Swimming with extroverts

Miles went swimming for the first time this weekend, and he loved it. My favorite moment was when Jason held him in the water and asked, Where's Mama? Miles looked around, spots me and says, Mamamama while Jason floats him over to me. Then I asked, Where's Dada? And Miles says, Dadada while I take him back to Jason. We did this over and over. First time that he's gotten our names consistently associated with the right parent, which since he babbles mamama all day long, was a big deal. Luckily my face was already wet from getting splashed so the strangely friendly 5 and 7-year-old brother and sister fellow swimmers who kept chattering to me while we played this game didn't notice that I teared up for a few seconds.

I often end up in extended conversations with total strangers under the age of 10, and I have no idea why really, except that I find it charming when children are outgoing and articulate. I'm impressed with how easy it is for them to be so sociable. I certainly wasn't at their age, nor mine I suppose. I would love for Miles to feel this confident, be this sure of himself and happy in his own skin. We'll see, although the odds are that if genetics plays much of a role here, he won't be all that gregarious. Jason, while not unfriendly, usually lets me carry on solo while he plays with Miles and keeps him out of their (grubby) reach. And I still find it awkward to meet new people even in that most common-ground, the local park where mothers with young children meet and the most interesting question you need to come up with is, "How old is she?"

Hiatus

It's been over two weeks since I last wrote, and each day I get that twinge of guilt over not keeping this blog up to date. This is exactly the same reason why I've abandoned journals many times over the years. There's only so much guilt that I'm willing to inflict on myself.

Tonight when I came home, Gloria (our nanny from El Salvador... and yes, she's legal and yes, we're paying taxes) told me that when they were in the park today, police cars, fire trucks, and an ambulance blared past them, and she told Miles it was el ambulancio. So then she asked Miles in Spanish, what does the ambulancio do? And he made this high-pitched sound. I was floored, and made her do it two more times to make sure it wasn't just a fluke. He really does seem to know. Of course when I asked him in English later, he just smiled at me, like I didn't know the secret code.

That's it?

After dinner tonight I went to Babies R Us to buy some new toys to distract Miles on the upcoming trip to Minnesota. Anticipating the desperation I would feel on the plane, I bought two soft cloth books with lots of tactile attachments and a toy that has several rotating parts that all revolve around a central point, kind of like a mini solar system for babies. I also got a little pink velour hoodie (when I buy clothes for little girls I almost always end up buying something I would want in xxxxl) for the daughter of a colleague who let me borrow her electric pump so that I wouldn't have to lug mine (actually my sister's) back and forth to work every day. Very nice of her.

I don't need hers anymore because on Monday I started only pumping at night. Pulling into the garage upon arrival, however, I gave myself a squeeze to see how quickly I needed to get going on the evening pumping routine (wash hands, assemble pump, get something to drink, wash hands again, flip on the TV) and to my surprise, there was no milk. So after two days of single-pumping sessions, I'm finished. I watched The Daily Show with my husband and was able to stretch out on the couch and eat a nectarine, and I kept saying, "This is so relaxing!" Still, I'm kind of sad that it's over. Not the pumping, I won't miss that, but the idea of providing milk for my child. After ten months, you really become used to the feeling of satisfaction in nourishing your baby, even if it is incredibly time-consuming and wine-intake-limiting. Plus I got to have breasts for the first time ever, surgery-free.

I think he said "more."

Or was it "all done"? During dinner tonight Miles kept pulling on the fingers of one hand with the other, and I was wondering what new phase we were entering. Was this a way of relieving stress? What was he stressed about? And then I realized, he was doing the sign for more (with each hand, pinch fingers to thumb, then bring hands together) . We've been showing him a portion of a sign language video for four months, and this is the first time I've seen him spontaneously try to communicate. My heart actually skipped a beat when I finally understood him. I made the sign back, heaped lots of praise on him, and fed him another bite of applesauce, which he pushed away with a loud "unhhh!" as in, how much clearer do I have to be, I am not hungry! Hard to tell. But still, trying to express himself with his hands is a big step.

I'm a big fan of teaching babies to sign, if for no reason other than to help toddlers feel less frustrated when trying to tell adults what they want. Assuming of course that the adult understands the sign the baby is trying to make. We've been playing the My Baby Can Talk DVD for about 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Each word is taught by watching an adult and baby each sign the word, then there is footage of toy and animal versions of the word, all set to classical music. It's really not bad, other than the terrible attempt at rapping about shoes. For Miles, it's the only TV he gets to watch so he doesn't know any better.

I need a new hobby

Not sure that this is the best one for me since I have recurring tendonitis in both hands and I already work at a computer during the day and then lug around, toss in the air, and pin down on the changing table a rather large 10-month old baby. But I'm finally* going to stop pumping soon, and I will have a lot of free time on my hands in the evenings.

I haven't paid much attention to blogs but have read them when my husband sends me a link to one that he thinks I would find interesting. He reads them every morning it seems during breakfast, and they're usually written by people he violently disagrees with. Kind of like listening to talk radio just to get riled up.

This blog will be about my family, which consists of said husband Jason and our son Miles. I thought that I would try to make all of the information I've collected about parenting and children's health available to anyone who could use it, and along the way document what Miles is up to. My name is Erin.


* The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that women nurse their babies until they are at least one year of age. I lasted 10 months or so. More about this later.