Blatherings of Boredom

No, not in the drunk tank.

We started our celebrating on Solstice Eve, of course, but we observe a variety of traditions. Tonight will be an exchange of ornaments for our tree and packing to leave for Grandma's house tomorrow. Bring on the ritual DOING OF ALL THE LAUNDRY.

I have already had the unenviable experience of folding the microfiber dusting rags with my extremely dry and eczema-covered hands. I'll be in the corner cringing for the rest of the night.

I suspect Aenea has shared her cold with me. I really hope not. I'm going to put fresh sheets on the bed with the hope that this is just a bad attack of the dust mites.

I hope those of you who celebrate this time of year are having a lovely time. Those who don't, carry on as usual.

I got an hour in at the garden today. It seems to be the limit of the kids together. I don't know how they can antagonize each other when one of them is a year old and under 15 lbs, but she gives as good as she gets. Ronan, of course, is incapable of removing himself from the situation and prefers to be a martyr.

I managed to locate my shiso (purple perilla) volunteers and cleared space around them.

And I think I have explodingcat's blessing to go back out to the garden and work some more sans children. RIght now. Rather, as soon as I disconnect from the magical milking machine.

I take the kids out often, but we usually stick to parks. I've been avoiding the bus during flu/rsv/cold season, but today seemed like a nice day and Ronan's had a hankering for gelato for weeks.

It also seemed like a b/w kind of day for the camera.


Aenea was on my back for the first part of our outing. She fell asleep, so I left her back there, though she tipped back right as I was turning at one point and I whacked her head into a doorjamb. Oops. I took her down to make sure she was okay. It wasn't a hard whack (she was in a fleece hat and two layers of hood), but she didn't make a peep and stayed asleep, so I was a bit more worried than I'd usually be. She was fine--not hurt and desperately in need of that nap. I let her nap in arms and put her on my front when we left.

Ronan has developed an affinity for clip-on ties. He wears them with any sort of shirt, but he decided he needed a collared shirt today and willingly donned a polo. It's not his normal style, but is utterly adorable.

We wandered into a couple shops, then headed down to the bus stop to wait for the number 8. Ended up at Shenandoah Joe for my coffee. Ronan had a shy smile standoff with a friend's child--they'll end up making friendly one of these days.

When children are very small--babies and toddlers--they often have growth spurts. Some of these are physical. They are fussy and eat non-stop for a day or three (nights, too), then start sleeping a bit more (the younger they are, that is) and they are suddenly not fitting in 3mo clothing or that hat that fit last week is too small.

Sometimes these spurts are developmental. Super fussy (or just awake and hungry) nights and days, then the kid rolls over. Or crawls. Or starts using words. Or starts using sentences. Knows colors. Jumps on one foot.

So, my four year old son had a period last week where he was waking up at night and was just miserable.

Now he's building even more complex train layouts (multiple switches and loops) and really complex buildings out of blocks and cardboard.

We didn't realize these developmental spurts would continue like this. *grins*

The amount of carseat misuse I see is really astounding.

For starters, RTFM. Yes, carseats some with manuals! That manual will sell you how to install and use the seat. It will tell you how to find the seat's expiration day/month/year. Yes, seats and their components expire. Crash tests with expired seats are rather frightening to watch. The manual will tell you to never use any aftermarket devices like custom covers, the mighty tite, and other crap. It will tell you to not wash the harness or submerge it in liquid--ever. It will tell you how to properly tighten and adjust the harness, how to position the chest clip (hint, it's *not* a belly clip). Heck, it'll even tell you the minimums and maximums for using a seat in a particular way. Don't buy a used seat if you don't know its history. Don't use a seat which has been in a car crash, unless that seat belongs to one of the two-three brands which follow slightly different criteria.

Now, remember--state laws don't always take the laws of physics into consideration. Keep your little ones rear facing for as long as possible--a minimum of two years, but 3-4 is not unreasonable. Look into cervical spine ossification and internal decapitation if you don't believe me. Those bigger/older kids? Keep the harness snug so that they don't get ejected from their seat in the event of an accident/incident. Keep them harnessed until they can reliably sit totally properly (and that's more than just "hey, look, it buckled!) for all trips, then you move to a booster. And once they pass the five step test, you can consider the seatbelt alone.

This is really fucking simplistic, but I'm sick of seeing kids endangered because their mother or grandfather or aunt or babysitter is too clueless/busy/overcome with brain bats to sit down and read a manual and then use the seat properly every time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sssIsceKd6 (Norwegian video, they don't use the chest clip/precrash positioner over there and the harness is designed a bit differently, but the laws of physics still apply)

http://www.thecarseatlady.com/car_seats/forward-facing_seats.html

My son turned four last Thursday. He nursed at some point last week, so I'm totally claiming the fourth ribbon. ;)



At two, he nursed like a newborn more so than he actually did as a newborn. At three he was nursing a couple-few times a day but had pretty much self-nightweaned between 32-34mo (and started STTN, still in our family bed).

At four, he nurses a couple times a month. He randomly informs me that he still nurses, even if he doesn't ask to nurse right then. I can generally count on a nursing session if he's seen me holding someone else's baby for an extended period that day.

Sessions are very short for the most part, though sometimes last a few minutes. He tells me there's still milk and I believe him. He's never been one to draw comparisons between breastmilk and other foods. It just is and it's good.

I don't offer, but I don't refuse, either. I try to appreciate and remember each session. I look at them fondly now, mostly because they happen less frequently and I know that soon he'll just be done and neither one of us will have realized it happened.

He stopped wanting to nurse when injured sometime after he turned three. I recall nursing him after a really nasty wasp encounter last spring, but I'm not sure we've had another injury comfort session since then.

I will still nurse him in public, but he hasn't really asked in months. His session last week was at our community garden plot, but nobody else was around, so that barely counts as NIP. One of our pictures was included in PhD in Parenting's "Covering up is a feminist issue" video. He was three and we were nursing alongside a busy trail in the Smokies.

CLW has definitely been a lovely process for us.

Silliness.

Ronan is playing space ships. We're on a space ship. Captain Whiskey is in charge of switches, but Ronan is the pilot.

He asked me to check the space rails. I told him there was a space bat. He didn't seem particularly perturbed, so I told him it was going to eat us.

"Oh, no. I have the door locked."

"But, but, but--they eat metal!"

"Yes, but their teeth are too tiny to do any damage. This is a very advanced spaceship."

Well, darn. There went my couch space thriller.