Mother's Day and More

Mother's Day

I had a pretty wonderful Mother's Day. I didn't think I would get all excited about it, but I did. We went to the traditional Mother's Day gorgefest at the Emondson's. We ate way too many deep-fried appetizers, too much casserole, and too much pound cake. I guess that's what holidays are for, though. Alex (daddy) bought me a beautiful necklace with a mother and child pendant. It looks like those statues I like so much where the mother and child are one:

I had asked Alex for only one thing for Mother's Day: that he sleep through the night. And he did - five nights in a row!! Woo-hoo!

Garden

A little bit off topic; our garden is starting to shape up:

We have been doing it totally organic, using only compost and "tea" made from worm castings to fertilize it. We were so proud of it until we compared it to my mother-in-law's garden. Let's just say her garden put ours to shame. Those Miracle-Grow folks really know what they're doing. Anyway, last weekend we broke down and bought some fertilizer. But we're still sticking with organic-only. Someone asked us why recently and we didn't really have an answer. I guess we're just trying to see if we can do it. Not to mention that whatever chemicals you put on the ground will eventually end up in the local watershed. Plus, organic veggies are yummy!

Alex's progress

Unlike my squash, Alex just keeps getting bigger and bigger. His physical development is pretty remarkable. Just in the last week or two, he has really started to figure out how to use his hands. He will sit there and stare at his right hand, twisting it back and forth before his eyes. He is just fascinated with it. He still hasn't quite got the hang of thumb-sucking (he keeps tucking it beneath his other fingers instead of holding it out), but he's getting much better at putting his pacifier back in his mouth after pulling it out. He's also starting to use both hands to pull on the edge of his blanket and put his teething ring in his mouth. Here is Alex trying to sit up:

I made the mistake the other day of visiting babycenter.com. It's a website that tracks babies' development week-by-week. Or at least how babies are supposed to develop week-by-week. I should have known better, but I looked at it anyway to see if Alex is supposed to be sitting up (not really) or rolling over both ways (maybe so). He seems to be on-par with his physical development, but not so much with his mental or "emotional" development. What does this mean? Am I going to have a mindless athlete for a son? Or an overgrown oaf? Am I going to be Lennie's mother? I guess the more important question is: Why am I freaking out about this? I'm sure Alex is progressing at a perfectly normal rate. And even if he ends up a Lennie, I'll love him just the same. I just won't buy him a puppy.