Thomas: 9 months

It is so crazy how quickly babies change. Once upon a time we had a tiny, helpless newborn -- a sleeping, crying or pooping bundle. Nine months later we have this adorable little monster who looks around to see if anyone's watching before trying to pull up a vent cover, and is attempting to stand on his own. He's so lucky he's cute because he is always looking for trouble, and I have had to adjust to a certain level of disarray in our household again, as we move things up or out of the way, shut doors, and toss things on the floor that might interest him but won't hurt him. I broke down and got him a walker, thinking it might keep him entertained and out of mischief for a few minutes at a time. It is a monster of a contraption that I can't wait to be rid of, but it does keep him happy for just a few minutes a day. Then he chases me around in it and rams my ankles with the bumpers. Here I thought he might some wheels to zoom around on our hardwood floors, but no, anytime he's moving he's after one of us.

He still has no interest in solid foods, but he's been lengthening the time he can go between nursing sessions, up to three or four hours now. So my tether is a little longer for getting out and leaving him at home. I don't do that a whole lot, but on Saturday I had a hair appointment and went straight to Mass afterward. I was very antsy to get home by the end, but relieved to hear he'd been fine while I was gone.

We wrapped up his ISR lessons last week, and Thomas now has the skill of self-rescue in the water. It gives us peace of mind to have this layer of safety, having a pool in the backyard. 

One thing I've noted this month is that he's getting more animated in expressing himself. He babbles with a lot more consonant sounds than before, he waves, he pumps his arms up and down, and he shakes his head "no." But I don't think he means "no," he just thinks it's fun and likes to see us do it back to him. He also likes to make all kinds of mouth noises at me, lip-smacking, tongue clicking, raspberries, whatever he can come up with. He makes me laugh.

He has a quirk that none of the other babies had, and that is he likes to grab handfuls of our flesh and knead it. It is every bit as unpleasant as it sounds. His free hand roams while nursing, and his little fingers (and nails) dig in wherever they can. He is fond of grabbing areas that are not so fleshy, such as my sternum and collarbone area. It's like an extra challenge for him to get a handful of skin there. He was able to find a skin tag I didn't know I had, and stretch it out. Someone on Instagram says it's a need he has for sensory regulation, or something like that; and she recommends trying to get him to grab a lovey instead, or a shirt, or some kind of fidget. I have had no success getting him to grab my shirt, only limited success with the lovey, and now I'm wondering what kind of fidget would work for a baby who wants to knead?🤔

He takes two naps a day still, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Still no updates on nighttime sleep; it's still varying degrees of cruddy. He wears size 3 diapers and sizes 9 and 12 months in clothes mostly. I got on the scale with him the other day, and he weighed 20 pounds. I can see his top two front teeth just behind the gums.

Old news

The girls and I were walking around downtown one day a couple years ago, I believe we'd done a little shopping, and were going to be headed back to the car. I don't know if anything could have shocked me more than the sight of a local news reporter approaching me to ask if I would comment on something. I believe it was something to do with curfews for bars and restaurants. Although I am for the most part a homebody who does not frequent these places, I most certainly had an opinion. I kind of timidly said, "OK..." But then I thought to myself, My hair's not done. I'm not wearing makeup. I don't like the camera. I'm going to mess up. This is going to be the most embarrassing moment of my life. Abort! Abort! With apologies, I told the reporter I had changed my mind. It was not a big deal, I'm sure she easily found someone else willing to speak their mind. Annie said to me, "I can't believe you even thought about talking to her!" 

Walking back to our car, I was so disappointed in myself for chickening out -- in front of my daughters, no less. It would be one thing if the reporter had asked me my opinion about something I knew nothing of and cared even less. But this was definitely not the case. I had all kinds of things bouncing around my head, but because I was uncomfortable, I didn't want to say anything.  

Right then and there I made a resolution that if I were to be approached by someone from the media asking me for my opinion about something, and I had an opinion worth sharing, then my answer would be yes. But I was pretty sure this would not be happening again -- seriously, I don't leave my house all that much🤣-- and I was happy to put it out of my mind.

But this being a small town, another opportunity did find me, and it was a lot sooner than I would have thought. I took part in a demonstration outside the Board of Education meeting in August of 2021, regarding mask mandates. It was a hot day, and the late afternoon sun was so intense. It was the last place I wanted to be, but I felt compelled to get involved. My daughters go to these schools. I would say I did this for them, but they really didn't care either way about masks. I did it for them anyway, and for the kids who suffered on account of this mandate, but most importantly, I did it to take a stand against tyranny.

The pro- and anti-maskers stared one another down outside the double doors. One of the anti-mask moms, who carried a homemade sign that read "Let them breath [sic],"  was losing her mind at the mostly elderly crowd of pro-maskers, telling them that just because they're afraid to die doesn't mean they need to punish our kids; instead they should "get right with God." She was really fired up and had a lot to say, but for whatever reason the reporter bypassed her and came up to little old me. I froze for a second, and then remembered, I have an opinion worth sharing, so the answer is yes.

I was so nervous, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. For one thing, we weren't live, and I wasn't on the spot to come up with something. I was given time to think about what I would say while she and her crew shot B-roll and did whatever else. I knew I'd better make it short and sweet, because only a few seconds of it would be on the news (even less as it turned out, lol). I told myself, This isn't about you and whether you think you're camera-ready. This is about a viewpoint you have that is representative of a lot of others. It's going to be just a few seconds and will be seen by hardly anyone, so get over yourself.

While I struggled to think of how I wanted to boil down my thoughts on this matter, a woman strode past us toward the double doors, making this declaration as she went: "It's time to stop sacrificing the welfare of children in order to protect adults." I called, "Can I steal that?" She said, "Certainly." I spent the next 45 minutes or so chatting with the parents around me and mentally rehearsing this: "It's time to stop sacrificing the welfare of children in order to protect adults, most of whom are vaccinated anyway." I think a better way to say it would have been, "Wear a mask if it makes you feel safe, but don't force my kids to wear one." But I think the people who attended the meeting had me covered there; they said all that and more.

When the moment came I only stumbled a little. I felt profoundly relieved, and happy that I had redeemed myself and was setting a better example for my kids. When the story and video came out, I shared it with my family right away, but for some reason held back from sharing it here. Maybe I was still a little embarrassed by the whole thing. I don't know why it's been on my mind lately, but I think it deserves a place on the old blog.