1m2aSandbox

The 4 a.m. breathing check.

But you can’t.  And now you’re convinced she’s not breathing at all and you’re on your way to a full-blown panic-attack.  So you creep into her room, risking a wake up.

Don’t pretend you haven’t done it.  I’ve practically held a mirror in front of her mouth myself. 

You’re looking at your Christmas shopping list, trying to decide what to get everyone.  As you work, you glance over to your sleeping cherub.  Was there ever such a beautiful baby?  Back to your list: what could you give people that would bring them real joy?  Back to Cherub: who can resist that face?

And so, just as chocolate and peanut butter collided to bring us Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups, your shopping list somehow seamlessly merges with your desire to stare at Cherub’s face for hours at a time.  Pictures of Baby for everyone this year!  Who wouldn’t love it?

The holidays are rapidly gaining momentum and I’m becoming a wee bit scared.  I mean, I knew this year would be different from every other thus far; I knew all my elaborate cookie decorating, our 80+ person Christmas party, our constant entertaining would be severely curtailed.

But I didn’t quite understand I’d have to give up the shopping thing.

We’re plowing ahead with the solid foods thing.  Maddie’s still going with the rice cereal after her “dinner” nursing, enjoying bananas as a mid-morning snack, and today we added sweet potatoes as her afternoon snack.  Interestingly enough, she devoured the sweet potatoes while she’s a bit ambivalent about the bananas. 

We had our first snowfall of the season last night and awoke to the perfect winter morning; with about an inch of snow on the ground, the trees were topped in powdered sugar and the back yard was snug under a lovely white velvet blanket.  Madeleine’s eyes grew as big as saucers when she saw it for the first time, and she turned to me with a smile on her face as if to say, “Did you do this just for me?”

We ran a few errands before church this morning, strolling around the Upper West Side.  Maddie was in her infant car seat / stroller base, so she was seeing everything in reverse.  With her Kangaroo Kuddler tucked up under her chin, she looked like a miniature empress snuggled under a thick blanket on a sleigh ride.  She was clutching the edge of the Kuddler, refusing to keep her hands tucked toastily under the blanket, screaming with glee.

Boppy use number sixty two:

Sitting-practice bumper!

Madeleine’s so eager to be upright.  Give her your thumbs while she’s lying down, and she’ll pull herself up to standing, stiff-legging it so she hinges up like a mummy.  On the advice of our pediatrician and a physical therapist who’s an expert in a child’s physical development, we’re trying to avoid having her take her own weight on her legs for a while, so we support her while she “stands.”  But you can see in her face: why lie when she can sit, and why sit when she can stand with all the big people?

Boppy use number sixty two: