Pedialyte and Prose

Penny was sick again this week. She caught a viral infection that produced bad vomiting. So on a Tuesday afternoon, I sat on the floor next to Penny, propped in her car seat, and read her children’s books between syringes of grape flavored Pedialyte. Penny’s mouth turned a nice purple-ish-black color.

Later that morning, as I took my turn feeding her more fluids and rocking her back to sleep, I looked again at the collection of books Penny has accumulated. Mostly gifts from family and friends, Penny has already built quite a library. I sat staring at the titles:

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
When the Moon is High by Alice Schertle
Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban
Farewell to Shady Glade by Bill Peet

How delightful that Penny’s world is already filled with so many beautiful books, so many stories carefully and lovingly illustrated. These books were read aloud to her cousins, her friends—countless children before her. And once she moves beyond simply tasting the pages, she’ll also enjoy the illustrations and phrases that sparked imaginations.

Write to us! What are your favorite children's books?

The Unspoken Rule

We’ve discovered an unspoken rule between new parents. It doesn’t have a name; nobody warns you about it (It’s unspoken—duh!). It’s akin to bargaining.

It usually manifests like this:

Spouse 1: “Sweetheart, you busy?!”
Spouse 2: “What do you need, honey bunny?”
Spouse 1: “Can you watch the baby for a few minutes? I need to take care of the dog.”
Spouse 2: “Are you sure? I can take care of him.”
Spouse 1: “No, no. Really, I don’t mind picking out the fleas lodged in his matted fur. I’ll be in the basement with a comb.”

Or there’s this scenario:

Spouse 1: “Okay, we’ve got the family coming over tomorrow. We need to clean the bathrooms, make cookies, file the bills and mow the lawn.”
Spouse 2: “Plus I noticed that we should probably rinse off the porch, clean out the fridge, steam clean the carpets, and re-grout the tile next to the kitchen sink. If you watch the baby, I’ll take care of everything.”

It’s not that we don’t love our child or enjoy spending time with her. However, if one parent happens to be off in another room in the house, sans baby, that parent had better be doing something meaningful and productive to warrant such precious alone time. Relaxation or adult fun time is not allowed unless the baby is in both parents’ presence or an agreement was previously established.

The good news is that all this makes you more productive. Given the time suckage that comes with a child, the more you can do in a short time the better. Of course, once you’ve suckered the other parent, you can always stall…

What would you do to get some alone time:
	Deworm orphans in developing countries
	Work on an equation that succinctly situates the place of the human mind in physical time and space
	Call tech support (any product)
	Nothing at all – hand over the kid
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A New Year

Remarkably, it has been only two weeks since we returned from California…remarkable because we have encountered so many new experiences, most notably Penny’s first day at school and most recently, welcoming Penny’s newest first cousin into the world.

Penny started daycare the day after we returned. (See photo at left of her first day of school!) She has adjusted pretty quickly, or as the head caretaker described her, “She’s a good baby. That first day, not so good, but she’s a good baby.” Here are three more developments we have enjoyed the past two weeks.

New Awareness
Now at the ripe old age of six months, Penny is acutely aware of her surroundings, and as veteran parents know, is trying to cram her surroundings into her mouth. She’s also developed a vice-like grip not to mention an adorable whine when we try to pry an object from her steely fingers.

New Entrepreneurial Skills
Upon unpacking her bag from her first day of daycare, we were delighted to find a parents newsletter, calendar and…wait for it… a fundraising form. Our favorite caption from the fundraiser: “Purchase pizza and bar-b-que wings for a complete meal!” We’re pretty sure Penny outsold the other infants.

New Reflexes
And finally, just last week we developed a full understanding of the varying degrees of Penny’s gag reflex—from the tiniest urp to the full up-chuck. Penny didn’t just bring a fundraiser home her first week, she also brought the stomach flu. She’s recovered now, and so have mom, dad, Grandma and Grandpa…and hopefully anyone else we infected.

Did you have a flu shot this year?
	Yes; I am invincible!
	Yes, but a lot of good it did me as I have already gotten sick.
	No, bring it on, baby!
	No, excuse me; I think I feel something coming on.
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