All is Calm...

For now.

I am sitting here drinking a cup of coffee - a hot cup of coffee! - and enjoying a few minutes of peace. Bug is sleeping. From the little monitor on my desk I can hear the occasional coo or sigh as he drifts in and out of dreamland. Sometimes he snores, but mostly there are long stretches of quiet.

This early morning nap is becoming my favorite part of the day, especially as he's decided to pretty much eschew napping during the rest of the daylight hours.

So Christmas is almost here. Back in August I made a pact with myself to go easy on myself and not set very high expectations of myself at least through to the new year. How could I set any expectations of myself when I had no idea what to expect? Well here we are, we have survived. Many things about being a mom and having a baby went as I expected them to go - you change diapers, you feed the baby, you get spit up on - there are certain constants that you can bank on happening. But everything else is unpredictable until you start to figure one another out.

For example, I know now that if I try to put Bug down for a nap in the middle of the day, he will cry because he'd much rather be surgically re-attached to me, and will holler until I pick him back up again. He's nosy, as someone said, and wants to see what the big people do all day. He likes to sit in his bouncy seat in the middle of the kitchen and watch everything I do. So now the only way I can make dinner in relative peace is to explain every step to him.

"See this buddy? This is a carrot. Car-rot. We peel carrots and put them in our soup. Daddy loves cooked carrots but hates raw ones. I hope you like carrots someday too, because we eat them a lot."

He observes and responds: "Hunnnhhh."

"This is a potato. Po-tay-toe. We never say Po-tah-toe, I don't care what that song says. It's Po-tay-toe buddy. We love potatoes. We eat them a lot too. I'm pretty sure you'll like them, since I don't know too many people who don't. Well, there are the Jains in India who don't eat root vegetables, but that's not exactly the norm, you know?

Bug: "Hooohhh."

"That's right. It is a little odd, I agree. Now this, this is a strainer [holding up a small mesh strainer with a handle]. W use this to strain the liquid from things like canned tomatoes. To-may-toes Can you say to-may-to?"

Bug: "HumMmmmm!"

And that is how we get through the dinner-making process. I do the running commentary to an eager little one-man, wide-blue-eyed audience. It's pretty cool.

We sing too. We sing a lot. We make up our own words to songs to fit the occasion. For example, when on the changing table, the Go-Gos' hit single "We got the beat!" becomes "We got the poops!" We like that one, it's always a crowd-pleaser. Then there's the new single sure to be a big hit in European dance clubs everywhere, "Put on a clean suit!"

Put on a clean suit,
Put on a clean suit,
We made a big mess, now we must re-dress
And put on a clean suit!

And our special nighttime song, sung to the tune of Frere Jacques:

I love bu-ug, I love bu-ug
Yes I do! Yes I do!
Love him in the morning
Love him in the evening
All day through
Night-time too!

So most of the day we keep things interesting, what with all our songs and commentaries. After all, there is so much to see and do, so much that's new. I get the sense sometimes that if he could talk, Bug would say "How can I nap now Mumma? There's so much I need to learn. Let me see and do!" So we see and do things all day. Then when night comes...

Ah, when night comes. :)

Then the little eyelids finally flutter closed against their will. His little head droops and the busy hands still themselves, then sleep comes. Wonderful, beautiful, gorgeous, quiet, heavenly peace.

Sleep in heavenly peace....

Wishing you all a heavenly peace and calm in your hearts and minds this Christmas.
God bless you,
Feeble