Wednesday, April 11, 2007

4/11/07 Mom rejoins the world

The clouds have parted! I'm human again!

The migraine is down to a dull roar. What a difference, moving through the day without a crushing headache. While this one was "only" four days, it was very intense. How does it know enough to last for days? Why can't whatever makes it finally go away kick in earlier? Someone could make a fortune finding the answer to that.

I was thinking last night, with my last few remaining brain cells, about a conversation with a friend in college about headaches. He trumpeted that he never took aspirin or Advil or anything on the occasions he got headaches. "No, I just stick it out," he said, with a hint of disdain. Uh-huh. Yeah. Sure. Men are just soooooo tough when it comes to not feeling well. Clearly he'd never had a severe headache. Migraines are nothing like "normal" headaches, like you get with a cold.

Gabriel missed school today, due to his eye. I took him to the pediatrician, and she really had little to say: keep treating it with the drops. It wasn't goopy today, but still very very swollen. I really hope it's better tomorrow; it's been a serious effort today keeping him off Katrina. I feel terrible yelling at him for kissing her!

I had a nice morning alone with Gabriel though. How different life would be with just one kid! I try not to think about how very, very much easier it would be.

Today I heard Gabriel say, "Hey, that box says jur-bear!" and after a little looking around, found that he was referring to "Gerber" on a box of baby cereal. A fine attempt at sounding out a word, especially considering we've really never sat down and showed him how to do it.

Gerber? Shame on me. I bought the box impulsively a few weeks ago. It's not whole grain, and instead is processed down to fragile transparent little flakes bearing no resemblance to hearty oatmeal. There's no reason for this. I need to get some whole-grain cereal, or better yet, grain that I make into cereal myself. Every bite should count. This is why I insist on high-quality cheesecake.

Katrina...amazing nap day! She napped for over 3 hours at Tonya's this morning! She didn't have time to eat before I picked her up, and she was fine. That does it -- I know she can nap, and I know she can go long periods without eating. I'm going to kick off a sleep-through-night campaign soon. Anyway, she also took a 2-hour afternoon nap. Whoopee! She was in a great mood all day.

(Don't look too closely at the photo, or you'll see that her bib says "Sweet baby boy." Most of her bibs were inherited from a boy!)

When we got home from Tonya's, she chowed down three bowls of food! A "bowl" for her is very small of course, but call it a quantity for which most mothers would be satisfied with a 6-month-old eating for a meal. She is eating like a champ. Poor thing...her system is facing a serious adjustment to the new food though. Please, let's hope she takes after Gabriel on this one, and not her chronically, miserably stopped-up younger big brother.

Sitting is going really well too! I still don't dare leave her, but as long as she has some back support to fall back on, she can sit up for minutes now.

Skating....I really want to do this again, but the logistics seem daunting. Maybe when Katrina is older? But why would that be easier? She's trivial to put to bed now, as she doesn't demand a book, or putz around putting pajamas on or refuse to brush teeth or run around naked shrieking "WEE-WEE! WEE-WEE!" or any countless number (is that an oxymoron?) of infractions some UN-NAMED perpetrators around here do.

Funny kid comment of the day: Julian, while struggling to pull his pants down for pre-dinner pee: "I'm having man problems."

How not to calm kids down at the end of the day: watch the famous song "Make 'em Laugh", sung and danced by Donald O'Connor in Singin' In The Rain. The boys were ALL OVER THE PLACE afterward, jumping up and down on the couch, shouting "Make 'em Laugh!" and being completely out of control. (But also, don't miss the dance cameo by Cyd Charisse in the weirdo fantasy sequence "Broadway Melody" toward the end of the movie, in the green flapper outfit. Oh my, it doesn't get any better than that, she is absolutely amazing.)

In a futile attempt to calm the boys down, I played a game in which I told them NO KISSES FOR MOM! Then I found myself smothered in kisses from giggling little boys, and I let them "attack" me as I lay on the ground like a cockroach on its back, crying helplessly, "No more kisses!!!" and they continued to pelt me with their little lips, laughing uncontrollably. Ah, the moments every Mom lives for. (Suckers!)

A little video of Katrina "relaxing" a bouncer. This is the way she was in-utero, folks! She has calm moments now, especially sitting up, but she still can be awfully wiggly.


I thought of something today, as I hastily cleaned up oatmeal splatters with my fingertips: Motherhood is a sure-fire cure for perfectionism.

4/11/07

No comments: