Shook Free

I am still TV free for the most part and surviving. It has felt great to sit in my craft room and get down to work. I have thought about turning on the television but then decided that the time I would waste looking for something to watch wasn't worth it. I have been listening to This American Life on line while I work away. I am disappointed that my public radio station no longer carries this show. At least I can still binge on it on line. D is probably so tired of hearing about stories that I have heard on TAL for the last week. It is almost like reading blogs, trying to explain a story told by someone who you don't really know but yet some how fits into your life.
I have set aside the runner for my MIL for the time being. I am just not liking the results and need a little time apart from it to decide how to fix it. Instead I have been working on a soft doll house for my niece. Her birthday is Friday and we will be celebrating with her this weekend. I am so excited to work on this that I could not sleep last night. My mind just kept churning with ideas and steps that I have to be sure not to forget. I currently have the garden and the living room done. The kitchen and bedroom are waiting for furniture and then the whole thing needs to be put together. I am loving the process and hope to make a few to throw together a shop on etsy.
The Pickle is making leaps and bounds by the day. He has learned to sign "more" and does it all the time. I think that he may think it means food. D was changing his diaper at 6:30 am yesterday and he was signing more. He has discovered that he can climb the stairs so the blockade has moved. He was so fussy and tired yesterday that I have a feeling we are about ready for a developmental leap of some kind. I can't wait to see!

TV Free

My goal this weekend was to have two TV free days. I had visions of hours spent sewing and crafting and making all sorts of little things, I thought I would spend some time knitting and reading. I have no idea where I thought the pickle would be while I did these things! I did have a successful TV free weekend, and spent most of it playing on the floor. When the pickle went down for a nap I just could not get myself motivated to head up to my craft room. I was thinking that the sewing machine might cause him to take less than his hour and a half hour naps. So instead I read a bit, did the crossword and thought about how I wish I could knit and read at the same time. We did run some errands, stopped by the library and went to JoAnn's for some fabric for a runner for D's mom for her birthday. I did get the fabric washed, but not ironed. I am planning on expanding my TV free weekend into a TV free week and seeing what I can accomplish.

I like to blame my obsession for TV on my mother. When I was a kid we were limited to 2 hours of TV a day. Which as an adult I think is a good thing. But whenever discussions of TV shows that were on when we were kids come up I am usually at a loss. We didn't watch the Brady Bunch, I never saw those claymation Christmas movies. Now I turn on the TV just to see if there is something on that I might be interested in. I spend way to much time just looking for something that I might as well watch. To head this off at the pass, I have gone through and scheduled the DVR to record anything that might be interesting to me. This way I don't need to turn it on "just in case".

So my plans for my TV free week: Monday: Iron the fabric for the runner and start cutting the pieces. I am doing a mix of log cabin and twisted stars.
Tuesday: Sew log cabin squares together (12 6 inch blocks needed)
Wednesday: Sew twisted Stars blocks together (3 12 inch blocks), this day will be a break from TV free in order to watch Lost and Project Runway (the BEST show on TV right now.)
Thursday: finish any blocks not completed and sew top together.
Friday: Layer, and quilt
Saturday: Sew on the binding.

Erin, Garth and Seth headed back to South Africa last week. We did see them before they left again. Erin seemed more relaxed about Seth. Since being here the last 3 weeks he has become a much more active baby. She was still doing the high chair manners, but seemed less overt about it. We talked about her forcing Seth to crawl and it seems that a physical therapist that she knows in SA told her that babies who didn't crawl had problems doing math later in life. After she discussed this with her cousin, who is also a physical therapist and told her that she had never heard of such a thing, she decided that she would stop pushing him. I wonder if she can at this point. It was interesting to talk to Garth about Seth. It is clear that Erin was trying to present a picture to everyone here that was not exactly what was going on. She had discussed several times how Seth slept through the night. Upon talking with Garth he mentioned how he got up every night at 2:30 and fed Seth a bottle. And while we were there or they were at our house, Seth did not sleep through the night. I think that Erin had visions of what a good mother should look like, and these included a baby who slept through the night or who was crawling at 6 months. I will be sad that we won't see Seth for probably another year. There is talk of them moving back to the states, but I think that Garth will continue to come up with reasons that they should stay in SA.

Biting my tongue

The pickle is lucky enough to have 2 cousins who are 6 months younger than him. One being my middle brothers boy and they other being D's sisters boy. D's sister lives in South Africa and has come over to the states for a visit bringing her son Seth with her, followed by her husband a few days later. D's sister and I have gotten along very well in the past as long as we don't discuss politics or religion. This past weekend I have come to realize that parenting is on this list as well. The problem is I'm just not sure that I can or should keep my mouth shut. When Erin and Seth came to our house for a visit she asked if she could feed him in the high chair. Of course! When she put him in the chair she explained that she was teaching him "high chair manners." I hadn't heard of such a thing. High chair manners apparently state that your 6 month old child should sit with their hands on the high chair tray and not lift them. If they reach for the spoon you push their hands back down and say 'Where do our hands go?" I was slightly appalled at this thinking of how it is sort of a developmental step for babies to reach for things and to begin picking things up. Later in the evening D was holding Seth and Seth was holding D's thumb and had a little bit of the webbing between D's thumb and pointer finger between his thumb and pointer. Erin then scolded "Sethy" "Don't pinch! We don't pinch Sethy!" while trying to pry his had off of D's thumb. D was telling her that he wasn't pinching him and that it was fine. She told D that "No, he was pinching and he doesn't need to pinch."

We then went to visit them at D's parents house last weekend. D set the pickle on the floor next to Seth and handed him a toy. Seth reached for the toy and Erin pushed his hand away and said "Don't grab Sethy." D told her not to worry about it, that it wasn't personal, just what babies do. Erin replied "Well, he is being grabby and he doesn't need to be grabby." Later in the day we were shown how she is trying to teach Seth how to crawl, by placing him on his belly and moving his hands and knees for him, all the while Seth was crying.

I feel so bad for little Seth, I'm just not sure if something should be said to Erin, and if so what do you say? I feel that Seth is not allowed to be the baby that he is, and is not being allowed to explore the world or find out how things work. I did make a comment while she was out of the room to her parents and it was clear that they thought the high chair manners was a bit much, and possibly detrimental toward teaching him to feed himself, but if they aren't going to say anything should someone else? I have tried to start parenting discussions with her but it is very clear that she has no interest in any way but her own. I feel that if I mentioned something to her it would only push her away. D has stated that he finds the behavior to not ring right for him either, so maybe the best thing would be for him to start a discussion with her. I just feel bad for Seth.

The Mole

D and I were attending a party a few weeks ago and had the chance to meet some new people. When the discussion of what we do arises D LOVES to talk about his job. He works for an insurance company in property claims and spent some time down south and has tales of what he saw while there, or other stories about the destruction of property. I on the other hand, dread telling people what I do. Often times the first reaction people have upon hearing that I'm an Epidemiologist is that they want to show me a mole. Seriously. In the past 5 years of working for the state health department I have seen more than my fare share of moles. After saying my profession I know that the cycle will proceed like this: Their face will brighten and say "Oh really? Would you look at this? What do you think this mole is?" as they lift their shirt or roll up their sleeve. I then watch their faces fall as I tell them that I'm not a dermatologist, and the while epidemiology starts a lot like epidermis it has nothing to do with skin, and I have no idea what is going on with that mole of theirs and could they please put it away. The next question is what do I do as an epidemiologist, I then say that I'm an infectious disease epidemiologist and I track the prevalence of reportable infectious diseases in the state. This usually leads to a discussion of restaurants for some reason and where there have been outbreaks of disease. So, at this party I decided that I would circumvent this whole like of discussion and the first mole I saw I told him I was pretty sure it was cancer.

As an aside the other downside to this profession is the inability to hang up on a telephone survey. D has no problem telling them that he is not interested in their survey, I on the other hand think of the surveys I might need done in the future and do not want to rock the survey Karma boat therefore putting me on every call list for any survey being done. I answer questions about kitchen faucets, disposable diapers, toothpaste, you name it, I'll answer your survey on it. When we were kids my grandparents used to send us surveys in the mail with different types of Little Debbies. It was so much fun doing a taste test and then filling out the survey, I wish I'd get a survey about a Little Debbie every now and then!

There are Worse Things in Life

The Pickle and I have had a few hard nights since D has been out of town. Sunday night he was up at 12:45 and didn't fall asleep again until 3:00 am. We went through several rounds of letting him cry in his crib, going in to sooth him and then leave again. I was pretty frustrated at 3, when he finally fell asleep.

Last night I thought we were in for the same thing, after going to sleep at 7:45 he woke up again at 8:15 and was ready to play. I took him and sat in the rocking chair and was feeling really frustrated at not having a little time to myself for the evening. As I sat I started to think about where I was last year, 7 months pregnant, feeling him move around inside me, excited to meet my baby. I sat and rocked and he started to close his eyes and drift off. I could smell his sweet baby smell and listen to his steady breathing I decided to let go of my frustration and enjoy the moment. I know that soon he will not stand for being cuddled close and will be to old for smothering of kisses and cuddles. We sat and rocked for almost an hour until I put him back in the crib. The mental shift from wanting to put him in his crib and drive away, to enjoying the moments of him wanting to cuddle with me and knowing that they won't last forever really helped get through a frustrating moment.

Pictures as promised

Christmas has come and gone, twice. We had a great holiday, the Pickle didn't get to may battery operated toys thank goodness! He didn't really know what was going on, but had a great time seeing the family, I think.

I finally pulled the pictures off the camera. Here is the king size quilt, which I will probably never do again. At least not for someone else. By the time it was done, I pretty much hated it. But it turned out nice and the woman who ordered it liked it. I also finished a baby quilt for another woman at work. I enjoyed working on it. It took me 1 week from start to finish, the little boy who got it for Christmas really liked it.

The Pickle and I are a one parent house hold for the next four days. D decided to go to the bowl game in Tempe Arizona and flew out this morning. The pickle has been a needy little baby since he left this morning. We have decided to let him cry for about 5 min when trying to get him down. Last night he cried himself to sleep and again this morning. It is really hard on me. I think I might be reaping the effects of it today with a little guy who need to be held a lot more than usual. We will see how it goes.