Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Sensitive Rosie

Ever since we met that July day in the hospital, I tend to get emotional thinking about my daughter's future. I frequently imagine her as a little girl, then as a preteen, as an older teenager, and finally a young woman. My eyes mist the most when I imagine her as a mother. This is all ridiculous, I realize, because she may never be a mom - either by choice or by circumstance. But she will grow up, and that will happen faster than I am willing to admit.

Truth be told, Miss Rosie is a sensitive one - she cries hysterically when I turn on the garbage disposal and screeches when we run the blender. I try so hard to prepare her for the noises, but no amount of preparation will take the edge off of being startled into tears.  It's hard, watching and hearing her cry so hard.

And I know that this sensitivity isn't going anywhere. That's okay; I lean to the sensitive side myself. I can relate to those see-saw feelings when life is out of balance. It almost as if I can see my baby girl as a someday-teenager, struggling to develop her identity and understand her changing body. I can feel her teetering on the see-saw of balance, desperately trying to understand all the pieces that beautifully make up her whole essence. And I know that I have to prepare myself now to be open to her questions, her curiosities, and her tears. She deserves that from her mother.



*I was motivated to write this post by The Body Scoop for Girls: A Straight Talk Guide to a Healthy, Beautiful You, by Jennifer Ashton, MD, OB/Gyn. I received a complimentary copy of the book as part of the Silicon Valley Moms Group bookclub.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Mother's Day on Chicago Moms Blog

I forgot to post this last weekend, but I wrote a (slightly emotional) post for Chicago Moms Blog that happened to go live on Mother's Day.  It was just a little reflection on where I "was" about a year ago - and making challenging choices about childbirth.  It was good for me to write it, if nothing else.  Enjoy if you so choose!
http://www.chicagomomsblog.com/2010/05/motherhood-makes-you-powerful-rtp.html#tp

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Meanwhile, We Actually Have a Good Vocabulary

The Talker is using two new words in his up-to-the-minute lingo: actually and meanwhile.

The scary thing?  He worked meanwhile into a sentence today - correctly.

I don't use meanwhile, like, EVER.  I do use actually.  I'm wondering where meanwhile came from.  For a four year old, meanwhile is a 10-cent word!  I think actually is worth at least 8 cents.  Perhaps they show up in Charlotte's Web, The Talker's favorite rainy day book.  (Who am I kidding? He reads it on sunny, warm days, too, when he should be hankering to go outside!)

On our way home from school I told him, "You have quite a vocabulary, young man."

"What's a vocabulary, Mom?"

"Hmmm...a vocabulary is all the words that you know and use when you talk or write."

"Oh. Actually, I knew that already."

Okay, maybe he didn't say that last bit, but I often feel pretty humbled by this boy's facility with language and his enjoyment of storing and classifying large quantities of information. Actually, humbled is way too generous.  I need to start doing more crossword puzzles in my "free time."  Maybe Nana could help me out with this one.  The Talker's vocabulary is getting a little too big for my comfort zone!  But of course we can't stifle this - it's a sign of good things to come, right?

But this varied and expansive vocabulary is not without its 2-cent words.Yesterday he stepped out on to our front steps with his awesome firetruck rain slicker on and announced, "Oh, crap! It's raining out here!"  The Runner informed me that The Talker sounded just like his sweet mommy.

Oh, crap. 

I suppose it's better than the alternative, right?