Seven Quick Takes

I

No baby yet. 

II 

I realize, intellectually, that it's completely illogical of me to complain or be unhappy about not having had this baby yet, given that I'm only 38 weeks. But after all of the concern about pre-term labor, and the past two weeks of prodromal labor, and the fact that "everyone knows" that subsequent babies come earlier/faster... I have been. We were focused for so long—we had to be—on the fact that baby just had to stay put "until 37 weeks," that it hadn't really occurred to me that this baby might not be here by now, let alone that she might stay put longer than Little Bear did. And so now I'm unreasonably frustrated.

III

Can't write off St Erasmus as an intercessor, though; I may not have gone into labor yet, but I was asking his intercession for both myself and a friend, and she had her baby the following day. Maybe my prayers for myself were answered, too, and the answer was "Stop complaining and practice being patient, because you're going to need all the patience you can get." Which is a fact, and I should do that.

IV

Having been focused on a possible early arrival does have one benefit: everything is ready for whenever Kit does decide it's show time. With Little Bear, I kind of haphazardly stuck some things into a bag in the half hour between calling my midwife to explain that I didn't think I was in labor but my husband did, and leaving for the hospital; we wound up having to stay several days, and there were some frustrated phone conversations as I tried to remember and explain to Matt where in my dresser the articles of clothing I'd forgotten were. And I'm pretty sure none of the clothes I'd grabbed for Little Bear actually fit him, because he was tiny, and I didn't know there was a difference between "newborn" clothes and "0-3 mo" clothes.

This time, there's a bag for Little Bear (for Grandma's house) and a bag for Kit & I ready in the car just in case one of these bouts of prodromal labor stretches longer than an hour and a half and the midwives want me to come in. (It does still need a hairbrush and toothbrush, and I can 89% guarantee that I'm going to forget both.) The baby's car seat is in the car, although somehow there's a nerf disc wedged in the base that should really be taken out before the seat gets buckled in... Clothes, blankets, diapers; the ring sling just arrived in the mail, so I'm pretty sure everything is ready.

(So you can come any time now, little one... :-)

V

Okay, I'm sorry; just because the baby is occupying a huge percentage of my thoughts these days, I'm sure not everyone is as interested! Non-baby-related takes... Ah. So, that nerf gun disc: my sister (sophomore in college) was over last week helping me move some heavy things, and she found a nerf gun in the top of Little Bear's closet that we'd completely forgotten about. She showed him how it worked, and it was immediately his favorite toy; it took until Wednesday for him to lose all three discs, but up until then he gleefully spent hours reloading and shooting it at walls, doors, the ceiling, and a target Matt set up for him.

VI

I managed to actually put real food on the table for supper every day this week. I know; I'm shocked too! Sweet'n'sour meatballs with carrots and bell peppers on Sunday, chicken enchiladas and corn on Monday, (celebrated my brother's birthday at my parents' house Tuesday), chicken pot pie on Wednesday, caribou/broccoli stir fry on Thursday, and tuna noodle casserole with peas tonight. Tomorrow the schedule says grilled pork chops, but I don't think we have enough charcoal, so we'll either have to stop at the hardware store or be creative. 

It seems like a reasonable goal for next week to continue that streak; I planned this week's menu last Saturday, instead of on Sunday like I usually do, so maybe I'll try doing next week's menu tomorrow and see if that somehow helps.

VII

We've been trying to be more mindful of "logical/natural consequences" with Little Bear recently, allowing him to see that X thing (which he doesn't like) happens when he does Y thing (which we've told him not to). So far we've had several "puddle of sobbing child" moments when he realizes that yes, I really am going to let him walk across the garage floor in his socks since he chose to take his boots off in the car... He's clearly learning, though, because it isn't happening nearly as often. I like the logical nature of the method; rather than assigning an arbitrary, unrelated punishment to an action we don't want him to persist in, it's teaching him that we make rules for his own good.

Have a good weekend! For more quick takes, head on over to This Ain't The Lyceum.