Vaccines

Brava, Dooce.

She summed up my own feelings on the issue pretty well.

Words, Words, Words

Recently added to the Gabby Lexicon:



Turtle

Shirt

Toe (meaning "tofu")

Eyes

Nose

Hi

Bye

Oh, boy! (Thanks, Jimmy)

Okay

And then there's a whole bunch of stuff that she says, entire sentences, nay, paragraphs, that we are simply not astute enough to understand. I predict there will be a lot of that in our future.

You Know You're A Mom When

You know you're a mom when your toddler excitedly runs up to you to hand you something, and that something turns out to be a booger, and you say, "Thank you, sweetheart" and absentmindedly stick it in your pocket (along with the sock you found wedged into the car seat, the banana chip that you pried off the floor, and something that may once have been a blueberry).

You know you're a mom when all manner of nasty bodily fluids no longer gross you out.

You know you're a mom when you spend more time thinking about what you're going to put in your daughter's Easter basket than about the project you're supposed to have finished by Friday.

You know you're a mom when you can sing 642 verses of "The Wheels On The Bus" from memory.

You know you're a mom when the sight of your little one running toward you with her arms outstretched moves you to tears.

The World According To Gabby

Ah, language. What a fun, fun game.

In Gabby's lexicon:

• All food is "cheese."
• All animals, except for rhinos, turtles, and fish, are "kitty-cats," and all kitty-cats say "hoo-hoo."
• Turtles are sometimes turtles. At other times they are kitty-cats.
• Fish are "cheese."
• We're not sure what rhinos are called, but they are definitely NOT kitty-cats.
• Anything hanging from a ceiling is "fish."

Got that?

Gabby also indicates, "I am bored. Go over there and find something with which to amuse me" by gesturing with one hand and uttering a single syllable, which used to be "that" but is now usually "ba" or sometimes "shoe."

I am assuming our little prodigy will have this all worked out by the time she starts kindergarten, lest she, like the child in the old Steve Martin routine, raise her hand and ask the teacher for permission to go mambo dogface in the banana patch.

Reflections On A Momentous Day

Tuesday was the kind of day that simply could not be spent in solitude. Every fiber of my being yearned to be in a public place, in as large a crowd as possible, all witnessing and celebrating together the dawn of a new era in America. So the three of us got up early, hopped on a bus, and headed down to Civic Center, where we watched the inauguration on a jumbotron out in the sunshine with a few hundred friends and fellow citizens.

I admit I had been feeling a little queasy about all the hype and hero worship, mostly because I feared our national expectations getting out of control. As far as I have been able to determine, Barack Obama is not, and has never claimed to be, capable of healing the sick (although if he can get the economy back on its feet, that would count as a miracle), raising the dead (with the possible exception of our international reputation), or walking on water (ah -- I got nothin').

But once we got out there in that crowd, I started tearing up and couldn't stop crying for the next two hours. I was struck, not just by the change taking place in Washington, but by the change taking place in ourselves.

Now, this is a town that is, to put it mildly, rather fond of protests. Everybody's got a cause. But on Tuesday morning, just for that one day, there were no "Stop the slaughter in Gaza" signs in the crowd, no would-be freers of Mumia, no anti-brown apple moth spray faction. For a brief moment, we weren't anti- anything. We were resoundingly and earnestly pro. Pro-democratic process. Pro-Obama, certainly. Pro-peace, pro-diplomacy, pro-family, pro-science, pro-equality. And dare I say it? Pro-American.

New Stuff

So, Gabby's walking now. She took her first few independent steps on her birthday (despite the knock on the noggin), and a week and a half later she just started cruising across the floor. See ya, mom! I've got stuff to do, and I have to bring these two toys along with me!

She seems rather pleased with herself, and rightly so.

She sailed through her 1-year vaccinations, and I breathed a little sigh of relief knowing she's protected. Given how many people are choosing not to have their children vaccinated these days, the possibility of a measles outbreak was kind of a scary thought. I know it's not 100% effective, but it's a heck of a lot better than no protection at all.

Unfortunately, my little foodie-in-training has become an extremely picky eater. What kid doesn't like grilled cheese, for pete's sake? Or pasta? She won't eat meat or grilled veggies or quesadillas or pizza or mush of any kind. She turns up her nose at rice and lentils, scoffs at hummus, and has even rejected bread. She nibbles on fruit and crackers and the occasional pancake. Fortunately, one can sneak all manner of pureed vegetables into pancakes, and if I smear enough peanut butter on her pears some of it actually lands in her instead of just on her. It wouldn't be so bad if she were a chubby baby, but she's teeny tiny - off the bottom of the weight charts.

Well, I can't force her to eat, and if she takes after my side of the family, this may be the only time in her life she's underweight, so I'm just not going to worry about it too much. I have faith that one day she will bite into a lovely ripe epoisse with a little fig jam and say, "Oh, mom! I had no idea!"

A Trip To The Library

A dear friend used to say that we all have our bag of rocks to carry. Then she realized that the bag is not full of rocks -- it's full of books.

Life does seem to teach us the same lessons over and over again. I don't know about anyone else, but I always seem to need the refresher course.

My big lesson this week was gratitude. On the morning of Gabby's birthday, I was playing with her in the house in Santa Fe that we were sharing with Atomic's family. I went to hike her up on my shoulder, and all of a sudden I was grasping at air. Then came the sickening thud as she flopped face first onto the floor. She screamed and screamed, unable to be comforted by either of us in any way. I held her and rocked her, and then she started to get sleepy. I got even more worried and called the doctor. While I was on hold, she screamed some more and then threw up. We rushed to the emergency room, in a snowstorm. We were terrified.

By the time we got to the hospital, she was fine. She'd taken a nap, and was cheerfully waving at the nurses and doctors in the ER. The doctor advised us against a CT scan and told us to watch her carefully over the course of the day. She developed a heck of a shiner on her left eye, but that was about it.

Even now, a week later, I lose my breath and get a horrible knot in my stomach when I think about it. And then I am flooded with enormous gratitude and humility. The universe has seen fit to entrust us with this precious child. We'd better not fuck it up.

Now, as for the other books in my bag this week, well, it's not exactly the New York Times best seller list. Some, ahem, highlights:

Flights of Fancy: How To Lower Your Expectations When Traveling Coach

The Homicide-Free Family Vacation

Simple Holiday Meals For Fourteen Picky Eaters

Strange Rashes

How To Survive Your Inlaws (yes, this one is real, and it actually looks kinda good)

The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter


As I said, not exactly beach reading, but all worthy lessons which I am certain to forget by the next time I need them.

Here's wishing all of you love, peace, happiness, prosperity, and gentleness in 2009.