a good week

It's been a very good week. I'm not sure if this directly relates to my ability to document it – but here we are anyway. My discipline has been lax of late and there's not a lot of direct reinforcement for keeping a journal these days. Everything else, from laundry to novels, seems to bring quicker and more tangible rewards. But I'm hoping that with the introduction of an evening routine, I can establish a little bit of regular writing time. Most nights, at least.

This has been the burning issue of the Baby Club: is your baby sleeping? for how long? on a schedule? where? We're all struggling to establish some sort of bedtime for our little tykes, but we're encountering more resistance in ourselves & our spouses than we find in the babes. I guess it's the disease of the GenXers; we all thought that we could have the best of both worlds. We thought we could have adult privileges and childish pleasures, that we could stay up late to read comics and spend our money on flashy geegaws. We were all the adults who wouldn't succumb to the boring strictures of adult life. And here we are in a place where we have to Establish A Bedtime. We have to Stick To It, because we know that playing fast and loose with something as holy as a bedtime could undo weeks of patient work. We have to we have to we have to, because we all have restless little ones and we're not sleeping anymore. Once the basic needs of sleep, food, shelter & good health are compromised, we quickly learn the benefit of a workable, nay, boring routine.

I thought that it was only the Boy & I who were draggin' our feet, but my conversations with the Original Six this week have flipped up the same sentiment all over. Sigh. I guess we just have to grow up.

"I said, we need a routine, and Tasso said, we have a routine: every night after dinner we sit down and watch an episode of Buffy."

- stephanie

On Tuesday I slept in and missed exercise class. Drat. My mom likes to reassure me that every mom has to expect to miss a few classes. It's just the nature of the beast. Still: drat. I dread the reactivation of my gym membership – I still have half a year to go, and the closest affiliated gym is in Mississauga. Taking the Blake will make any gym visit into a major expedition. And they already have my money, so it's not like I can opt out. Yuck.

In the afternoon we swung by my aunt's house to visit with the Windsor branch of my family. My cousin, about whom I have said many mean things (the mildest being that she's my nemesis) was there with her two babies (6 & 2 respectively). I was not really planning to enjoy myself. In the past my aunt has made admiring comments about my cousin's mothering skills, so I had to throw my mommy skills into the ring. One of those competitive motherhood things.

I was humbled by the experience. I haven't been able to get on with my cousin since we were both pre-teens, so I expected our mothering choices to be diametrically opposed. Turns out that that line of thinking was just a cheap trick to prop up my own fears of inadequacy. She breastfed both babies; she greatly limits their exposure to chocolate & sweets; and she's patient with them. You've been at a supermarket. You know how rare it is to see a mom who clearly enjoys every minute with her tots. I was agog.

blake, my cousin & her daughter.
not pictured: my big slice of humble pie

And she was so gentle & loving with Blakers, too. For once I didn't mind the inevitable "we're taking him home with us" comment. Blake was a little trooper: he endured several hours of going from hand to hand in a very strange & noisy environment. He smiled & giggled & brought out all the winning behaviours. I was very proud.

home again, home again, jiggedy jig

Wednesday was St. Patrick's Day, so I took it upon myself to bring together the Original Six for beer & babies. I had a shockingly good time. We met Steph & Eva & Kate & Ciaran & Kate's friend whose name I've already forgotten & Matthew her baby at an east end pub. It was most excellent: Guinness & yummy lunch & non-stop conversation about parenting. There's nothing like beer & other moms to make me feel normal. And I got a nice buzz out of being the originator of the idea!

After lunch wound down, the other moms went off for naps and Blake & I wandered over to Dirk's house for a visit. (Since it was Dirk's party that had given me the idea for a gathering, I felt obligated to stop by.) I was more or less convinced that I would be a lonely mom at a gathering of carefree young things. I planned to leave early. But once again, I underestimated my own enjoyment. It was a house full of strangers, but they uniformly adored the Blake. Boys, girls, gay, straight – everybody loves my Blake. We were there for 5 hours, and I really only held him to nurse. The second he was through a feeding we were off to the races again.

I have to say, I loved every second of his celebrity. I am unapologetic about the fact that I judge people by their reaction to my son, and I loved them loving him. He was a superstar the whole time. Not because he giggled & drooled, but because he fell into a period of quiet alertness and he demonstrated his boundless curiosity in every strange pair of arms. He even seduced the two male couples with his ineffable Blakeness. I was so proud. And I was sorry that I hadn't told my moms to meet up with me later – their babies could've been just as loved, I'm sure.

the boy, the baby & the beer all wish you a happy st. patrick's day!

Yesterday we did the traditional Thursday trek to Baby Club. I found out that I'd poisoned Kate when I'd given my blessing to mixing alcohol and antibiotics. Oh come on, it wasn't really my fault. Who comes to me for lifestyle advice? I wear pink sweaters with dinosaur spikes! I think most of the blame should be placed on Kate's Irish heritage...that's what made her take a drink on St. Paddy's Day, not yours truly.

(Do I still feel guilty? Uh. Yes.)

I thought I'd felled Steph as well, but she turned up for lunch. At least I can't be blamed for Danielle's stomach virus.

Now the talk is turning to park outings once a week. I am unrepentantly joyous that this means I still have mommy friends, even though I live in the middle of subnowhere.

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- Rocketbride's adventure of 3/17/2004 04:44:00 p.m.