I had to go to a concert last night for work (it's a long story) and that was after my date with Amber to see the gay Jew movie so I had no time to write yesterday. And I must admit, Day 4 of Week 4 is a little hazy. But I'm writing this as if it were, in fact, written on Day 4 for continuity's sake.
I'm assembling my best of 2009 mix (this always takes me a long time, but this year it's taking especially long) and Gavin has been helping me. During play time I put on CDs that I dug from last year and decide if they're worthy. We've tossed several out that I'd thought of as contenders earlier last year (Ida Maria, Tune-Yards, Grizzly Bear to name a few). Gavin doesn't really have much editorial discretion, but he is my main dancer parter and fellow music listener. It's actually really nice to just lay on the floor with someone and listen to records. It's like we're teens in the 60s.
This morning was Baby Time at the library again. The weather was complete shit. Snowing, super cold, and blowing wind. Despite that, everything was in line for us to get there on time but then Gavin woke up with a poo filled diaper. That kind of clean up isn't something you want to rush, so I resigned myself to being a couple minutes late. But because of said weather most people were a bit late so we didn't have to be shamed or anything. I'm happy to report that the story time portion of Baby Time did, in fact, consist of a different book than last week's. Because last week all of the kids knew all of the hand movements to the book, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, I thought maybe they did the same book each week. Which would be disappointing, but only for me. Little kids love repetition. They did sing the same songs, though, which went smoother this time because I was more familiar with them (although I did screw up "Wheels On the Bus" by singing "all day long" instead of "all through the town." I wasn't following the song sheet. Thankfully I sing very quietly right into Gavin's ear so he's probably the only one who noticed. And by that I mean no one noticed because he doesn't know the song either. He's still very resistant to the song where you're supposed to clap your hands. He doesn't like to have his arms grabbed and manipulated, so trying to make him clap is basically trying to get him to touch his clenched fists together. He's more interested in the carpet. In fact, while he was sitting there, he was so interested in his neighbor's carpet square, which was a different color than his, he reached for it and did a face plant. I caught his arm so he didn't fall with his full weight on to his face, but pretty close. He cried a bit but recovered quickly. I always do my best to put on a happy face and a sort of "play through" demeanor when he gets hurt (which hasn't been often and certainly hasn't been badly) or startled (this happens more often) to minimize tears. It's not that I'm a terrible mother who won't let her son cry (like the guy my sister was telling me about whose mom used to hold him in front of a mirror when he cried so he could "see how ugly" he looked). But I have certainly learned that kids take their cues about how scared to be from their parents. And if I'm not freaking out, chances are good he won't either. There are a lot of really good reasons to cry in this world and real, actual pain Gavin will unfortunately probably experience some day. So I just want him to have a good grasp on which is which.
In any case, there were a lot more moms and babies at Baby Time today and Gavin made a new friend named Clementine. When I told my little sister Amanda this she said, "Is Clementine a dog?" No, she is a little girl almost Gavin's age and about half his size. Clementine's mom, whose name I can't remember, was really nice and I think we might have a lot in common. She got her MFA recently (in non-fiction) and her husband is getting his right now (in graphic design or something along those lines). They moved her from Minnesota (I think) pretty recently. So maybe we'll be future play date friends. I thought about getting her email or something but I figured I'd see if she shows next week first. I don't want to rush things. She and her daughter could turn out to be terrible people. You never know.
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