it's hard work! how does he do it? or rather, why, when there's sippy cups and poptop bottles aplenty...
i'm just testing it out.... i got dan some BPA-free bottles at the baby expo (where strangely there were no babies for sale at any price) for his grandma days, but mum says it was leaky and refused to use it...
i think the valve was just loose, cos it seems fine now. after i sent the company an angry email and everything.. oops.
***
i've become an irate customer! i do that quite often now.. like yesterday, tapping on the glass door of a closed bank, demanding my money back from the defunct ATM (i got it back, yay).
i used to be so civilised and docile as a consumer.. since i became a mother, i've become all angry lioness ("you owe me free postage on this gazelle!").
i think it's because i don't have time or space to care about what people think of me anymore; plus, my time and money seem to belong to my child, so i get really angry if businesses take them unfairly.
***
my mum.. grr.. i'm sure she deliberately refuses to try anything i want to implement for her time with dan..
she's put her foot down on cloth nappies, cos they sometimes leak (cos she'll only use the slim all-in-ones) and cos this brand we once used gave him a chafing leg rash (look for a soft leg casing, people), and i guess cos some of them take longer to put on (my favourite fitteds + liner + cover).
i got some new all-in-ones with a pocket for added boosting... no chance of her using them now, but perhaps andrew will use them. he's not opposed to them, just finds it easier to grab a sposie.
***
ooh, speaking of peeing.... i've been getting dan bare-bottomed when we're playing outside.. even on a cold day, with wool legwarmers and a fleecy jacket. and he pee-ed twice! i was so excited, dancing around and singing about weewee coming out from his peepee (surely the neighbours could hear me..). he seemed pretty absorbed by it, making an interested "ohh" sound and trying to step in the puddle.
andrew is seriously objecting to this semi-naked outdoors state... his objections range around "but he might get an infection", but they're so vehement that i think it must be about him as a male feeling indignity on his son's behalf.. the indignity of his peepee being exposed and vulnerable.
so, only when with me. and probably only around our own property, or a quiet park, or people who wouldn't get all silly about it.
***
we've discovered the sublime bliss of public transport! been taking the bus from the end of our street into the city, trains and trams all around... it seems like seriously, we could go absolutely anywhere we wanted to, without even thinking about the car (sometimes i get andrew to drive us back home from the bus stop in the evening, the last 400m of our journey seems impossibly long when it's almost dark).
i've even started looking at buses to bring us around the local suburban area, to libraries and shops etc. it's all there, and so easy! who would've thunk it.
it's amazing.. contrast with the angst of getting into the car, into the car seat, staying in the carseat while we drive... each one of these steps require a whole gutful of angst and waiting.. just to make the simplest of trips.
but there's nada stress and hassle with public transport. none! just one fun thing after another; a fun walk, a fun bus ride, a fun tram ride, more fun walking...
the first time, i did it with a massive pram.. i guess cos we were doing lots of walking that day. and an ergo for the getting on/off bits.
the second time, with a tiny umbrella stroller, and the ergo. the stroller turned out to be a great pain in the bum most of the time, and was handy only for one period where he sat quietly and ate a sushi while we walked..i'm unsure about whether he would've done that if we were sitting somewhere together without the stroller.. (he goes into this zen glazed out state when he eats, and any opportunity to play or do something breaks that.. so he needs to be stuck in a seat or zoned out by tv, it seems?)
but the next time i'm going to just head out sans stroller, just me and the ergo and a very nifty backpack. i look all laden up, but i feel very light and mobile and carefree.
carefree! that's more than any mother can ask for
and we had such a beautiful day yesterday..
the children's farm with a friend (dan mostly played with 2 small birds and a red chair in an empty field which he'd led me to, despite being on a farm with oodles of animals and crazy kids. maybe he doesn't like big crowds either? maybe, despite being such a charmer and talker, he's actually also the introspective type? it seems so, right now.. he's always focused on tiny little private games, or off in his private world of silly fun, even when with other children), sitting on lovely grass in the lovely sunshine..
then a cafe with some other friends, with a play area for children. a bit vexing, being around really mainstream friends... they're always so stressed and harangued by naptimes, trying to get fussy babies to sleep in a pram, and moving from one discipline regime to another ("we tried the naughty step for a month. then smacking. then smacking with a chopstick, cos mummy's hands are for loving. but he still hits a lot.. he only hits mummy and daddy though, no one else, i wonder why.")
bloody hell. everything they say and do is absolutely riddled with stupidity and poorly-thought out concepts. they're not stupid people, but why do they do things that make no sense nor are based on any good evidence?
i always leave such encounters thinking - man.. i got to stop hanging out with these people. i'm so glad i have other friends.
anyway... then off to the riverside in the city. i bought him a sushi and me a vegie pastie, and a big issue magazine, then blissed out on the grass by the river..
i got to lie around and read while he ran around me singing and playing to himself and his invisible audience, and playing around and with trash (literally, like gelati paddles, and bottle tops. is this a bad thing?)
..boats going by (lots of singing "row, row" by dan), birdies galore (the manic seagull kind), people on bikes, lovers canoodling at a respectable distance away.. glittering water, beautiful buildings/skyline... and again, lovely sunshine, luscious grass.. being with a child is truly like living in a paradise.
it's funny, cos left to my own devices, i would keep heading to shopping centres and the internet... even though they bum me out.
but raising a child forces me daily to head to the beautiful outdoors, because i can see how nurturing that environment is to his mood and spirit and mind. and so i'm accidentally reaping for myself the benefits of something so plainly good, because i'll do it for my child, but not for myself. funny, eh?
raising a child IS the best form of therapy.
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