Author Archives: michellereitemeyer

11.25.07
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Infant prodigy

From a kids’ joke book:

What do you call the parents of an infant prodigy?

Highly imaginative people.

During this photo shoot, Mary giggled two or three times. I know that it wasn’t deliberate I-think-this-is-funny giggling, but it certainly made us all laugh.

First the reaching-for-objects milestone from the other day, and now giggling. She’s so advanced! For the record we have NO Baby Einstein products.

A rare shot of mother and child. My kids are now old enough to be trusted with a camera under direct adult supervision.

11.24.07
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Experience

Baby Mary is now more than six weeks old. I really enjoy the newborn stage where their little bodies are still curled up from living in small spaces, and they blink back the light, and everyone needs to talk softly to give the baby time to adjust to the new world. But she’s now entering the next stage where she wants to start experiencing her environment, safely from The Momma’s arms, of course. And I love this stage too.

When my oldest began spending time awake, I remember asking myself, “What do I do with him?” He didn’t want to eat, didn’t want to sleep, didn’t need a bath or a diaper change, he couldn’t play with anything. He just wanted to stare at me and practice cooing. But parenting children over the age of 18 months teaches you the fine art of talking to yourself. I’ve had plenty of practice in that, and can now sit and stare back at my baby and babble away.

Last night I wanted to go to sleep, but Mary didn’t. We lay on the bed, and I listened to her try to vocalize. I watched her kick her legs, not in a fussy way, but in a deliberate let-me-see-what-I-can-do sort of way. I watched her move her arms in the direction of my face, and I leaned in really close so she could reach me. And I watched the expression on her face change to one of obvious pleasure at her success. I had thought she was randomly moving her arms, but her happiness indicates that touching me was her goal.

This behavior – to reach out for an object – is one of those milestones that doctors use to gauge child development. I’m pretty sure she’s “advanced” in this. But not only am I not going to start googling infant tennis camps for my daughter with superior hand-eye coordination, I’m not even going to bother to look up the average age where they do this. It’s not that I don’t care that she’s progressing, it’s that I don’t need to compare.

With every child, I seem to be more relaxed and more appreciative of who they are as individuals. My husband’s grandmother used to say that after three kids you got good, and it would be a pity to waste all that experience. She was right.

11.21.07
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Planning ahead

The Feast of St. Nicholas is coming soon – December 6th. My friend, Rachel May, (a 4 Real Learning Forum All-Star), sent me a link to Paidea Classics, a website run by an Orthodox homeschool family. She was buying Nativity Icon shrink art – an excellent gift to fill shoes or stockings. But she knew I would be especially eager to get these special coins.

Thanks, Rachel. And I can’t wait to use that St. Nicholas Speculaas mold you gifted me last year.

And to Barbara, my lovely sister who will be here on the 6th, I’ll order coins for your kiddos, too. And if I get two sets of the ornaments, each kid can make two.

11.19.07
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A sane and simple Thanksgiving

Tune in tomorrow morning at 9:15 am EST to listen to Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle give some tips on making Thanksgiving an enjoyable day. You can listen to Ave Marie radio online real time, but if you miss it, there are audio archives!

My personal sane and simple Thanksgiving day plans? Herd six children across the street to my neighbor’s house and let her feed us. I’m bringing pumpkin bread, which I’ll probably bake today.

The only stressor is trying to make sure Bill sees the Green Bay game. I don’t know if they have TV. Fortunately, that game is the early one, so, if necessary, he’ll be “stuck” at home with the napping toddler while the kids and I socialize before dinner.

Simple enough, huh?

11.17.07
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In defense of bottle feeding

Yes, that’s right.

My previous post in which I defend my desire to breastfeed my child, I stated that I don’t think the “issue” of bottle feeding versus breastfeeding is a moral one. I really don’t think it should be an “issue” at all. In fact, I think the real issue is that it is an issue.

I think breastfeeding is the natural choice. I think it is the healthiest choice. I think it is worth the initial difficulties.

But I don’t think we mothers need any more pressure.

I’m pro-homeschooling, but do not feel mothers who send their children to schools are bad mothers.

I’m pro-cloth diapering, but don’t think mothers who use disposable ones are bad either. That’s mainly because I use disposable diapers. Every so often I feel really guilty about that, but that is ridiculous.

I’m pro-daily family rosaries, but, again, I fall short of that ideal. Again, there is guilt. Again, I remind myself to be realistic.

Since that comment was left anonymously, I can not ascertain whether the author intended to pressure me into giving up breastfeeding. I like to assume, rather, that the intent was to ease any guilt I feel about giving my child a bottle. And I do feel guilt. And it is ridiculous.

Jill directed me to Danielle Bean’s latest article at Inside Catholic which touches on the problem of how we women can help or hurt each other:

While it’s true that no one can tear apart a vulnerable woman quite like another woman, it is equally true that no one can build up and encourage a vulnerable woman quite like another woman. We can’t ever truly know another’s plight and particular challenges. It’s important to stand up for the truth, and there is a place for admonishing the sinner, but that never means using others’ weaknesses and vulnerabilities to feed our own egos.

Ultimately, it really, truly doesn’t matter how we feed our babies (or how they get their education, or if they wear cloth diapers, or if they say the rosary every day). What matters is that we love them and care for them and raise them to the best of our abilities.

As Danielle said: Let’s encourage one another.

11.16.07
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Grrrr…..

Congress to hold off on Iraq war money

And they wonder why service members and their dependants tend to vote Republican.

First, they fire civilian contractors. This means more work for soldiers who have to pick up the slack (because they can’t fire the soldiers). Then they start shuffling money from different accounts to pay for things like soldier’s pay and bullets and food.

So even though they’re in the middle of repaving that road down the street from me, they take the money away, and the road sits, unpaved, waiting for funds.

And then swimming classes for my kids get canceled because they have no money to pay the instructors.

And then it takes a week or more for my leaky hot water heater to be fixed because they had to fire half the maintenance staff.

And then I have to wait three hours to get a prescription filled because there are fewer workers there.

Then they cut back hours on the grocery store, the PX and the Class VI.

And if things get really bad, they won’t pay the soldiers. They won’t fire them, no, they’ll have to work on the promise of getting their money eventually. And they’ll have no choice because it’s illegal for them to not work. And they will get their money, eventually, but in the meantime, the grocery store, the PX and the Class VI won’t provide you with your essentials on the promise of future payment. And if you happen to live off post, your landlord or your mortgage lender won’t be too happy if you tell them that you’re waiting for Congress to pay you.

So Congress doesn’t end the war early, save anyone’s life, or even ruffle any feathers in the executive branch at all. They’ll say they support the troops and that they’re doing this for them.

I guess you hurt most the ones you love.