Skip to main content

Adventures in baby-wrestling

To all passengers on the flight this morning, my apologies. The baby that
was screaming was mine. He was not crying because he was hurting, he was
crying because I wouldn't let him get down and crawl around up and down the
aisle while we were going through turbulence.

Holding Luke anywhere is becoming more and more like the greased pig contests
I have read about. I get a good grip, and he wriggles and squirms until he
gets free, or I get a better grip, or I get so fed up with wrestling with him
I put him down. Upon reaching the ground, often he will cry to have me pick
him up again. Mostly, however, he makes a beeline for the most dangerous
object in the room: the hard corners, the outlets, the markers, the knives and
forks, and so on.

We did have some toys for him to chew on in the airplane. However, the best
toys were clearly 1) the card telling us that we could pay 3 dollars for a
candy bar, 2) the wrapper from his sister's fruit leather, and 3) the plastic
beverage cup. When they came around and asked if we wanted something to drink,
I wanted orange juice but something made me say water. It's a good thing,
because as I took the water into my hand, Luke's hand reached out and went
into the water.

Of course, the best toys for babies are other people. Luke flirted shamelessly with our seatmate, the people behind us, the people in front of us, the flight attendants... My favorite was when he stood up on my lap facing the rear of the plane and popped up and down to play peek-a-boo with the people behind us.

The trip went well, especially considering that we left the house at 4:15 AM
eastern time (2:15 mountain time) and got to Telluride after 3 pm mountain
time. My favorite scene from the trip was Eleanor in the shopping cart,
asleep with her head on the lettuce. I used to watch the other parents
enviously, as they walked their sleeping children in their strollers. Not only
wouldn't Eleanor sleep in the stroller, she wouldn't even sit in the stroller,
she had to push. I think this was the first time she had fallen asleep during
the day for about 3 years.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My hero, Helen Parr

Otherwise known as Elastigirl , a.k.a Mrs. Incredible. She is a stay at home mom ( SAHM ), she clearly feels that what she is doing is important and is willing to give up a lot to do it (remember her comment in the intro: "I'm at the top of my game! Leave saving the world to the guys? I don't think so.") But she is finding fulfillment in leading her family from day to day, in doing a hard job well. She also knows that she is very talented, and that knowledge helps her see beyond the repetitive drudgery of staying home. My favorite scene is from the deleted introduction, where she talks with a "career woman" who is of the opinion that staying home is fine for people who can't do anything else. She responds that taking care of her kid is at least as hard as saving the world, and is valuable contribution to society. The point for me is that someone has to do the job that I'm doing, and it's not something that you could pay someone to do. I see...
8 comments
Read more

Kindergarten Fashions

I was informed the other day that Eleanor wants to get a new thermos. She lost the o-ring from her purple Tinkerbell thermos, and I have so far resisted buying another one for her, on the theory that you shouldn't just replace things that are broken since it doesn't encourage being careful with one's things. I have been sending her with the sippee cups that she has been using since she was a year old, which she has resisted giving up to the point of becoming partly dehydrated when I don't let her use them at home. Here's how the conversation went. Eleanor: Anna and Jane said today at lunch, " Kindergartners don't drink from sippee cups!" Me: That's very interesting. Eleanor: They are supposed to drink from thermoses. Me: Eleanor, would you like a new thermos? Eleanor: Yes! Get the purple one, please. If there is a crayon one, that's the one I want.... Who knew that peer pressure started in kindergarten? The sippee cups are perfectly f...
4 comments
Read more

Why you should study the history of math

  Why you should study the history of math In the mid 1300s a fad made its way around Italy. Mathematicians would challenge each other to “mathematical duels”. They would post problems for their opponents to solve, sometimes along with their solutions in coded poetry. The winners would get support and funding from rich patrons, the losers would descend into obscurity. One such contest, between Fiore and Tartaglia, involved a new method for solving the cubic. In order to win, Tartaglia worked day and night to find Fiore’s method---unfortunately, Fiore did not do the same and only knew his own method and no others. (*Recall that the formula for solutions to quadratic equations of the form use the quadratic formula, Giorlamo Cardano---physician, philosopher, astrologer and mathematician---convinced Tartaglia to share his method and promised never to reveal it. Then Cardano figured out a more general method, and wanted to share it, but was blocked by his promises. Fortunately (for Ca...
Post a Comment
Read more