Thanks for the encouraging comments on that last post. Like I said, I wasn't digging for affirmation, but it was still nice to read it. Things are better today. I've got a babysitter coming here a few mornings a week so I can practice. Today was her first day, and two things that convinced me the $10/hr is worth it:

1) About a minute after she got here, she was treated to a tutorial in changing a poopy diaper, complete with rubber gloves ("poop gloves"), a bucket (the "poop bucket") and flushable wipes, which I only discovered last week. All this and she didn't even flinch.

2) I had nearly two hours of uninterrupted practice time and it felt wonderful. I had forgotten how much I missed that.

I also met with my teacher yesterday and I have some ideas for a dissertation/final project; at the very least, I know where to start. So I'm feeling less anxious for now.

Daniel is so close to crawling, all of a sudden. Today he turns seven months old. He has just started pushing himself up on all fours like he's about to do a push-up, then dropping to his knees and trying his darndest to move somewhere, anywhere, preferably in the direction of some verboten electronic item. He ends up either scooting backwards a few inches at a time (grin! giggle!) or falling to the side (whimper! cry!) or onto his forehead (wail! howl!). I've decided that head-bonking is inevitable in this situation and provide an amply padded play space for him wherever we are in the house. It won't be long before we have to cover the outlets, put up a baby gate and tie cushions to everything.

Comments

Tooz said…
As to protecting Daniel's head, my dad always said all children should wear football helmets until they were five years old. I know it would have prevented some grief on our part if Everett had been wearing one when he played Superman on the concrete porch (7 stitches), or when Ann was climbing all over the hard metal chairs in the choir loft at church (swollen lip and dead tooth). Lydia, on the other hand, managed to do a somersault out of her crib and end up on her bottom in a rocking chair.
Becca said…
Aw, but if Everett had worn that helmet, he wouldn't have gotten that cool Harry Potter scar!

CJ was about that age when he started to crawl. It's definitely baby-gate time. Once Daniel figures out scooting, the real fun begins.

We didn't do anything special to our table corners or anything. We tried to guide CJ around them, and told him to be careful. He learned pretty quickly on his own to take care--but then, he is turning into quite the daredevil.
Suze said…
i was sort of kidding about the cushions :) it's just that now that daniel is starting to be mobile, i notice how many hard surfaces (wooden table/piano/rocking chair legs) are in our house!
Glad things are looking more rosy to you now. And, yep, I agree that it's baby gate time. Once they figure out how to scooch around, they get into EVERYTHING!

Big hugs!
Lydia said…
Suze, sorry this isn't related to your blog today. I'm just looking for advice from nursing moms. Cora's 2 weeks and 2 days old now. You mentioned she is probably hitting her growth spurt now. How often did Daniel feed during that time?? DO you remember? Cora seems to want to eat about every hour or two hours, but when I burp her she spits a lot of it back up. It seems like I'm feeding her all the time but she isn't processing it all. Do you know anything about that? Please email me or reply on my blog. Thanks a lot!

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