“He’s such a flirt,” said moderator of the new parents’ group as Cal smiled his big gummy grin and squeaked in her direction. It’s hard to have a serious conversation about sleep habits when the most beautiful baby on Earth is smiling at you – that’s why we would stop every few minutes and acknowledge Cal’s clear eminence in the categories of looks and charms (slightly biased). “Oh, he’s such a charmer,” she kept saying.
Yesterday Shaun, Cal, and I went to a new parents’ group, which ended up being a new mommies’ group. The mommies were nice and Shaun did well in a sea of women (not that it’s really a shock, but it’s nice he can hold his own among women discussing blowouts and breast milk.) I was happy to finally find some mommies who live in our town – yes, they exist!
The clear highlight, though, was gawking at the littlest members of the group and noticing how, even at 6 –10 – 12 weeks of age, each baby is his or her own tiny person. For instance, our neighbor in the circle was a very cute red-headed Scottish baby, there was another girl with the sweetest Mohawk, and a tiny one-week old who slept cuddled in the nook of her mom’s arm the entire time.
Seeing all the other babies also served as a way to realize just how *big* our little guy is (he was the biggest there, and the oldest, but just barely) and what a long way he has come from being a crying-pooping-grunting guy to a happy baby who interacts with the world and holds us all in the palm of his edible and dimpled hand.
Out of some 10 or so odd babies, quite a few slept, but some were active, eating and making noises. Cal was clearly in the latter group. He got lots of attention from the other moms. He was even called a Gerber baby – if Cal had an ego, I’m sure it’d be fat and happy by now. But nope, he's just as sweet and innocent as ever.
All in all, it was just quite lovely to be around people who understand our day-to-day triumphs and challenges (which are indeed miles and ages from our previous lives and the lives most of the population who aren’t caring for newborns). At one point, we had a little regurgitation-of-milk situation, but it was laughed off and taken in stride as another baby had just hit her mom’s shoes with her resurgent lunch.
After we left, I had wanted to do something heroicly earthy for Earth Day, but we ended up slicing and dicing our frontyard bushes with an eclectic saw as Cal watched curiously from a nearby adult lap. OK, not that earth-y, but at least we connected with some fellow moms and babies and tended to our to-do list. Oh, I also managed to hang dry our new cloth diapers, there's something.
Food Matters!
7 years ago
