Mia Crawls

Well we have a lot to talk about all of the sudden.

As the title implies the little M. has indeed crawled, much like life with a whimper not a bang. Two sightings of a modified Army high crawl, this is exciting stuff, I equate it to being 13 and getting your parents car alone for the first time. Places to go people to see and crashes to have. We have been a bit off with the photography and getting them online but rest assured dear readers we have some very adorable pictures of the little M. doing all types of things.

Speaking of new things, the helmet and the flat have added a new dimension to our lives. The upkeep and maintenance is minimal and she seems to be enjoying her new purple and pink butterfly illustrated new hat. She is so adorable in it and to be honest I rest a little better knowing that she has a hard hat protecting her head from the constant flopping on the floor that she does. Every kid should have one.

At the end of the night she gets to take it off for an hour while we clean it and her. The first thing that we do is rub her head with both hands and she instantly looks like a baby on heroine. Her eyes roll back her body goes limp and she literally looks stoned. Like a dog who is getting his belly rubbed, it looks like bliss. I promise a picture of that next as well.

No posts last week as I was away again. I know, I know "You went away again?!!?" How could I? Yeah yeah she is a saint I know. Well, I went to be a counselor at the CT. children's burn camp. This camp is for any burn victim from the age of 8-17, and there were 70 of them who attended the camp. All I will say to those naysayers is this; In order to be the kind of role model that my daughter deserves, we need to continue to embrace the things that are important to us, the things that define us and what will ultimately help mold our daughter into the kind of person that we all hope she will become.

Look for pics in the next couple of days.

Irony and Parenting

A friend of mine writes a very good semi-political blog that makes my little baby blog feel well babyish. Check him out at Borrowed Suits. His "domestic partner" and I were talking recently. Her name is Jayme and she complimented Trixie and I. She said she thought that it was nice that we didn't lose our identity as individuals when we became parents. She and I decided that that happens far too often in both parenting and marriage or relationships.

People tend to lose their identity to mold to the new relationship. That seems to go to the root of my dilemma with raising a child in today's society. We live in a world where every kid is so super special and everyone gets an award and no one keeps score and everything little Joey or Jane does is wonderful. Their whole childhood everyone is telling them how special and wonderful they are, and they are led to believe that they are "kind of a big deal."


Now, I don't think that we need to be mean to our children but I feel like we are doing a severe injustice to them. It's too easy to become arrogant and narcissistic with whole lives devoted to making kids feel special. Our lives have natural changed and we have adjusted to Mia's needs and will continue to do so, and of course I want her to feel special. Where does it end? I also want her to know what it takes to be dedicated to something, to being good at something, to be modest and sincere and humble -- to a certain extent.

Another friend of mine says she stumbles through parenting, she doesn't think anyone really knows what to do. She hopes that if she gives enough love then when her child is older she will know where to go to get affection.

I guess the comment about identity struck me so soundly because it's so true in life and just the opposite of what is needed. We are three separate people and should not be defined by each other only augmented, perhaps bettered.

Let me lastly point out the irony and my own hypocrisy. The blog by nature has a pretentious assumption that people are dying to know your opinion. And this blog is solely dedicated to tell all those interested parties how special and wonderful the Little M. is.