Spoiled

My to-do list had been accumulating tasks that could be classified as "much less fun with a baby in tow."  For example:  vacuuming out the remaining bits of winter (read: buckets full of sand) from my car.  So, one weekend, Brandon graciously volunteered to take over baby watching duty so I could spend a few hours knocking out these tasks without a baby in tow.  It was great!  I slipped effortlessly in and out of my car, dashing into the bank, vacuuming to my heart's content, and generally being very, very efficient.

But something felt...weird.  Not weird, like "oh, it feels so strange to be away from him."  I couldn't put my finger on it.  Then, a few days later, it hit me.  It was other people's reactions to me (or rather, their lack of reaction).  I was visibly/obviously pregnant from about late September to mid-March.  People - complete strangers! - went out of their way to open doors, carry things to my car, smile (and sometimes just stare).  This seemed to increase exponentially with the size of my belly.  And then I had a baby.  And people smiled at the baby.  And asked me how old he was (and if he was a boy or girl....seriously!?).  And they still opened doors.  And stared.  

But now I'm just a regular adult.  Who is capable of opening doors by myself.  And has to wait in line, like everyone else.  And carry my own bags.  And generally not attract attention from people where ever I go.  And that is just fine by me.

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What's new with Jonah?  He loves his hands!  He has discovered that he can make them go where he wants (sort of).  And he now spends all of his waking hours working desperately hard to get his little fingers into his mouth.  Sometimes he succeeds, and his fist gets a tongue bath.  Mostly he bops himself on the nose.  Or the eye.  Or the forehead.  When he's concentrating really, really hard, he goes cross-eyed as his hand nears his mouth - which is wide open in anticipation, tongue sticking out.  This has proved difficult to document, however, because he is incredibly distracted by my camera.  Every time I pull it out, he stops to investigate what Mommy's doing.  A fun side effect of this new obsession is the hand-mouth effect:  Every time we touch his hands, he opens his mouth really wide.  We can't tell if he thinks (hopes!) we're going to bring his hands to his mouth, or if just touching his hands reminds him how badly he wants them in his mouth.  But it's hilarious.  Every time.