to see where the cart is going. I suspect that your favorite birthday present will be turning your carseat to face forward. You copy our snapping, moving your fingers to meet your thumb. Usually at playgroup, I might as well not be there, as you are content to do your own thing or follow the big kids. You're not consistent in using your words, but you call me "Mama" and Daddy "Dada." I've noticed a decrease, even if small, in the volume of things ending up in your mouth. You wave goodbye and goodnight and have even initiated bedtime yourself by crawling over to me to be picked up and then waving goodnight to everyone else.
MrMan, watching you grow is both heart-breaking and exciting. The baby I gave birth to is disappearing before my eyes. But in his place is blossoming an astounding little boy. For the past few months, I've been carrying a feeling of anticipation. For a while, I tried, unsuccessfully, to figure out what exactly I was anticipating. I've recently reached the conclusion that this anticipation, this excitement, that I carry around daily is the result of motherhood. I never know what the day holds, what marvel you will perform, you will be. Thank you for adding such surprise to my life.
Love,
Mommy
*our rabbit
Dear Family Members Who Have Come to Visit in the Past Few Months:
So sorry that it took until now to realize that the like-standing-under-a-limp-garden-hose experience of taking a shower in our bathroom would be easily remedied by replacing the shower head. There were pebbles in it! Ah, the effects of the storm. The good news is that showering is once again quick and easy, even enjoyable.
Hygienically yours,
shokufeh
As my mother said, every child should have this experience.
Fun with tissues on Vimeo
Ring a-round MrMan... a pile of Kleen-e-ex
I just got out of the shower, and thought I'd put on some foot lotion. So, I sat down on the edge of the bed, picked up the tube and squirted some on to my foot. Only after I'd squirted a couple of inches of the stuff did I realize that I was applying boob goo to my sole.