The Santa Claus Debate
Do you know people that say once they have kids or once their kids are older, they won't be telling them about Santa Claus? I know a few. They claim it's lying to your kids. Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?
Come on, seriously? Listen, there's only a short while in your life that you believe in things like magic. Why would you rob your kids of that? Think about it, when you hit probably 10 years old at the latest, you don't believe in Santa anymore, you don't believe in magic, flying reindeer, you don't believe in wizards or elves or magic. That's not a long time in one's life to believe in the impossible, to believe in something fairy-like and wonderful.
Why would you take that away from your kids? So what if it's a big fib? So what if Santa Claus isn't really real? Does it matter? Do any of these people actually resent their parents for telling them that fib? I can't imagine a single one of them, upon discovering that Santa Claus was make believe was angry with their parents. They probably didn't care. The discovery is usually so gradual, that hardly any of us could really mark the occasion upon which we figured it out. I think I kind of gradually came to the conclusion, but I remember keeping the lie going for awhile even after I knew, because I enjoyed the fib enough that I wasn't ready to let it go.
So, if you're a reader and you're one of these people who thinks parents shouldn't "lie" to their kids about Santa, can you tell me your reasoning? You can't act like we're always completely honest with our kids. We can't be. We make things up all the time. "Oh yeah, it won't hurt that much at the dentist" or "it's just a needle, you won't even feel it". We fib all the time about little things. I don't think it's such a big deal to fib about something magical and wonderful.
D.
Worst Week Ever
This has not been my daughter's week. This has quite possibly been her worst week ever. She was teething for several days. This left her irritable, unwilling to go a minute without being held, unwilling to eat any food, up at all hours crying and crying. Then, she caught a cold. Now, her nose is stuffed. There's mucus everywhere. She threw up this morning, because of the mucus (not that she cared). She can't sleep, because she's having trouble breathing easily through her clogged nostrils. Then, yesterday, while walking, almost running across the floor, she slammed face first into our dining room hutch. She cut her cheek, and now she has a big band-aid on her face.
I hope this is just a precursor to what should be the best week ever, next week, when she has Christmas. I'm crossing my fingers anyway. What more can go wrong, right?
D.
Runny Nose, Teething, Face Wound...WORST WEEK EVER!!!
Baby Rediscovers Mother’s Breasts, Beats Them Like a Pair of Bongos
My daughter has rediscovered my wife's boobs. My wife stopped breastfeeding when Baby J. was around 9 months old; it had become impossible to keep her still long enough. She didn't like to be held while drinking milk, she likes to be standing up, which works when you have a bottle, not a boob. So that being the case, the baby kind of forgot about the boobs; she wasn't interested in them.
However, recently, it's like she just found them for the first time. She likes to stick her hands right down my wife's shirt and grab her boobs. She likes to grab the nipples. And her absolute favorite thing is just to go to town on the boobs, slapping them with her fists. As you might imagine, my wife doesn't enjoy any of these activities. But we have found it is impossible to explain to a child that doesn't understand most of the English language yet and who herself does not have boobs just how uncomfortable and painful it is to have your nipples twisted and your boobs slapped like they're drums.
Oh well, it's all a phase, right?
D.
Meet My Daughter, She’s a Poop Wizard
All Smiles After a Huge Poop
My daughter's favorite pastime is standing up, grabbing onto a table leg, squatting down and unleashing a poop while she grunts, groans and turns red in the face. Usually, she performs this feat while meeting people for the first time. It seems like whenever we have guests over, that's when she decides it's time to poop, as if she's been holding it in all day, storing it up really good, just hoping that somebody new will come by so she can fill the room with the fresh aroma of poop and entertain our guests with her look of anguish and strain as she attempts to push a brick out of her butt.
"Would you like to meet my daughter? Yes, that's right. She's the little girl who is currently filling her pants with a load of crap."
D.
Monster Face
My baby has developed only what I can call a "monster face". She scrunches up her face, squints her eyes, and she makes a weird grunting noise. The face is all the more surprising because of her eight teeth, which have all grown to different lengths so far and look rather jagged and terrifying.
She has decided that whenever we are in public and a stranger smiles at her, she will stand up, turn to them suddenly and deliver the monster face. I was giving her a bottle yesterday, when we were out, and every stranger nice enough to give her a smile received a monster face in response. I kept trying to get her to use her normal, pretty smile, but I guess that's out of the question right now.
I kept wondering, do people think there's something wrong with my baby? She looked like she was totally unhinged. I've tried to show her the monster face she does when she's in front of the mirror, but then she isn't too interested in doing it. I've also imitated her doing the monster face, but that only seems to encourage her. I have no idea if she thinks it's a monster face. If she's trying to scare unsuspecting strangers. Or if maybe in her crazy, baby brain, she thinks she's being nice.
D.
