parenting field research

Our week-long trip to chicago has delayed things severely, but today begins a three-day weekend (well-timed!), so here begins the catch-up...

Before I post the details of the trip, I'd like to document what we've learned the past week or so in the way of parenting tips (Parents: please don't hesitate to weigh in).

Saturday, we attended our friends' wedding at The Moody Church, and during the reception, got to pick the brains of a family of five that we know. One tip they shared with us was having everyone sit together at dinner until everyone has finished their meal. They've done this since their first child was old enough to sit at the table. The benefit they've reaped is well-behaved children in restaurants.

I also observed an impressive mother of five frequently curbing her special-needs daughter's uninhibited gesturing during the reception. Every time her daughter vocalized or raised an arm, her mother would gently subdue the distraction, and always with a loving smile. It's interesting that constant behavior modification (or discipline, if you like) can amount to more smiles, at least more than many distracted parents give in conversation settings like this. Unique love reinforcement opportunities.

This same mother later reminded us to make an effort to continue in dating one another, in order to maintain the romance that acts as preventative marriage maintenance. The Pookies consequently discussed which habits we should and could implement in our week, and Pookie suggested that date night could actually be a date morning, since so often I'm tired at the end of the week at the end of the day and consequently less conversational during what's supposed to be a special time together. Saturday mornings after my coffee is a candidate on the horizon...

Sunday, the wifey pook read from one of my mother's parenting books, and gave us this tip: Spend 15 minutes a day with each child. During this time, the goal is to learn about your child's likes, and to avoid disciplining attitudes and measures as much as possible.

Monday, the parents of Saturday's bride impressed upon us the dangers of resorting to using the mommy-daddy bed as a sleep aid for your fussy pooklet. They reaped the consequences of that as one of their children grew as a toddler. However, they also gave us hope by relating to us that this same child learned to use the toilet at only one year of age. I think Pookie's mom gave us similar advice: Just sit the little booger down on the pot and get 'er used to her future potty home as soon and as often as possible.

I also read an article in the chicago tribune that reminded me of what a couple other books of ours taught, that babies should sleep after every 90 minutes awake. What I was more impressed by, though, was the writer's commentary on parenting philosophy on the first 6 months. In generations past, mothers stayed at home during the first half-year of the child's life, to ensure healthy sleep habits, something we are constantly preoccupied with. Nowadays, parents are all about retaining their social freedom at the expense of their baby's schedule. And it never fails, that the more we take the pooklet out and about, the more things with which we thwart his sleep regularity, the more likely he'll fuss that night.
Parenthood is sacrifice in service of your child. There's no getting around it. Yet I think our selfish nature tries to resist as much sacrifice as possible, till we're doing the bare minimum (according to society's current trends) as we can get away with.
I believe there's satisfaction in putting the child first (outside of facilitating co-dependence) just like there's satisfaction in putting your spouse first, in serving your family before self. The sooner you embrace that truth, the sooner you can concentrate on it and lose the tension that comes from fighting it, because, after all, the fighting, if you choose it, won't end. And there's joy in humility, especially in light of the future you can have with the greater rewards of a mature, loving family, instead of the lonely, logical end of a self-serving life.

It's just 6 months.

Freedom necessitates boundaries

Will adults in our society restrict their own freedom to promote children's welfare?

That's a question posited, in a wonderful interview in WORLD magazine, by David Tubbs, professor at The King's College, NYC. He's written a book that I'd love to read, Freedom's Orphans: Contemporary Liberalism and the Fate of American Children.

Tubbs examines "the great expansion of individual rights in American law over the past six decades" that came with little attention to their implications for children.

My favorite part of his interview elucidates the difference between positive and negative freedom. He reveals the enslaving consequences of undiscerning freedom:

The more widely known idea is "negative": It means "absence of restraint" or "the liberty to choose." But there's another idea of freedom, the "positive" notion. It means "self-governance." We can grasp this idea if we think of persons becoming "enslaved" to dangerous passions--such as drink, drugs, or pornography. This idea of freedom makes it easier, for example, to justify laws that ban the sale of addictive drugs (even though these laws restrict choice), because a person who becomes addicted is no longer "self-governing. ... Education promotes self-governance, and we don't let children choose whether they will be educated. Instead, we require schooling, because an illiterate person is radically dependent on others and therefore "unfree."

He also notes that religious observances, despite being alleged as oppressive, have, in the West, long been thought to promote positive freedom. He cites John 8:23, a crucial worldview passage by which Christians ought to live: "If you continue in My (Jesus') word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth and it will make you free." He then notes:

Religious observance helps many people to resist potentially destructive passions and impulses and therefore promotes their freedom.

Tubbs also differentiates between "classical" and "contemporary liberalism:"

Contemporary liberals tend to think that personal freeedom for adults is
presumptively more important than any competing social interest, including many
pertaining to the welfare of children. Classical liberals have a broader understanding of the public good and are less likely to accept such a presumption.

Another observation Tubbs makes is in regard to a wavering adult perception of children's vulnerability:

We no longer have religious exercises in public schools partly because the High Court has said that children who don't want to participate in the exercises can be "indirectly coerced" into participating. To accept this theory of "indirect coercion," we must assume that children are psychologically and morally frail. That is a broadly accurate characterization of children, but the Supreme Court should be consistent in applying it. When, for example, the Court decides cases in which adults assert free-speech rights to pornography and children are exposed to such images, the Court usually depicts children as morally sturdy and somehow "inoculated" against pornography. This is a huge inconsistency in First Amendment law."

As we consider the notion of homeschooling our kids, we regardless face with certainty our responsibility to define the pooklet's freedoms as he gets older. Likewise, it is incumbent upon us to consider the implications of a biblical worldview as we engage our culture. I struggle daily with presenting the winsomness of the gospel (and the worldview it creates), because it requires confrontation with the sin we're all loathe to part with, namely the pride of presumed rights and deservations (if that's a word). There is always a beautiful view of life atop the mountain peak, but it's getting through the valley of difficult truths that's the hard part.

The Testimony & Exhortation of Anne Rice

The family and I left for vacation in Chicago Tuesday night, and I've been delayed in my posts. Here's a late one, from Good Friday...

Anne Rice, who became a Christian 10 years ago, has posted a moving and exhortive testimony to God's trustworthiness on the Washington Journal online. I've excerpted bits below, but recommend the entire read.

On the afternoon in 1998 when faith returned, I experienced a sense of the limitless power and majesty of God that left me convinced that He knew all the answers to the theological and sociological questions that had tormented me for years. I saw, in one enduring moment, that the God who could make the Double Helix and the snow flake, the God who could make the Black holes in space, and the lilies of the field, could do absolutely anything and must know everything --- even why good people suffer, why genocide and war plague our planet, and why Christians have lost, in America and in other lands, so much credibility as people who know how to love. I felt a trust in this all-knowing God; I felt a sudden release of all my doubts. Indeed, my questions became petty in the face of the greatness I beheld. I felt a deep and irreversible assurance that God knew and understood every single moment of every life that had ever been lived, or would be lived on Earth. I saw the universe as an immense and intricate tapestry, and I perceived that the Maker of the tapestry saw interwoven in that tapestry all our experiences in a way that we could not hope, on this Earth, to understand.

...

Within days of my return to Christ, I also became aware of something very important: that the first temptation we face as returning Christians is to criticize another Christian and his or her way of approaching Jesus Christ. I perceived that I had to resist that temptation, that I had to seek in my
faith and in my love for God a complete certainty that He knew all about these factions and disputes, and that He knew who was right or who was wrong, and He would handle how and when He approached every single soul. Why do I talk so much about this trust now? Because I think perhaps that with many Christians it is lacking, and in saying this I’m yielding to the temptation I just described. But let me speak my peace not critically so much as with an exhortation. Trust in Him. If you believe in Him, then trust Him. Trust what He says in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and trust what He says about having conquered evil; trust that He has won. Don’t ever succumb to the fear that evil is winning in this world, no matter how bad things may appear. Don’t ever succumb to the fear that He does not witness our struggles, that He is not with every single soul.

note to NYC and the UK

Today's lunch was spent on two postponed projects that I'm grateful to be able to work on.

I've begun retracing the last 4 months of pooklet's life and beyond in order to make a list of notes and recommended gear for my newly pregnant friends. I know friends of the wifey sometimes check in here, so feel free to comment with your faves and warnings for 1^st trimester through month one.

Similarly friend-related, I've also been working on an outsized essay I've called "Which Struggle," as a response to my friend in England regarding the inquiry she made on an admittedly vague generalization I made in an old post. However, after today's contributions of thoughts to Word, I'm beginning to think it will never come to fruition. It's beginning to feel like a book I'm unqualified to write. Oh well. I've since made more effort to write only that which is easier for me to expound on. Like how many times the pooklet pooped in one hour.

weekend engagement

this is my brother-in-law adler holding the pooklet, and his brand new fiancee natasha.
they got engaged this weekend. pesci is between them, mediating.

mrow.

I've been sluggishly asking around of our friends who'd consider taking a cat or two, since finding out that the pooklet is allergic.
pesci, the black one, has been more affectionate than usual lately, too, which has been bittersweet. he's such a unique cat. unafraid, stubborn as he is friendly, always desirous of being in our gatherings, he always looks like a family member, hopping onto whatever chair, lap, or garbage can will put him at our level.
i've had both cats since late 1997, when they were both kittens.

To Pee So Free

Pooklet wet the bed in his Pack 'n' Play last night. Silly me didn't think his diapie needed changing at 3am after a feeding. We think he's going through a growth spurt, eating more during the night, and eating more at each feeding (That's a safe bet, right?).
Anyway, his diapie was like a balloon this morning but he was just as sweet and smiley as can be.

Awww, to be a pooklet free to pee, to soil with reckless abandon, with nary a care in the world.

I see a new poem in the works!



On a drier note, we belatedly put the baby bjorn to use yesterday. We somehow thought pooklet wasn't qualified to ride in it yet, so we've wasted precious front-mount bonding time and back muscle development. We're going to Chicago on Wednesday for a wedding and returning a week later, and I'm currently trying to figure out when to employ The Bjorn.

How to Lull Your Pooklet to Sleep

Here's an overdue music recommendation for new parents: Sing Over Me: Worship Songs and Lullabies.
It's a great collection of some of my female favorites: Nichole Nordeman, Bethany Dillon, and Christy Nockels, and a couple others with whom I'm unfamiliar.

I've failed in the habit I set out to create a couple months ago, of memorizing worship music to sing our pooklet to sleep. so i still only have about five songs i can sing to him by heart. But the most prominent song in my repertoire by far, a Pookie favorite, is "May the Words of My Mouth," sung by Christy Nockels and Janna Long. I'm still not familiar with Janna Long, but this album and a couple other songs by Christy Nockels led me to buy Watermark's "A Grateful People," a nice, celebratory, live worship album, which is currently in rotation in the Camry's CD player.

It's funny how crying is a pre-sleep soothing mechanism for babies, and that it persists even when the pooklet is laid down in his bed. one would think he's all set for bed-ums and he can stop crying and start snoring, but no. what seems obvious to the parent is not apparent to the pooklet. however, there is great pleasure in rocking a fussy overly tired pookberry in your arms while gently singing him to sleep. Watching a few yawns... then the eyelids droop... and the sleep overtake him.
there's satisfaction in reconciling the sleep-deprived fuss-bear with his rest.

sum dim sum

Pooklet has uttered his first word!

Nying!

We're still figuring out what it means, but we're pretty sure it's a proper noun.



dim sum with friends today.

this is a pretty typical activity for us, as it's one of three things we can do with grandma. we might play mah jong with her later today, which is the second (and very rare) thing we can do with her. The third and main thing is letting her hold the pooklet.

4-month checkup

Here are the stats for 3-21-08:

26.5" long (94th percentile!)
17" head circumference
14lb, 12oz (51st percentile)

We can now begin giving him rice cereals, but we're going to wait to see what the gastrointestinal specialist says about the occasional blood in his diapie, two weeks from now.

oh, boy! grainy taupe-colored paste is on the way!

cute as a litter full of pookies

There are few things cuter than a Pooklet that's just woken up in the morning. He blinks and stares at us with curiosity as he remembers who we are, and then waits for us to play with him. And after watching the wifey's sleep patterns, I've come to appreciate the simpler things more - among which that there's nothing like a rested POOK!

And lately he's been clutching a duckhead blankey when he falls asleep (which we then have to pry away from him). That's pretty stinkin' awesome, too.

It was even awesome when he pooped in his bathtub last night. So carefree... so comfortable.

uncramped pooklet care

Yesterday, I was able to get home early (albeit tired) and feed, play with, and put down the pooklet on my own. It’s unique when I have the pooklet all to myself and I’m not in the backseat of a Camry. It was nice sitting on the bed with a bottle and a baby.
He was fussy when I was holding him, but he went down a lot easier than on most nights lately. It’s slightly discouraging when I’m holding him and he seems disinterested in my face but cranes to look at and smile at mommy as she’s preparing to leave. And then he fusses when I hold him. While I can’t say I enjoy this contrast, I believe it’s normal and likely to change. I will say that it is nice to be in the position to allow the wife to stay home with the pooklet. It reinforces my hope of good child development.

He’s been sucking his hand like crazy this past week. And this morning, he grabbed and sucked my finger when it was in close enough proximity to his tractor beam.

fighting promotion

the pookies began a study of Hebrews last night with a new bunch of people our age, mostly married couples. A lovely couple hosted in a lovely home in a lovely Brookside neighborhood, with a lovely dinner to boot.

At work, I've been thinking about the network of management and how much more difficult it must be to maintain a godly servant's attitude when you have people under you. I've never really had that responsibility, and credit that, in part, as something that's helped me to be more easy-going and humble. What's humbling, however, is how much more difficult it would be if I had power. I find I like responding to requests, and doing the best I can for whomever asks, even when they conflict, but this is far easier - this reactive life - than balancing gentleness with effectiveness as a manager or officer in a company. When I used to play capoeira, my disposition handicapped my game. My playfulness did not the fight aspect serve well.

that's all. just the musings of an aspiring servant.

foooood.

Man, I love food.
The sugar-sprinkled sweet potato fries at Tapioca Express are awesome. I had a few of those with my Taro-Coconut Snowbubble boba drink yesterday.
We ate at all these great restaurants this weekend because we had Entertainment book coupons that expire today.

However, I recently gave up running on the treadmill at work during my lunch hour, so I'm hoping my half-asian metabolism will continue to take up the slack.

he's just being a baby...

Here’s the pooklet enjoying a tickling.


On a darker note, I’ve been getting into a bad habit these past nights of putting off the inconsolably crying pooklet onto his mother.

It goes something like this: Rock, coo, binkify (pacifier), sing, pat, rub, but nothing works, so I leave and basically say, “Your turn.” I’m convinced his mother is better at soothing him than I, so it’s mainly for expediency’s sake that I do this, but it’s become a habit of comfort – my comfort. I say ‘mainly’ admitting that I’m also a tired guy who wants out of this trying situation, but because the wife is better, it’s become easy to pass this duty off to her. The wife rightly and nightly admonishes me to see this as bonding time and one of many challenges to come. I know this to be true and I know I’m being a baby, a selfish baby who’s become pampered by giggles and smiles, naps and feedings, playtime and tummy time, and even the cute (albeit intense) cries he makes when the bottle is taken away for burpsies. I don’t mind getting spat up on (which happens with just about every feeding now), and I don’t even mind changing diapers. But those aren't really all that challenging, and they're brief endeavors at that.

I think this is just laziness borne out of the blessings that come with an easy baby. If he were colicky, I’d have more trials and a higher threshold.

As I prepare to tackle this afresh, patience will be the key, for starters. I go through all the remedies like I’m checking them off, but I don’t spend very long with each one. I need to be optimistic and creative. When my back starts to ache or my sciatica kicks in from rocking him while standing, I can sit and bounce the knee for a vibratory effect.

Here’s hoping I’ll improve my endurance and attitude. I do, after all, enjoy improvising songs for his sake.

Speaking of songs, here’s one we sing when we’re all alert and in a good mood:

When you are a pooklet, DINK! DINK!
Everyone’s your friend
When you are a pooklet, DINK! DINK!
Giggles have no end
I’m a little pooklet, DINK! DINK!

phil wickham

my friend james recommended phil wickham and i liked iTunes song excerpts enough to buy the album 'cannons,' and with each listening, i like it ever more. there's some great stuff on this album, particularly in the first few tracks (I'm still becoming familiar with it) I'm not sure what i'd liken him to, so if you're curious about my recommendation, check him out on iTunes.

pook, interrupted

pooklet's been fussy lately when it's time to go down for the night. he interrupted our salvadorean pupusas and tamales this time. the wifey can calm him down, but he doesn't seem to relax with me during this time (i blame the lack of breasts and "mama smell").

the sad thing is that when i came home, he was playful but off-limits to incoming daddies because he didn't sleep enough today, and should've been sleeping at the time i came home, hence, off-limits to papa pook.

still, he was cute when i was feeding him and while we gave him a bath (which has become a lot more regular since we found out just how sensitive his skin is to eczema).

just like a grandma, i love to watch my contented baby eat to satisfy hunger, sleep peacefully to satisfy rest, and play to satisfy curiosity and energy.

ah, the pooklet.

Spew!

Isaac's new habit is spitting up saliva an hour after eating. After getting the quickest good haircut of my life yesterday (I must remember the name Anita), pooklet demonstrated this. thus, the parent is heretofore absolved of blame stemming from insufficient burping.
Also, he made more noise than usual last night, particularly frustrating the mama pook. He made many a late night proclamation through the baby monitor that interrupted our sleep, all just short of the full-blown "hungry bear cry."

pookitypookityPOOKLET!

So it came back that the pooklet is allergic to cats and cats alone (this was the translation of the lab results). Pookie found this hard to believe, but if we get confirmation, it will mean she can resume eating all the things she'd given up since we first discovered blood in the pooklet's diapie, which means dairy and soy. As for the cats, we'll try to determine if it's acceptable to wait out these allergen symptons, in hopes that the pooklet will grow in his immunity to one day ride the cats around the house like a normal child.

the wee pook.

the weekend

Saturday night, the pookies played music at our church for a night of performances by the Chinese school that uses the facility on Saturdays. Beforehand, as has been a new ritual for me, I jumped on one of the high schoolers' skateboards, and returned to the days of kickflips and nose wheelies. Well, after several brief but weekly skate sessions at church, I’m actually recovering some old tricks I never thought I’d revisit in my thirties (or any other decade after the first two). I landed a frontside no-comply pivot-out Saturday night. Man, that felt good. SOMEBODY holla back.
And of course, my body ached that night from repeated falls and jerky movements.

The Pookies went to San Jose yesterday to see our friend get baptized. The sermon that preceded her baptism was our first experience in a church’s “listening room,” in other words, “the room where babies can scream and not interrupt the service.”

My friend in New York called during the luncheon that followed to say that he and his wife are pregnant. Knowing the joy of our own newborn, that was exciting to hear. He noted my blog entries that document the difficulties of being new parents, and it makes me wonder what kind of picture I’ve painted of being a new parent. Well, I abide by the standard line that it’s all worth it, and would add that I’m beside myself with adoration for our little pooklet now, and can’t wait to experience the different stages of the father-son relationship to come. However, I am wary of the teenage years.

Before returning home, we hit the Korean grocery store, HanKook, and the wifey went a little nuts with the selection. We bought some really good raw fish for our dinner, packed it in ice, and had pseudo-sushi when we got home. We wrapped it with warm rice in Korean sesame-flavored seaweed paper, sprinkled some fish roe on it and had the perfect meal for the end of a nice, full weekend.

On a side note, the pookies have been eating a tablespoon of local honey every day as a recommended remedy to combat the local allergens. (I, in particular, have evil eczema on my shin that I'll do just about anything to get rid of. Scratching till i bleed doesn't seem to be working.) So, what happens is that we only remember/have time to take our honey at night, right before bed. it's not the best sleep aid, but the crash that follows helps.

Giggles the Bear

Driving home from San Jose yesterday, Pookie was tickling the pooklet in the back seat, and i've never seen him laugh so much. Another great milestone. I was never more appreciative of the mirror we installed in the back seat that lets us monitor him from the front.

Roth Conversions & Neck-Hiding Cheek Fat

Yesterday, I finally got around to converting my traditional IRA into a Roth. I’ll probably pay the taxes on it next year, but I’m curious as to what my employer can deduct from my paycheck each period and what effect that will have on paying down the amount.

And today, another financial accomplishment. The busyness of marriage and parenting has delayed our financial planning for months, but I’m finally checking things off the investment to-do list.

(This is one of those strictly documentative journal entries that isn’t intended to entertain. But look, I’ll insert a baby picture here.)


Finances is one of those marriage-killers you hear about – the number one or two cause of marital stress – but the Pookies, as inept as they often are, have navigated this as a couple fairly well despite the preoccupation it is for me, nagging from the back of my mind when my financial planning efforts are delayed.

But more importantly, the Pooklet broke 14lbs yesterday. Man is he a chubbo. His head will never fall too far forward because of all the cheek fat that props him up.

Oh, and I swear he said the word ‘igloo’ today.

Tummy Time and the Reformed Church

Pooklet had great tummy time today (There’s a phrase I never would’ve imagined typing a year ago), lifting his head high and making us proud.

Recently, the Pooklet’s been coughing and sneezing, and breaking out in little bumps on his face, ears, neck and legs. So today we took him to Kaiser to see an allergist. We had blood drawn from his arm (much crying) and are eagerly awaiting to see if he’s allergic to anything. Sadly, if it turns out to be cats, I’ll most likely be looking for friends who’ll take them.


Reformed theology fans: check out christianaudio.com. If you sign up, they alert you to a free download each month, giving you a coupon code to waive all costs. I just downloaded “Confessions of the Reformed Church,” and I still haven’t finished last month’s “How To Pray,” by R.A. Torrey.

Pookie’s friend also alerted us to iTunes University, where you can download free courses! I just subscribed to Reformed Theological Seminary’s course “The Church and the World.” Haven’t listened to it yet, but it sounds great!

pre-Kindle

I'm flirting with Amazon.com's new Kindle. I want one.
Ever desirous of reducing the amount of things that take up space, I picture disposing of a bookshelf full of books because they're all on my Kindle. I'm more pragmatic than romantic, so the notion of tossing bound literature in favor of yet another handheld electronic device doesn't bother me, especially when I consider that I may actually be more aware and consequently more literate of my books if I have easier (read: unhindered) access to them.

There are a couple features I really like about the Kindle. One is the note-taking capabilities. I just finished a lengthy period of reading my friend's copy of "Statecraft," where I couldn't mark it up as I'm prone, because it doesn't belong to me. The Kindle allows you to make notes, and then delete, edit, and compile them into an emailable document. This appeals to me because the things I underline in books always end up in electronic form anyway.

Another feature is even better. It's the dictionary. Usually when I encounter a word or name in a book, I'm disinclined to fetch my dictionary in the living room. With Statecraft especially, there are lots of names and terms I would've loved to look up in either Kindle's dictionary or by its access to Wikipedia.

When I was out with the flu for most of a week last month, I spent most of my time reading Statecraft, and at a couple points, I got a little tired of it. So I took a break from it and picked up my current read, "Legislating Morality." With the Kindle's repertoire of books, I can switch back and forth simply by pressing a few buttons.

I'm also eager to see the revolutionary technology that is the Kindle's digitized-ink paper simulation.

I checked Amazon's selection of Kindle-compatible "religion and spirituality" books, and they have 4,786. I couldn't find a couple of my books there, so I'll wait, especially since it is, after all, an unnecessary $400+ purchase.

Picture this, though: meeting a Muslim on the street and getting the opportunity to tell him about Christ's participatory promise of salvation. This stranger welcomes a dialogue on religion and you begin to discuss what the scriptures say. Which scriptures? Oh, the surahs I have right here on my electronic Qur'an (and hopefully, a digital version of Islamic scripture won't be an offense to him), and the verses in my e-NASB.

I don't really expect that scenario, but I just love the idea of referencing just about anything quickly and easily, especially when a passing thought remains exactly that when searching for a book and passage doesn't seem worth the effort.

A New Record

Pooklet threw up a lot last night as I fed him. Biggest spit-up yet. Poor The Pooklet. All that work undone. Still, he slept through the night.

itch trumps bleeding: life with eczema

isn't it funny how satisfying the urge to itch can take precedent over preserving the integrity of your skin?

how we willingly destroy ourselves because of untempered desires? what a great illustration.



i sure hope the wife doesn't read this. she's opposed to self-inflicted-bleeding.

The Daily Pooklet

I check in periodically with a wonderful blog that's been a source of good parenting and theology insights, and reading today, I was inspired to blog daily on something our little isaac is doing.

I hope to post each day a brief snippet of the preceding day in the life of a POOKlet.

Here's yesterday's:

When the mama pook teaches a spin class after picking me up from work, I sit in the car with the pooklet and we chat or I feed him. Over the last few days, he's been fussier than normal, and we're not sure why. But for the first time in my life, I'm craving an SUV to gain more head and shoulder room during these cramped feeding times. Burping a fussy (read: unpredictable head jerks) baby over your shoulder in a Camry leaves a lot to be desired, in particular, tens of thousands of dollars for a bigger cabin on wheels combination.

*Incidentally, there's a link at the aforementioned blog to a soon-to-be-launched site called Tumblon that sounds intriguing. In the words of one of its creators, it "will help you understand, nurture, preserve and share your children’s development." You can read about it on the Tumblon blog.