A daily dose of mama guilt ...
I often feel like I'm not doing enough with my baby. Do you ever feel that way (if you have a baby)?
Like there's someone out there doing super fun and stimulating stuff while you can never think of doing anything more original than kiss his neck over and over again?
For example, when I had baby Mela, my friend Angela would mention the fun activities and songs she would do with her baby (like "The Grand Old Duke of York") and I'd be like, "ugh.... this morning I kissed her toes?"
And I realized the other day that I'd never sung "Old MacDonald has a Farm" to Mela! What's wrong with me?!
I suspect that all moms have this paranoia to a certain extent (have you seen some of the baby merchandise geared to "baby development"??), especially if they're at all competitive (*ahem*). And I know the most important thing you can do with your child is talk to them, not plug them into Baby Einstein videos or flash cards.
I try to stay cool about it (beware the Mama Guilt!) but it's been creeping in my mind lately almost every time I kiss my little Senor.
Do you know of any games that are good for a 5 month old, other than "watch my dancing fingers," "tickle the belly," and saying "ahhh-chooo!" over and over again?
It's also getting a little painful to see fellow toddlers expanding their vocabularies daily (e.g. "delicious," "octopus," "Mela, come sit down!") while we're still communicating at the Mama-Dada level. I know that some kids just get it later than others and there's not really anything more we can do but meanwhile, we're missing out on hearing all about her view of the world at this age.
Although "WOW!" really can communicate a lot.
At least we know patty-cake!
Like there's someone out there doing super fun and stimulating stuff while you can never think of doing anything more original than kiss his neck over and over again?
For example, when I had baby Mela, my friend Angela would mention the fun activities and songs she would do with her baby (like "The Grand Old Duke of York") and I'd be like, "ugh.... this morning I kissed her toes?"
And I realized the other day that I'd never sung "Old MacDonald has a Farm" to Mela! What's wrong with me?!
I suspect that all moms have this paranoia to a certain extent (have you seen some of the baby merchandise geared to "baby development"??), especially if they're at all competitive (*ahem*). And I know the most important thing you can do with your child is talk to them, not plug them into Baby Einstein videos or flash cards.
I try to stay cool about it (beware the Mama Guilt!) but it's been creeping in my mind lately almost every time I kiss my little Senor.
Do you know of any games that are good for a 5 month old, other than "watch my dancing fingers," "tickle the belly," and saying "ahhh-chooo!" over and over again?
It's also getting a little painful to see fellow toddlers expanding their vocabularies daily (e.g. "delicious," "octopus," "Mela, come sit down!") while we're still communicating at the Mama-Dada level. I know that some kids just get it later than others and there's not really anything more we can do but meanwhile, we're missing out on hearing all about her view of the world at this age.
Although "WOW!" really can communicate a lot.
At least we know patty-cake!
Comments
As the older half of a two-babies-two-years scenario, I vaguely remember first learning Mr. Sun by Raffi at daycare...? Preschool...? I think your only job is to love and survive and a lot of this octopus/Old McDonald business will come with organized community programs.
Look - a few years ago, a cavewoman just sat and grunted at her baby, and we're here today and everything is alright, right? There are people way less creative than us who do a lot less, even if we're doing the bare minimum.
I felt bad because the night Nanny gave Jelly her bath she told me they played some sort of hair-toweling game and I was like, 'Huh? There's a game there I haven't been doing?!' Mommy guilt is insidious.