Tuesday, May 23, 2006
my little street urchin
Jack models this season's hottest outerwear: a ratty old dog blanket.
He's the littlest hobo.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
no soup for you!
Jack and I got back in the pool on Monday, after a bit of a harrowing journey (i.e. bad directions + a tired mummy = circling many roundabouts several times while trying not to swear). Upon arrival, the 103-year-old instructor said to me, "Do you want a vest and armbands [water wings]?" which I declined. She looked slightly taken aback and said "But all the children wear them" and again I declined explaining that we didn't need them. I am of the opinion that babies and toddlers need to understand that they must do something (like kick their legs and move their arms) in order to prevent sinking to the bottom, as opposed to doing absolutely nothing yet still being able to float on the surface. Jack never used them before and the people who ran our last classes didn't promote their use. Call me a mad hippy, but there you go.
We swam around for a bit, mostly chatting to my friends and catching up, and then we were broken up into groups. They held hoops in the water for the babies to "swim" through, most of them bobbing up and down on the surface totally unable to move, much like a fishing lure. Parents pushed their kids across the water through the hoop, and then it was our turn. "See, this is why we use the floaties - we don't want them to get their faces wet", the old trout woman scolded. "Jack can get his face wet, and he's been underwater before" I said, trying desperately not to shove this woman's head under the water. Reluctantly, I allowed her to put armbands and a vest on Jack, both of which were far too big for his age and he couldn't move his arms at all. He kept trying to pull the vest off, so I removed everything and got ready to take our turn through the hoop. He floated through the hoop as the old bat had a panicked look on her face and had her claws within reach should Jack suddenly plummet to the bottom for no apparent reason. "Next week" she said, "ARMBANDS AND VEST." Fine.
After mulling it over, I decided that we can still enjoy these classes despite the complete lack of structure and the Floatie Police. In fact, the lack of structure is a good thing because it means I can take him aside and go through the swimming techniques we learned before. The important thing was to get him back in the pool, and I will simply have to grin and bear the armband rule. I bought him a more reasonably-sized vest from Splashabout and will get him smaller armbands somewhere else, which should hopefully interfere less with his ability to move.
I am seriously hormonal right now. Maybe I should steer clear of nasty old witches just in case I get the urge to see if she floats.
Friday, May 12, 2006
return to the water, anxiety, and becoming a little man
I found a swimming class for us on Mondays, thanks to a friend and her adorable twin girls. I really want to get Jack back in the pool again, especially because he doesn't seem to like getting his head wet anymore. I think he isn't used to it now, so I want to get him swimming again before he develops a fear of water. Plus, Jack looks so damn cute in his little swimming trunks.
I mentioned the 6am wake up calls, but we've had an unpleasant development recently: nightly screaming for several hours at a time. Jack's been very unhappy when first put to bed and sometimes wakes again in the evening screaming his fluffy head off, and has treated us to a couple of late night/early morning waking sessions, during which time he alternates between screeching and deciding that it would be a really good time to play. He's tired; he puts his head down and settles down when we're next to him, but as soon as we take one step away from the cot, his tiny head pops up like a gopher's and yells out WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! until we return to his side. It's all been a barrel of laughs, let me tell you. I suppose this might be separation anxiety or teething (he's been dribbling like a fiend lately), but either way, it's been tough to deal with. I think when you don't have bouts of sleeplessness for a very long stretch they become much harder to deal with when they do happen. Plus, it's that much worse when you've got to work the next day. Bleah.
Otherwise, Jack's life goes merrily on and it's been amazing watching him develop into a little person of his own. I always thought that this phase in Jack's life would be more demanding on us because small babies just sort of lie there and don't do a lot, but it's actually turned out to be easier. Jack can feed himself, plays quite happily on his own and doesn't need our attention constantly, has a pretty regular routine, but best of all, it's an absolute joy simply watching him be Jack. He makes us fall over laughing, he amazes us with the things he's learned, and he's such a happy little chap (when he's not up all night screaming, that is). There is nothing better than seeing my son's face erupt into an enormous toothy grin as he comes running towards me with his arms wide open, giving me a "kiss" that involves an open mouth and a lot of slobber.
The occasional sleepless night really isn't a big deal in the larger scheme of things, is it?
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
c'est chouette!
I don't usually post about cool mummy finds, but perhaps it's time I started. Lisa from Chouette Design Group (that's pronounced "shwette" for you non-Francophones) does some gorgeous photo birth announcements and adoption announcements over at PhotoInnovation.com. Modern with nice clean designs, she takes a photo you send to her and does fantastic things with it. Seriously, I would have used her when Jack was born but I was so disorganised and late in getting something out, I had to cobble something together myself.
I'm a bit biased about this company because the person who runs this business is a) called Lisa and b) is lovely. Now scamper on over there and order lots of things from her. Even you people outside the US - she ships overseas, ya know.
Monday, May 08, 2006
highchair high jinks
Jack REALLY likes raisins!
Jack didn't find my dinner conversation terribly interesting.
Friday, May 05, 2006
friday afternoon at the movies
*Apologies if you weren't able to view these movies over the past day or so - this should be fixed now. Please drop me a note or leave a comment if they're still not working.
Jack gets funky to the retro sounds of DeeeLite:
Jack likes to stomp when he wears his Clarks shoes:
(Apologies for the poor picture quality. My digital camera either takes movies at a stupidly huge resolution, or a fuzzy small resolution.)
Thursday, May 04, 2006
maybe baby
Last night, we talked about a sibling for Jack. We talked about finances, whether we'd keep Jack in nursery after the baby's born, and when we will start "working on" #2. We also talked about the niggling worries that have been swimming around in my head lately, like how to cope with pregnancy woes and discomfort when you've got a toddler and flopping on the sofa isn't an option. In second pregnancies, do you not notice as much about it because you're too busy toddler-wrangling? When the baby arrives, are you able to give child #1 as much attention and devote as much energy to him as you did before? How well do you cope with the physical demands of pregnancy, birth, and sleep deprivation the second time round? Does it get easier? Or is it harder because you've now got two children? Should I do the testing I refused my last pregnancy because I'll be older and higher risk? What if I'm not even fertile anymore because they cut the wrong thing out of me during my c-section or all my eggs have expired? How on earth am I going to lose this last bit of weight before I get pregnant (the ticker only shows my first goal - I really need to lose another stone) when I keep succumbing to the temptations of ice cream?
I need help.
Then again, I feel like it's going to be a breeze compared to the 63-year-old woman who recently got pregnant via IVF. And here I was thinking that I feel a bit tired and lacking energy at 37. Gracious.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
portraits of the artist as a young man
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
old broad has kid, story at 11
For those of you who only read this blog and not my main site, go take a peek to see today's exciting news. For those of you not based in the UK and wondering what the hell The Guardian is, it's a national newspaper. For those of you who came here via a Google search for line drawings of talk show hosts in the buff, move along - nothing to see here.