Bring Back, Bring Back...

We sing lots of songs to Baby J. One of her favorites is "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean." I have no clue where we learned this one or why we sing it to her but we do.

In case you don't know, the song goes like this:

My bonnie lies over the ocean.

My bonnie lies over the sea.

My bonnie lies of the ocean.

Oh, bring back my bonnie to me.

Bring back, bring back

Oh, bring back my bonnie to me, to me.

Bring back, bring back

Oh, bring back my bonnie to me.

Baby J especially likes the bring back, bring back part. She'll sing along with you when you get to that part or sometimes she'll just walk up to you and say "bring back, bring back" as a sort of request.

Combined with her love of stereos, iPods, and CD players, I'm think this puts Baby J in a career path of DJ.

Tiger

Baby J has developed an affinity for a stuffed tiger that my wife received as a graduation present. She calls it by name, "tiger." Actually, she calls it "taiga"which is Russian for "marshy pine forest." I kid you not. Look it up. My baby speaks Russian.

Anyway, today at playgroup, she waddled over to a new stuffed tiger and correctly identified it as a "taiga" and then she played with it for a while.

I left me wondering if she will continue to be interested in tiger toys. Will tigers become her favorite animal? Is this how kids develop favorites? Is it just a random association that forms at some point?

FIRSTS: Tantrum

Baby J lost it today in a way she never has before.

On our way into the library today I wouldn't let her run around in the parking lot. So she threw her first, full-on, real tantrum.

She threw herself on the ground and shouted and squealed and cried and hollered. One of the librarians came out because she thought two cats were fighting. Eventually, the storm passed and we went inside.

Though this was the first tantrum, I'm going to guess it won't be the last.

Trained Disobedience

There are many unstable and unpleasant people in this world.

Kids need to be able to trust adults in their lives. But, at the same time, they need to be able to distinguish between who is a positive adult influence and who is not. We can't have kids blindly trusting every single adult they meet, can we?

There needs to be a level of trained disobedience in kids. They need to practice disobeying adults they don't trust. Perhaps such learned defiance would have saved many a child from being involved in the current Catholic church sex abuse scandal. I think we'd all prefer to have children who are dubious of certain adults rather than children who have fallen victim to sexual predators.

So, now that I've made the case for trained disobedience, how do I intend to get Baby J where I think she needs to be? I have no idea. Maybe she'll be like me and be naturally skeptical of authority. Who knows?

Release the Kraken!

When I was growing up, I loved Clash of the Titans. So I was first in line to see the remake when it came out on Friday.

Actually, I wasn't technically the first person in line. There were other people in the theater by the time I got there. In fact, that's what I'd like to blog about today. There was one couple sitting behind me who had brought their baby boy to the showing. Mom was on one side, dad was on the other, and babe was sprawled out on a blanket on the seat fast asleep.

I was too wrapped up in the movie to really consider this but after we'd left, I wondered how that whole baby-sleeping-at-movie thing came about.

• How did that guy talk his wife into letting him bring the baby along with them?
• Why didn't they get a babysitter?
• Did they have to pay for the baby to see Clash of the Titans?
• If so, how much?
• How did the baby sleep through Clash of the Titans?
• Why did Perseus have a buzz cut?

I don't have the answers to any of these questions and I probably never will. All I know for sure is that that little boy will one day grow to be a great hero and that he alone will decide the fate of a mighty battle between mortals and their gods.

Mom Network

In response to this post my mother told me that I was never as unsupervised as I thought I was as a kid. She alluded to a "mom network" that kept watch over the children in the neighborhood. A sort of community based method of child rearing. Apparently, there were dangers in the world when I was growing up just like there are today. The difference was we had a strong community presence in our lives to buffer us from really hazardous stuff.

In conclusion, it would seem a breakdown in community has made the world a more threatening place, not an upsurge in threats.

Violence Again

At the library the other day, Baby J was wandering about. In her travels, she happened past a young manstanding with his mother at the DVD's. She looked at him and smiled. He shoulted, "no," and took a swipe at her.

The boy's mother immediately admonished her son but, as I leaned in and scooped up Baby J, I was a little disappointed by the content of her rebuke. It was something like this:

She didn't do anthing to you. You have no right to hit her.

Maybe I was just a little upset that Baby J was once again the victim of bae-onbabe violence but I felt this mom had it befudded when it came to explaining why her son was in the wrong. When is it ever okay for a child to hit another child for some sort of perceived offense? Aren't we supposed to teach our children to solve their problems peacably? I know that kids scrap and tussle from time to time but as a parent, aren't we supposed to be the adults and say that there are better ways of dealing with disputes?

So, did I say anything to this mother? Nope. I just punched her.

Recalled!

The recalls finally hit us!

After dodging the bullet over the course of several big recalls, our baby gates were recalled yesterday. Apparently, they are easily broken by babies and since they sit at the top of the stairs, they can create a dangerous situation.

You have to wonder why so many products are recalled these days. Shoddy craftsmenship. Toxic components. Sudden acceleration. Is it that the mass-produced widgets that fill our lives are so complex that snags are bound to form? Or is it that product quality is foresaken in the name of a company's bottom line?

I'm no economist so I coulndn't say for sure. All I know is I need a new baby gate now.

Sudden Shifts

Baby J's development seems to happen in sudden shifts. Recently, she's been picking up words and it seems to me to be all of a sudden. For so long, there was nothing but babble. Now, she repeats things you say and calls things by their proper name.

But these sudden shifts don't apply only to language development. It was the same with her teeth. For a long time, she didn't have any. Then, five suddenly came in all with out warning.

I guess they call them growth spurts for a reason. Otherwise, they'd call them growth slow and smooth transitions.

Shoeless in the Car

Baby J has recently developed a habit of removing her shoes and socks in the car.

It's a strange thing to do but I guess when you're a baby and you're stuck in a car seat with nothing to do and nowhere to go, you find things with which to busy your baby hands. When I was a kid, I used to do all kinds of crazy stuff on long car trips. I just hope Baby J is satisfied with removing her shoes and socks and stops there. I don't want her stripping down in the back seat when we drive the hour and a half to go see grandma and grandpa.

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Happy April Fool's Day, by the way.