Saturday, January 27, 2007
Banana-nana-nana Face and Other Assorted News
Mae's new nickname is banana-nana-nana face. It's just one of many though. Sometimes I worry that she'll start kindergarden and the teacher will ask her her name and she won't know it - because we barely use it - and instead she'll say, "Ducky" or "Bunnymuffin" or "Boo", or else "Banana-nana-nana face". But then I figure, oh well. Worse things could happen.
The reason for the new nickname is that she started eating bananas this past week. I know that the current recommendation is six months for starting solids, and she's not quite five... but we were just so bored. It went down to 20 below with the windchill, so we couldn't exactly run errands in the stroller, or even make it as far as the coffee shop to hang out. Really, bananas were our only option. Also, more importantly, she just seems ready. For a few weeks now, she's been watching every bite of food my husband and I take with big, awe-struck eyes - like we were eating rainbows or something. She'd even started reaching for the food on our plates.
So now she's a rolling over, banana-eating kind of girl. And, also, I'm pretty sure she's teething. She's not whining as much as she was last week (thank God), but she's drooling rivers, and pulling at her ears, and putting absolutely everything on earth into her mouth.
She's also decided that the kitties are worth paying attention to. Until a week or two ago, they may as well have been big, furry houseplants for all the attention she paid them. Now she laughs when one walks by, and sometimes grabs a big handful of tail or back-fur. All things considered, the kitties are taking the change in stride.
And, yeah, we've been busy, despite how cold it is outside, and despite how I say we've been bored to bananas. I've got an excercise class on Tuesday mornings (with childcare for Mae), and then we see our momfriends on Thursdays for lunch and go to a program at the community centre on Fridays. And, in between, Mae breastfeeds, and rolls, and naps, and takes baths, and swings in the swing o-matic, and sits on my lap... and we watch Oprah, and read stories and I try, somewhat unsucessfully, to stay on top of the chores, like laundry and groceries and making sure there are enough diapers and doing general tidying up.
The days are so completely full, actually, that I can't imagine how going back to work is ever going to fit into the mix. Also, I can't imagine how I'm going to stand being apart from Mae for that many hours a day.
I'm trying to tell myself that I have another seven months of mat leave and not to worry about it yet, but it isn't really working. Every time one of the momfriends talks about this or that daycare she's visited, I feel queasy. I haven't made a single phone call, or visited a single centre, or gotten Mae on a single list because, the truth is, I don't want to. What would be ideal, really, would be if a magical mortgage fairy could float down from the sky and erase our mortgage with her magic wand while sprinkling money-tree seeds in our backyard. And I know, I know... it's kind of unlikely to happen, but that doesn't mean I can't still hope.
The reason for the new nickname is that she started eating bananas this past week. I know that the current recommendation is six months for starting solids, and she's not quite five... but we were just so bored. It went down to 20 below with the windchill, so we couldn't exactly run errands in the stroller, or even make it as far as the coffee shop to hang out. Really, bananas were our only option. Also, more importantly, she just seems ready. For a few weeks now, she's been watching every bite of food my husband and I take with big, awe-struck eyes - like we were eating rainbows or something. She'd even started reaching for the food on our plates.
So now she's a rolling over, banana-eating kind of girl. And, also, I'm pretty sure she's teething. She's not whining as much as she was last week (thank God), but she's drooling rivers, and pulling at her ears, and putting absolutely everything on earth into her mouth.
She's also decided that the kitties are worth paying attention to. Until a week or two ago, they may as well have been big, furry houseplants for all the attention she paid them. Now she laughs when one walks by, and sometimes grabs a big handful of tail or back-fur. All things considered, the kitties are taking the change in stride.
And, yeah, we've been busy, despite how cold it is outside, and despite how I say we've been bored to bananas. I've got an excercise class on Tuesday mornings (with childcare for Mae), and then we see our momfriends on Thursdays for lunch and go to a program at the community centre on Fridays. And, in between, Mae breastfeeds, and rolls, and naps, and takes baths, and swings in the swing o-matic, and sits on my lap... and we watch Oprah, and read stories and I try, somewhat unsucessfully, to stay on top of the chores, like laundry and groceries and making sure there are enough diapers and doing general tidying up.
The days are so completely full, actually, that I can't imagine how going back to work is ever going to fit into the mix. Also, I can't imagine how I'm going to stand being apart from Mae for that many hours a day.
I'm trying to tell myself that I have another seven months of mat leave and not to worry about it yet, but it isn't really working. Every time one of the momfriends talks about this or that daycare she's visited, I feel queasy. I haven't made a single phone call, or visited a single centre, or gotten Mae on a single list because, the truth is, I don't want to. What would be ideal, really, would be if a magical mortgage fairy could float down from the sky and erase our mortgage with her magic wand while sprinkling money-tree seeds in our backyard. And I know, I know... it's kind of unlikely to happen, but that doesn't mean I can't still hope.
