Trish’s Blog

I’ve been enjoying my day even though it’s raining and thundering outside. Josh is working from home, so the kids aren’t doped out on video games (they have to wait until after 5pm to play when he’s working here). They come up with some fun things to do when they remember that they have a life. Sarah has inherited the reading gene from me so she’s reading every waking moment unless she’s helping me with Zoe. I don’t think I could survive four kids without her. She knows how to burp baby, how to rock her to sleep, and how not to drop her instead of the wii controller. She’ll choose Zoe every time. The boys…? Not so sure about them. They love her, but if they’re trying to open a new world she might be left to eat carpet.

Zoe and I have spent a lot of time in the bed reading today. Well, she nurses and I read guilt-free because what else is there to do when you’ve got a little one “hooked up” to use Susie’s term. The difference today from any other day is that even after she falls asleep and is unhooked, I continue reading instead of getting up to get some work done. My work deadline was yesterday.

Another unsung blessing of breast feeding a baby is having a book under your pillow where it will stay unmolested until next feeding time. Anyone with kids will understand how this blessing so soon disappears. When there are kids in the house if you leave something on the table, you may not find it again. Or it will be on the floor, or in the boys’ toy box or closet, or shoved in the dishwasher. Having your stuff untouched is equal to locking it in a safe somewhere behind the clothes in your closet which no one ever does because where would you put the key or the combination? And who can afford a safe big enough for the whole house? I’m either hiding something I don’t want touched or losing my mind when I go back to get an item to find it gone or moved. Even a little bit… I go nuts. You could say it’s one of my pet peeves.

Zoe’s object permanence has not kicked in yet, so while she would love to launch herself face first towards my book to taste the pages, once it’s under the pillow it no longer exists. It will be a few more months before I have to give up this little blessing.

Today she woke up to find me still in bed with her and smiled with her whole body. I kept reading while she rolled around and tasted various parts of her blanket and the sheets. She likes to shove her whole face into the blanket while walking her feet so that her bottom is in the air. It makes me think that she is really trying to taste the difference between the white and red colors. When she inevitably needs to breathe, she will pick up her head and watch her fingers open and close trying to pick up the red hearts on her blanket. I laughed at something I read and she looked at me and started laughing, too. It was so cute, I lowered my book to smile and kiss her. Her eyes followed the book and I could see the wheels turning in her head about how she was going to get her chops on that. Then I covered the book with the pillow and she blinked as if recovering from a trance. Then she turned and smiled at me and we played together. Book? What book? Even though object permanence is considered a huge step in the cognitive development of a child, I’ll be glad for every day that the pillow magically erases an object’s existence.

Here she is doing her sitting practice.
Incidentally, while I was writing this post, Sarah walked in with Zoe asleep in her arms. I LOVE my girls!

Posted on July 24th, 2008 by trish
Filed under: Baby