Tuesday, February 6th, 2007...2:18 pm
from our little milky bubble
Jump to Comments
When I had Sage I didn’t have a computer, and I didn’t read blogs. It’s very handy to have a pastime that you can enjoy in ten minute snatches in between tending to a tiny and very sweet little person.
He sleeps at night! We love him so! He’s getting fat, too, which is great. I like a fat little baby. Unfortunately so do the descending hordes of clucky Ladies at the supermarket who have lipstick on their teeth and giant sharp rings and want to fondle my poor little infant.
Also, I may never eat pumpkin soup again. I expect all parents will know why.
28 Comments
February 6th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
pictures *please* when you have a moment of the little chubster so we can all go goochigoochigoo & put some more lipstick on
February 6th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Oh, I want to see him!
BTW: Any tips on dealing with the lipstick ladies? Paul and I were discussing that phenomenon the other day and I find it rather frightening…
February 6th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
You must learn a death voice. That is, drop your voice as many octaves as you can, then growl ‘take your hands off my child.’ Wanton baby fondlers are even worse than all those bastards who thought that your bump was actually a ‘rub here’ sign.
Alternatively, if you are wandering up and down the streets of a town you don’t know very well and are lonely, you’ll appreciate the lipstick ladies because they resemble adult contact. Then you’ll dislike them violently when they start commenting on your poor parenting. Oh, how my mum laughed at the speed with which one bustled off after I hissed at her to mind her own f***ing business!!
Zoe, I am so pleased to hear that he is treating you well and that you won’t be sending him back to teh baby shop any time soon.
February 6th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
*cluck!*
February 6th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
cluckity cluck!
loving the flickr fotos too.
February 6th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Meredith, all the clucky goodness you could want at flickr
Re lipstick ladies – I let them have a little go, then say he’s tired. Having a muslin over the pram so you can put him out of reach works well.
February 6th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Good tips. Thanks.
So far I have had few walk-by rubs, which I am very relieved about.
I too have been loving the flixr action Zoe.
February 6th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Pumpkin soup?
Do I want to know?
Is my clock going to tick backwards any further if I DO know?
February 6th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Oh no!
I fear I may be a lipstick lady, despite rarely wearing it and not owning any rings.
I do love to cluck. Mush.
But then, I defy anyone to wander through Adelaide’s Central Markets on a Friday night and not melt at the sight of the cute little Asian babies.
Glad to hear you’re going well!
February 6th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Does pumpkin soup really look like that?
But it’s so delicious!
February 6th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
I’m rereading Perfume at the moment (asking for trouble, I know, but I feel an urge to have it fresh in my mind when I see the movie) and rediscovered this bit:
‘[...] But now be so kind as to tell me: what does a baby smell like when he smells the way you think he ought to smell? Well?’
‘He smells good,’ said the wet nurse.
‘What do you mean, “good”?’ Terrier bellowed at her. ‘Lots of things smell good. A bouquet of lavendar smells good. Stewed meat smells good. The gardens of Arabia smell good. but what does a baby smell like, is what I want to know?’
The wet nurse hesitated. She knew very well how babies smell, she knew precisely [...] But never until now had she described it in words.
‘Well?’ barked Terrier, clicking his fingernails impatiently.
‘Well its –’ the wet nurse began, ‘it’s not easy to say, because … because they don’t smell the same all over, although they smell good all over, Father, you know what I mean? Their feet for instance, they smell like a smooth warm stone — or no, more like curds … or like butter, like fresh butter, that’s it exactly. They smell like fresh butter. And their bodies smell like … like a pancake that’s been soaked in milk. And their heads, up on top, at the back of the head, where the hair makes a cowlick, there, see where I mean, Father, there where you’ve got nothing left…’ And she tapped the bald spot on the head of the monk who, struck speechless by this flood of detailed inanity, had obediently bent his head down. ‘There, right there, is where they smell best of all. It smells like caramel, it smells so sweet, so wonderful, Father, you have no idea! Once you’ve smelled them there, you love them whether they’re your own or somebody else’s. [...]‘
Isn’t that fabbo?
February 6th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
It’s true, I was thinking the back of their little necks smells like caramel as I read it.
Shame about the pumpkin soup end.
February 6th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
I get a bit torn. Anyone who reads mine knows I’ve been a complete psycho since our 4 week old blossom’s birth, waving kitchen implements around when I hear a noise that could by some remote stretch be a burglar and declaring to the TV repeatedly that assaulters, dangerous drivers, kiddy fiddlers, and people who market short skirts to tweenage girls should be hanged, drawn, then left on a nest of ginger ants. However…
Most of the coochie coo crowd are harmless and mean well, and I must say as a proud dad I am chuffed at the responses my poppette (who is ridiculously cute, of course!) gets from passing little old ladies etc.
So I tend to stand back, giving off just a hint of nutty protectiveness with my mad staring eyes.
February 6th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
I really must be out of the baby loop because I wouldn’t dream of touching someone’s baby without permission. Smiling at the baby from a respectable distance is respectable. Now where are the pictures so I can smile respectably?
February 6th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
At one end mustard plasters. Ick. At the other, absolute innocence. . .
February 6th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
I know what that means, hmmn – memories. Every time I look at my 2 now, thinking how I wish they were babies – I will think of your pumpkin soup analogy – thank you, oh, and congratulations!
February 7th, 2007 at 6:36 am
Then my suspicions were correct: babies really do exude an addictive pheromone…
February 8th, 2007 at 7:35 am
btw, i don’t know Zoe, i remember finding the pumpkin soup quite unoffensive – sweet, earthy bouquet. i reckon it’s only when they start eating meat that their poo really becomes putrid.
love the caramel quote.
February 8th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Wear the baby in a sling instead of pushing a pram. Pushy ladies with lipstick can’t fondle the baby if the baby’s attached to your chest, because even pushy ladies with lipstick respect the personal space of adults even if they utterly fail to respect the personal space of babies.
Also, if they do try, you can just cross your arms over the baby.
I like this one because there are no straps etc to fuss with but my sister-in-law liked her wrap one which I found impossible to get a baby into without someone to help. Which is not that useful.
Plus, the sling saves all that lugging stroller out of boot, uncollapsing, putting baby in, trying to get stroller up stairs, round corners etc, taking baby out when baby starts crying, pushing empty stroller, collapsing stroller, putting stroller back in boot, etc. It’s just SO much easier.
February 8th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
That quote is wonderful!
I just want mine to come out now so that I can spent a day sniffing its little body (even the bottom).
February 8th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Jethro spends quite a bit of time slinging, but if you’re going to get one Cristy, make sure it’s a hands free job. It’s bloody hard to do the shopping one handed.
February 8th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
And they don’t work so well when you birth a baby elephant that packs on his body weight within the first six weeks!
I never felt my muscles caught up with his ginormous bulk, so I got around the car boot problem by buying a rainshade for the pram and hoofing it. Helps the waistline! (such as it is)
February 9th, 2007 at 8:18 am
We have been given a baby Bjorn by a family member (along with many many other gratefully received hand-me-downs) so that will help.
We also looked at slings, but have been asked not to buy one so that another family member has something to give us at the birth… The ones that we saw all seemed to be hands-free – which ones aren’t?
[I am hoping not to have a baby elephant, even though that one in the car ad does melt my heart...]
February 9th, 2007 at 8:50 am
Some slings/carriers don’t give enough head support for a newborn, so you end up having to keep one hand on their head.
If you get one where the baby can be in a reclining position this shouldn’t be a problem.
Baby bjorn is good for an hour or so, but you shouldn’t leave a baby in one for any longer as in the upright position the baby is basically hanging by the crotch, which causes compression in the spine and potentially could cause hip dysphasia. You can get carriers like the Ergo where the baby is in an upright position but with the legs much further apart – like a sitting position – where the baby’s weight is spread between their hips, thighs and spine.
Suggest you google for more info.
February 11th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Oh but wail til a little bowel adventure causes the pumpkin soup to grow, swell and then escape through the wrist and ankle cuffs & finally the neckline of that cute little jump suit from nanny. I also quite enjoyed “Spot the Poo” which involved finding strangely lodged pieces of fecal evidence in some very strange places. How it got there? Never could tell.
And as for lipstick ladies, pepper spray works quite well.
February 13th, 2007 at 6:43 am
“Having a muslin over the pram so you can put him out of reach works well. ”
I misread this as “Haveing a muslim over the pram…”
Zoe to Lipstick Ladies: Back off or Akmal will blow us all to hell. His devotion is really quite sweet when you think about it.
February 14th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
“Any tips on dealing with the lipstick ladies?”
A tweeny-weeny set of slip-on Dracula fangs?
February 28th, 2007 at 10:16 am
I keep the UV flyscreen thingo over the stroller unless it’s raining (ie. once, we’re dry as a crisp in Melbourne) which has the benefits of ensuring people look but don’t touch, can’t see that well and therefore don’t stop me for random conversation (“yes he’s cute, he’s 9 weeks, and we’re trying to get the shopping finished before he wants another bloody feed so please let me keep going”) and also looks like uber responsible parenting, thus deflecting any suggestion that I am a signed up member of the bad mother’s club.
Your boys look very sweet together. I was sorry to read about the sad loss of your telly. My laptop has met a similar fate and now I can’t watch downloaded episodes of the West Wing while breastfeeding. We’re hoping it will teach Cap’n Dan to walk and talk quickly and resolve major issues in the corridor.
Leave a Reply
All you need to do to free yourself of the burqa forever is register a gravatar at www.gravatar.com; if only it were that easy for everyone.
For your convenience and my amusement, annoying commenters will bear Teh Mark of Teh Troll™ gravatar.