Politics

The presidential candidate who wins the 2008 election will be the first president that Isaac will remember. After all, Isaac will be three years old by the time the election happens in November 2008, and he'll be seven by the time the next election happens in 2012. So we're electing a president who will serve from Isaac's early childhood right through second grade. Second grade! That's getting pretty old.

I know people who say becoming a parent changed the way they felt about the world, and thus about politics. They suddenly wanted to leave a better world for their offspring, so they started to care about the environment, or education, or world peace. (On the other hand, I suppose some people begin to care about lower taxes so they can leave more of their money to their offspring!)

I don't think Isaac's birth caused me to change my political outlook. I think I was always other-oriented and future-oriented in my politics -- I think government has a responsibility to make things better for successive generations -- so having a child fit into my existing worldview. At any rate, I was already pretty darn liberal, so it would be hard for me to become even more radical. I guess I could get more politically active, but activism of any sort is difficult with a toddler in tow. We give money to various causes, but that's about it.

Anyway, today I took an online quiz intended to match up your political beliefs with the positions of the candidates in the presidential primaries. Normally these kinds of quizzes aren't worth the paper they're printed on (ha, ha) but this one seemed pretty good. Here are my results:

95% Mike Gravel
95% Dennis Kucinich
83% John Edwards
80% Barack Obama
78% Chris Dodd
77% Joe Biden
74% Hillary Clinton
71% Bill Richardson
33% Rudy Giuliani
26% Ron Paul
24% John McCain
17% Mike Huckabee
17% Mitt Romney
16% Tom Tancredo
8% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

I had seriously never heard of Mike Gravel, but I voted for Kucinich in the last presidential primary, and I've been considering Edwards as my more-realistic vote, so the quiz was accurate for me. If you take the quiz yourself, won't you leave a comment and tell me who it suggested for you?

New pictures

Here's the Loader Driver himself, pretending to drive Opa's loader. (That's Craig's hat he's wearing.)

Did you know I haven't uploaded pictures since Christmas? That's nearly two months! That explains why I had several hundred photos to sort through today, and why I ended up adding 29 of them to the album. I need to get back in the habit of uploading fewer pictures twice a month, because this was quite a lengthy process.

Trixie Tracker second anniversary

Today marks the end of our second full year of using Trixie Tracker to chart our baby-related data. We started using the program back in March 2006 when Isaac was six months old, and he'll be two and a half years old tomorrow. Here is my post celebrating our first Trixie Tracker anniversary in March 2007, and most of what I said still applies, except that we now only track sleep (which is open to the public to view on our Izzy Info site) and nursing. (Oh, and medicine, too -- he has never taken any prescription medicine, but it's actually pretty useful to know how recently we've given him Tylenol.)

I've always enjoyed the Sleep Probability graphs. They use a gray scale to graphically depict the likelihood of the child being asleep at any given moment in a 24-hour period -- white means they are always awake at that time, black means they are always asleep, and medium gray means there's a 50/50 chance. Pure colors, hard lines, and very little gradation means that the child has a solid and predictable schedule. Obviously the schedules of young babies are not like this, so the early months ended up looking like a continuous hazy blur of medium gray. Even as his daytime schedule got more predictable, Isaac used to wake up at random times during the night, so there are lots of pale stripes within the black of his nights.

You can see all two years' worth of Isaac's Sleep Probability graphs on one page right here, much nicer than I'll be able to lay out using Blogger, but just for fun, here are a few at six-month increments ranging from six months to 29 months of age. You can watch his daytime naps solidify (the graph at one year has blurry daytime naps because he was transitioning from two naps to one), his night-wakings lessen (although not disappear completely), and his bedtime gradually creep later and later.

New pictures

Do we still take pictures of Isaac? Of course we do! We take a lot of them, as you may have gathered from this photo I took at Easter -- Isaac finding an egg, and his doting father and aunt each taking a picture documenting his discovery.

So where are all these pictures? They've remained safely in the camera for the last two months (it's a long story involving the demise of our backup hard drive), but I've just uploaded 34 of the very best of them to a brand new album. Yep, if you look over at the sidebar, you'll see we've moved on to the sixth six-month grouping of photos, which will take Isaac right up to the age of three. (I also rearranged the albums so that the newest one is on top.)

The new photos document our trip to visit Craig's parents in South Carolina, our Easter celebration at my parents' house, and me as a blonde.

17,999 and counting

Who will be visitor number 18,000? (You can check the very bottom of the sidebar to see if it was you! How exciting! )

And to think that when I set this blog up I seriously thought I would only need a four-digit hit counter.

A question about content

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that I try to keep a narrow focus -- all Isaac, all the time.

Well, it's impossible to write about Isaac without also writing about myself. I'm not an objective reporter, so I reveal something about myself in every post (even if it's just my dumb sense of humor). However, I do try to keep overt discussion of my personal life limited to the context of parenting Isaac -- my frustrations and joys, challenges and successes.

Anyway, I seldom write just about me. So that's why I have a question about content.

After the baby is born, I'll make room in this blog for her as well as Isaac. But what about before then? Obviously I'll continue to write about Isaac's reactions to my pregnancy, and I won't be able to resist sharing my birth story when the time comes. But do you, my readers, want to hear regular pregnancy updates? Even if they don't include Isaac? Even if they're just me complaining about my aching back and hips?

Please, leave a comment and let me know. Your opinions are welcome.

Napping

Earlier today I was planning today's blog post, which I was going to write during Isaac's nap -- in fact, I was going to write about how well he had been napping lately. I never got a chance to do it, however, because (you guessed it!) he didn't nap!

In the two weeks since we returned from visiting Isaac's paternal grandparents in South Carolina, he has been napping like a dream. We're still following the sleep schedule and strategy I detailed back in August, and it's working very well. He goes to bed peacefully, I leave the room, he doesn't cry (usually), and it only takes him ten minutes to fall asleep. Then he sleeps solidly until I wake him up. He only failed to take a nap on one occasion in the past 15 days, and that was probably because, due to a leaky sippy cup in his own bed, he had to try to fall asleep in the guest room.

And, of course, he didn't nap today. So what went wrong?

Although I didn't get the chance to bring on the mishap by blogging about my good fortune, I did boast to two separate people this morning that not only was Isaac still napping at three years old, he was napping better than he ever had. Gotta watch that hubris.

Or it might have been because I myself really wanted a nap.

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But at least I got my revenge on him for his lack of napping by refusing to play with him. Instead I wrote my blog post!

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As an aside, it occurs to me that these have been golden days indeed -- it's a magical time period when your child is old enough to be toilet trained and still young enough to nap.

New pictures

Happy New Year!

Moving into the past just a bit, here are Craig and Isaac (and Walt, in the foreground) decorating our Christmas tree. And to bring us up to date, I've uploaded the rest of our 2008 photos. There's a whole month's worth, despite my intentions of uploading them at least twice a month. Maybe I'll make a New Year's Resolution to keep up on my photos? Naw.

After all, it's hard to predict how my blogging and photo-uploading will change after the baby is born. Maybe I'll upload baby photos daily. Maybe I won't get around to it until spring. Or maybe I won't take any baby photos at all. Who knows?

One thing is for sure, it's been hard for me to blog lately. My mind is so full of being pregnant that I can't find room to think about anything else. And, really, thinking is required for good writing! Plus, how many blog posts do you folks really want to read about my childbirth anxieties? I think I may have already saturated the market.

Subject labels

A little bit of blog housekeeping: I've added two new subject labels, and changed a third. So now I can categorize posts using the new labels "sibling interactions" and "school," and instead of using "people in Isaac's life" to categorize posts about family and friends, I'll be using "people in our lives."

I may be on maternity leave, but I'm still a librarian.

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I won't be changing the title of the blog from "baby" to "babies," but I suppose I ought to make a new masthead. I at least need to include pictures of both Isaac and Laurel.

Housekeeping

I did a little bit of blog housekeeping today and integrated a few photos from the album of Laurel's birth and all of the photos from Laurel's first month into our family album for September 2008 - February 2009. (It's also on the sidebar to your left.)

This new photo is not yet in any of the albums. The kids are hanging out in their pajamas watching, appropriately enough, a monster truck video on YouTube.

In the bouncy seat

I just realized that my last two posts might not have been much fun. They were both lengthy, detailed, and on similar serious topics -- one "my kid doesn't watch TV" and one "my kid likes to read."

So to lighten things up, here are two cute photos, one of each kid at two weeks old seated in the same blue bouncy seat. Isn't that a bit more fun?

My reward

Well, I've finally been rewarded for blogging. You'll have noticed that I don't run any ads, and you can thank me for that. But my recent mention of the Miracle Blanket came to the attention of the company, and they're going to send me a complimentary blanket! I actually couldn't ask for a better freebie.

They suggested I could use it as a give-away for one of my readers if I didn't want it for myself, but you know what? I want it for myself. Sorry.

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They also mentioned they're having a "Crying to Calm" video contest: shoot continuous footage of your child being calmed by swaddling in the Miracle Blanket, and you could win actual cash. But I can't find a link to the contest on their Web site, so I can't tell you exactly how to enter. If you are interested, let them know.

Parent-teacher conference II

Back at the start of the school year I met with Isaac's teacher Jennifer, although at that point the parent-teacher conference was for me to tell her about Isaac. Now that the school year is coming to an end, Craig and I met with Jennifer again, and this time Jennifer told us about Isaac.

This makes me stop and consider the possibility that Isaac may be reaching the age where he deserves some privacy. It's bad enough that I publicly write about my own child's strengths and weaknesses, but it seems especially invasive to write about another adult's opinion of his strengths and weaknesses. After all, there's a reason why parent-teacher conferences are held in private.

I'll probably stop blogging about Isaac's personal life before he's old enough to understand what I'm doing. If when he's older he wants to have his secrets revealed to hundreds of anonymous online readers, he'll have to do it himself, probably using whatever version of Facebook the year 2020 provides. Probably teenagers of the future will have no sense of privacy anyway.

I don't think Isaac needs privacy yet. He's certainly too young to feel embarassment now, and I don't think what I'm writing will be embarassing to him in the future either. A small child is still purely and perfectly himself in every way, and therefore should feel no shame at having the details of his life revealed by his doting mother. A small child has no genuine weaknesses, only the misplaced expectations or misunderstandings of adults. How's that for an excuse for me to continue blogging?

And so, in a nutshell, Jennifer said Isaac was wise, independent, and confident. She really seems to enjoy him as a student and as a person, which made us feel good.

She remarked that one of Isaac's greatest developments was the lessening of his attachment to her. He had been clingy and dependent upon her at first, often following her around all day, and needing her help to transition between activities. However, in the last two months he has been able to play happily and comfortably on his own.* He still likes her, but he doesn't need her.

We got a little checklist telling us whether or not Isaac had various skills -- not quite a report card, because there were no grades, but Jennifer filled it out with either a "plus sign" (strongly true), a "checkmark" (true), or a "w" (a developing skill the child is still working on). (I'll point out right here that Isaac did not get a single "w.")

As far as Isaac's greatest strengths, they should come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog. On the checklist Jennifer put plus signs next to all the skills under the headings of "cognitive development" (good attention span, ability to focus, ability to follow through with a task, can rephrase ideas, etc.) and "expressive language" (complete sentences, vocabulary, articulation, shares ideas, expresses feelings, receptive language, etc.). In addition, she pointed out that he "enjoys and values reading," including looking at books on his own. Like I said, my regular readers already know that.

While Isaac didn't get any plus signs on the checklist under the heading of "emotional development," every skill was checked off, so there wasn't anything he specifically needed to improve. (He initiates his own activities, sticks with an activity for a while, shows satisfaction in task, uses a variety of problem-solving strategies, asks for assistance, etc.) She did note that he isn't easily frustrated by obstacles, and that "he is able to speak up and ask for what he wants." I hope he's polite about it.

The remaining heading was "social development," and perhaps it doesn't come as a surprise that there were no plus signs there either. However, there were no problems either. Isaac is "able to take turns and share," and he "enters easily into activities." He does not yet, however, "demonstrate cooperative play." So one of Jennifer's final conclusions is that one of Isaac's "areas to concentrate on" (is that preschool-teacher code for "weakness"?) is "working and playing cooperatively with another child -- making a friend."

I guess I agree with her. I mean, he doesn't seem lonely yet, but he will need friends his own age soon. Perhaps he'll discover that it's actually more fun to play with other kids than by himself or with distracted adults. And then I'll miss him.

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As far as Isaac's "areas of particular interest," Jennifer put checkmarks next to the following: the sandbox and playdough, art, music and singing, puzzles, and science. He also likes snack (who doesn't?) and helping the teachers clean up. "Blocks and building" was the only activity to get a plus sign, which must mean he really likes it.

But it is just as interesting to note the choices that remained unchecked. The omission of "dramatic play," for example, strikes me as strange, because is one of his biggest favorites at home. The kid is always pretending to be someone, whether it's a construction worker, a park ranger, or a pirate. And no "wheeled vehicles"? I mean, I knew vehicles were falling out of favor, but the fact that he doesn't play with them at school really drives the point home.

Isaac even told me recently that Loader Driver no longer drives a loader. Now he's a maintenance worker, no doubt changing light bulbs and repairing snowblowers.

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* This is true at home as well -- a few months before Laurel's birth Isaac was at his most dependent and demanding, but this reversed itself almost immediately after Laurel was born. Wouldn't you have expected the opposite to happen?

No remarks?

Does absolutely no one have anything to say regarding my last post? No remarks at all?

No "Stop worrying and enjoy your easy baby"?

No "Take your worries seriously and make extra time for your easy baby"?

No "This attachment parenting stuff sounds nutty. In my day we just stuck the kids in a playpen until bedtime"?

I don't often troll for comments, but I was actually hoping to get some feedback on this issue.

Why blog?

No one has ever asked me why I blog, so maybe there isn't much interest in the answer. But there must be very good reasons why I have continued blogging -- I've written 605 posts over the course of three and a half years. That means that, on average, I have met my goal of writing 15 posts a month for the past 42 months. I can't think of many other personal goals I have actually met with such regularity. (Certainly not exercising!)

It's not like I have a lot of free time, and it's not like I don't have other interests. But day after day, year after year, I have chosen to blog rather than, say, exercise, watch a movie, read a book, or bathe.

Just kidding. A shower only takes ten or 15 minutes. A good blog post takes at least an hour.

There are a lot of reasons why I blog. I enjoy the process of writing. I benefit mentally from having a creative outlet. I find writing therapeutic; I was already in the habit of keeping a diary during emotionally intense periods in my life, and early parenthood certainly qualifies. Through writing, I discover a lot about myself and have the opportunity to analyze my choices. I was afraid I would be too private to be an effective blogger, but it turns out that I like having readers. Many of my real-life friends and family seem to appreciate the updates on my family life, and I appreciate their feedback.

But mainly I blog out of fear.

Fear of losing, fear of forgetting, fear of failing to appreciate -- fear of the moments passing me by. Despite taking hundreds of pictures and writing dozens of blog posts, I've already lost the experience of what Laurel was like as a tiny newborn. And that was only four months ago! What was Isaac like back then? That's long gone.

Sure, I can still remember what happened a few months ago, or even a few years ago. And I have a good written and photographic record, more than most people have. But the truth is that it would take a much better writer than myself to depict the full sensory and emotional experience of having a brand-new baby. And I could write a daily ten-point list about Laurel and never come close to capturing the specific wonders of her.

But it's not just the new-babyness I want to preserve. It's all of it. I can't stand to know that this golden time is passing. When Isaac was a baby, every few months I would anxiously say to Craig, "He's perfect right now! This is the best it's ever going to be, and it's going to be over soon!" I was genuinely stressed out. But Craig would point out that my assessment of what was "perfect" was continually changing, and in fact I thought each age and stage was more perfect than the last. This hasn't really changed, and Isaac at age three and three-quarters is just about as perfect as he has ever been.

This can't last, though. At some future point I'm going to look at him and wish, even if momentarily, that he was three again.

I recognize that this must sound like a foolish concern. If we are lucky, our lives keep moving forward, we keep aging, and our children do too. Isaac joked the other day that he wasn't going to get any older than he is right now, and I felt a chill. Of course I want him and Laurel to grow up -- that's what children are supposed to do.

I know I can waste so much time and energy feeling wistful for the past that I fail to appreciate the present. I'm also very good at day-dreaming my way through the day, going through the motions without really paying attention. That's part of the grief I feel at the moment having passed -- that perhaps I wasn't paying enough attention to it in the first place. So I need to try harder to be mindful of the now, to appreciate the present.

But even more than that, I need to remember that the present doesn't entirely belong to me. My experience with these young children, as important and precious as it is to me, isn't the point of my having had children -- this is only the first of many steps in their lives. (And it's only one of many steps in my life, too.)

And no matter how often I blog, no matter how many pictures I take, I simply cannot preserve the true preciousness of this moment. So maybe the best thing to do is to set down the computer and go play with my kids.

Tummy time

My own mother mentioned that I haven't been blogging much lately. I made my excuses. We have been really busy, I have a cold, and I am tired because the kids have been taking turns waking up too early. (And I can't fall asleep at night. I have momsomnia again.)

But hey, here's a week-old picture from tummy time. This is about as good as it gets, both as far as Laurel's ability to do a push-up and her mood while doing one.

In all honesty, because she dislikes it so much we don't even give her time on her stomach on a daily basis, let alone the three times a day her pediatrician recommends. Maybe that's why she hasn't rolled over yet, even though she'll be five months old in a few days.

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I guess you noticed all her hair fell out. It's already growing back in, light brown and fuzzy.

New pictures

I'm a whole month behind with my photos. Can I blame having had the flu?

Anyway, I've finally uploaded the first half of the pictures, and they're in the album that covers March through May. (By the way, I'm going to make a new album for June through August. I used to make a new album every six months, but now that I have two kids to photograph, I think we'll need a new album every three months. I try to keep each album to about 100 pictures.)

This batch of photos covers the cookout we had when we visited my parents in May (that explains the hot dogs), Isaac playing "tree service" in our yard, Laurel having tummy time, and Isaac in a cardboard canoe.

Help!

I really need to upload our most recent photos to the album. I'm caught up through the beginning of June, but we seem to have taken 150 pictures in the last three weeks.

I just need to choose, edit, and upload the best ones, but I keep putting it off, even as I continue to take more photos.

To avoid the entire issue, here is a picture I took today when we were visiting my maternal grandmother: Laurel and her second cousin Patrick, who is two months older than her. They found each other interesting, but when we put them together to take pictures, she got scared. Perhaps he was too vigorous? Here she is crying out for help, frozen in terror as he gestures wildly.

New pictures, sort of

Slowing my ongoing quest to get caught up with my photos, I have gone backward and dipped into the archives.

My father has been taking some great photos, so I have added ten shots he took from mid-April through the end of May. They are in the proper album, although to make them easier for you to locate I have not yet interfiled them with the other photos. All ten are at the very end of the album. I'll wait a week or so, then go back and interfile them by date.

The ten photos are mostly of Easter, a visit to my maternal grandmother's house, and a visit my parents made to our house. This shot is of my mom with Laurel.

New pictures

I did it! I picked out 33 of my very best photos from the last four weeks and uploaded them to the album! I am all caught up!

Here's Laurel laughing!