Bean days

My little Buddha (or, as Beast calls this, Lord of the Bean)

Bean has a boyfriend!

For the holidays, I gave Beast* and Bean a joint gift: a daddy/mommy-and-me class for parents and babies 6-8 months. I figured it was a product-less gift that would be fun times/memories and Bean is at the stage where other babies are starting to be very interesting to her, so she could benefit from more social interactions through the cold, wet, mostly indoors winter we're having.

At their first class last week, the ten or so babies were placed in a circle, each with a toy in front of them. Bean played with her toy for a bit while most of the other babies stared at the teacher, who was sitting in the center of the circle. Bored of her toy, she decided to (show off and) crawl over to the boy next to her and take his toy. (Do I have a bully on my hands? :) Beast apologized to the boy's mother, who assured him it was fine. Apparently, this was a pretty coy move on Bean's part, because the boy then grabbed her hand and locked eyes with her. They held hands and their gazes for about two minutes before resuming their play.

Oooooooh! Bean has a boyfriend! His name's Eli and they see each other next week. Looks like I'll have to talk to her about the birds and bees before then ... Oh well, at least if I do it now she won't have a clue what I'm talking about.

P.S. BB--your comment that Bean will have a happy childhood resonated with me and really touched an emotional core. Thank you for believing that--if I can give her that, it would be the best gift a parent could give their child.

*Formerly known as Hubby. As I discussed with BerryBird a long time ago, I hate the words "husband" and "hubby," so why am I using it in my blog? I call him Beast anyway, so it'll be natural to write Beast here.

Bean days, and a quick update

This photo of Bean was taken at the library's sing-along last week.

It's still snowing out and has been since the middle of the day Friday, when I left work early as did most of Boston. There's about two feet on the ground now and it's still falling. Bean's first blizzard. My mom calls and says, "What global warming?" and I groan and tell her for the millionth time that it's about macro weather patterns, not micro.

Good weekend to cozy it up and finish making homemade treats and designs for holiday gifts that are going to be a week late. I underestimated how much time it would take to make them all myself and I overestimated my energy to do so. Can't tell you what they are just yet. I'm very much looking forward to having shorter work weeks the next two weeks.

Hubby is applying to grad schools this winter break and making acorn squash with mashed potatoes as I type. Ruby, our cat, has lost a little weight since her diet began. One of the two dogs--we can't figure out which--keeps peeing in the house. Bean is scooting around and we plan to child-proof the house over the holidays. My life is work Bean chores work chores work Bean chores work Bean and little else. My goal is to get my photo portfolio and website up and running this year, because the more I look at how I want to spend my life and what I want to do, the more I come back to my old haunt--photographer. Unfortunately, I have little time to spare beyond poopy gDiapers, divine baby kisses, washing dishes, work work work and dog piss. I will get there.

My crazy boss offered me another promotion this month that would have pushed me into the middle of an editorial career track and brought us out of food stamp-qualifying income brackets. I turned it down. After much thought, I opted to stay away from the rat race. I do need more money if I'm going to continue to support my family, but I don't want to spend my life working for something I care little about five days a week. I don't want to come home too exhausted to play with my kid(s). I want a slower life, not a faster one. I want to be proud of my life when it's said and done. Still, it's hard to look at our checkbook balance knowing what I just passed up, knowing that Hubby's school loans are more than a normal house is worth. I hope I made the right decision.

The wheels on the bus

Bean is quite comfortable making long streams of noises. She just keeps going, like the literary version of an Energizer Bunny. We should all be so un-self-conscious. On the bus ride home yesterday, she let out a constant babble. I think it lasted the whole bus ride--about 20 minutes long. You wouldn't believe the number of pissed-off looks I got. My baby's talking, what do you want? I felt like saying to one guy. To another: I hope you have a quiet evening! Despite my defensiveness, I did feel guilty that she was interrupting the unwritten code of bus silence. More than that, I felt guilty for feeling guilty. Why should I care if people are annoyed? This is a beautiful thing--she's learning how to talk! Why do I care? Why? But I do.

Work can be entertaining: I got this site from a co-worker yesterday. Absolutely hysterical!

Bean time

Bean days

Bean days