Thumbsucker

Do you know what it's like to raise a thumbsucker? I'm asking this not as an amusing thought to ponder as I lead into an entertaining post, I'm literally asking if you know what it's like.

It's an adventure.

Mine is 15 lbs of adorable squishy fun with one very pink thumb.

The books (damn the books) say I should let him have it. He's found his own self-soothing technique and there's not harm in letting him enjoy his digit(s) so long as I can get him to stop prior to his second set of teeth coming in. The nurses (damn the nurses) at our Pediatrician's office say I should keep it away from him so as to avoid any possible "behavioral issues" it might cause. The internet (damn the internet) has mixed reviews.

One one hand (no pun intended) his thumb seems to make him happy and I ENJOY making him happy. On the other, he seems a bit obsessed and my normally talkative, kicky, punchy boy has become introverted and still. It's as if it's impossible to suck his thumb and do anything else at the same time- he is a man after all.

So I chose to listen to the nurses (damn) and try to keep it away from him. This requires replacement therapy (thus causing binky dependence and is this any better?) OR distraction techniques (how many times can you put a rattle in his hand or change our activity before he just gets angry?...about three) OR punishment tactics in the form of a glove (which the other hand can quickly pull off.)

I try each and every one of these things an average of about 1,000 times a day and still he manages to get his thumb from time to time.

Is this really such a bad thing? Ben and I were both thumbsuckers and we turned out relatively ok. Should I just let him have it? I've tried that too, and then I just begin to stress that his language and physical growth will suffer. And do you want to know the most distressing part? It's his LEFT thumb!!!

Aaahhhh well. The damned internet tells me the last five presidents were leftys. I wonder if they sucked their thumbs?

Survival of the fittest

Any mom who fits into single digit sizes within 6 months of having a baby should be shot. Granted I'll Never fit into single digit sizes (even at my thinnest after major lipo and a nasty anorexic phase I was still a solid 10...ahem...12.) AND granted I lost all of my baby weight PLUS about 30 lbs within 8 weeks of having Archer. But even with these two facts firmly in place, I get irritated with post-prego-skinny.

Skinny bitches in general get on my nerves. A woman isn't a woman without a few curves.

I should be a rapper.


Where was I? Oh yeah....on my way to the kitchen for another cookie.

Bothersome

My husband tells me I need to keep a journal. I can't be bothered. I decided, instead, to update my blog. I realize I can't be bothered.

But then I remember that I just had a baby and that I may want to remember the experience of it all and I guess I can, in fact, be bothered.

So here I am.

Boom!

This is the place!

It's the 25th of July. That means nothing to me really other than I have to take detours to get to work since the regular roads are closed for the parade. I see NO reason to have a parade on the 25h of July either but Utah feels differently.

Surely those pioneers that settled this "great" state all those years ago didn't look into the future and say, "Boy, I do hope that someday they'll close all of the main roads in each town to make room for homemade floats covered in children and adults alike dressed in what they think is pioneer attire. Sure the JCPenny brand floral print dresses and Reebok tennis shoes are a little more modern( the pioneer's term not mine) than we actually wore but it's the thought that counts."

Well, pioneers, here you have it....an hour of awkward people staring at awkward people on trailers and horses all to remember YOU!!!! Don't you feel lucky?

Then again, most people in Utah have today off. And if paying homage to the pioneers means I can take another day at home with my man and my dogs than give me a denim skirt and a head scarf and I will pull that damned handcart all the way home !