We're very lucky.
Jack is the sort of child
we all assume we'll have
when we decide to have children,
and the sort of child
less experienced parents
congratulate themselves for.January and February 2004
March and April 2004
May and June 2004
July and August 2004
September and October 2004
November and December 2004
Blogs we read:
Wednesday, Jul. 14, 2004 - (Mamma)
The Payoff
Jack's current favorite!
Mommy Loves Her Baby/Daddy Loves His Baby
by Tara Jaye Morrow
Well, last night, I finally got "the payoff".
"What, pray tell, is the payoff" you ask.
Well, for 15 months, since just before Jack was born, I have been attended La Leche League meetings, playgroups, and assorted other "child oriented" groups several times a month.
You see, I know that Jack is going to be -- effectively -- an only child. (More about Jack's family another time.)Since Rod and I both grew up in large families (I have five brothers. Rod has five brothers and three sisters.) it seems important to us that Jack grow up with other children. Thus the busy schedule of play groups and such.
Now mind you, all of the other Mommies are lovely ladies and I do enjoy their company. But truth be told, we have relatively little in common other than our babies and, to a degree, our child raising philosophies. And that is getting more evident as my mind clears from the hormonal fog of the last two years -- and many of them are making plans for the next baby. (They are generally between 15 and 25 years my junior, after all.)
So, in spite of the fact that I am often very tired by the time meeting time comes, Jack and I usually trek off to play.
And last night the pay off came!
Usually it has taken Jack a long time to warm up to the hoards of children and he has mostly sat in my lap and watched. But last night when we arrived at the gathering, Jack looked around at all the other children, grinned, and started squirming to get out of my arms! He crawled off to play and he played happily for two hours, cruising by occasionally to nurse or to beg blueberries and cheese from my plate. He played alongside the other children -- babies of 14 months rarely interact with th children they are "playing with" -- and learned quite a lot about how to play with a fascinating variety of unfamiliar toys!
He was especially happy to see his buddy Ethan! Ethan is a month older than Jack and has been a constant in Jacks's life -- he is the only child so far with whom Jack has had a "private play date".
This is what I was hoping for! By exposing Jack the the same group of children over and over from birth, he is learning more about playing with other children and, I hope, learning some of the same social skills that he might get with siblings.
The only difference is that so far I don't think any of the children in this group have gotten really aggressive with each other. There has been the occasional accidental "bonk", but no one clobbering another child intentionally.
But that's OK, that is not the experience of siblings that we most wanted for Jack anyway.
In the News
Household dust may protect babies from eczema So ... play with the baby and stop wasting your time cleaning!
Kids who take vitamins more likely to have asthma, food allergies Except breastfed children -- breastfed any at all!
Study Suggests Link Between TV Watching by Infants, Toddlers to Later ADHD
