Category Archives: Otter

Success, a near miss, and Walmart

So we very nearly missed our flight. We got up at four am, showered, fed the children, loaded the car, and took off for the airport. It was lightly raining when we left, but by the time we were on the way, it was torrential downpour time. So much so that New York and the airport were both flooded by the time Lee dropped us off.
We took a route we had never taken but that turned out to be faster, luckily, because the rain slowed us and the traffic down a bit. Then of course the check your bags line was four hundred miles long. By the time we got through it I had to beg someone at security to let us cut the line so we could make the plane. Which we did, barely, as it was boarding. Whew.
Of course, we couldn’t stop to buy water, so we were very thirsty, especially as we had been running through the airport. Me carrying the baby in his sling and the backpack full of laptop, snacks, and various travel necessities and Monkey carrying her backpack with snacks, baby toys, and the all important stuffies and favorite books.
Luckily the stewardess was very kind, and gave us cup after cup without giving us the stink eye.
As for the flight itself, it was a breeze. Monkey watched a movie on my iPod and Otter alternatively napped, nursed, and flirted with the kind lady who was seated in our row. He didn’t scream, he barely fussed, and I actually got a very short nap during the flight.
Bless the PTB’s for my travel-capable children, the wonderful woman seated next to me, the kind woman in front of me who spent the whole flight with her seat in the upright position to give me more room, and the kind flight attendants who endlessly supplied us with drinks and helped Monkey to the bathroom.
I am here now, in my childhood home, having already availed myself of my mother’s help, taken a bath in her lovely claw-footed tub, and gotten tipsy on my wine-club wine.
Tomorrow, Mexican food, and hopefully tea with Hatchet.

Here is a lovely picture sent to me by Ellen:

Where is my steak Woman!?!?

Otter seemed to say, as he stared at the burger I was eating. He watched its progress from the table to my mouth with a great deal of interest. Then he turned to his sister, and watched her place a french fry in her mouth. When she began to eat her second fry, he slowly put his finger in his mouth, and began to chew on it. His eyes never left the fry.
He watched us eat the entire meal. He is fascinated by food, and I will not be surprised if he asks for steak at five months of age.

We are on our way to Denver tomorrow. We got a 6:55 am flight, which means I get to get up at four am. I am not looking forward to this.

What would Freud say?

Last night I had the following dream:
It was the day I planned to start Otter on Rice Cereal, his first solid food. However, we were out of Rice Cereal, so instead, I made him stone ground whole wheat spaghetti noodles in a butternut squash sauce.
I placed him in the high-chair and began to give him his food, one tiny, cut up noodle at a time. He tasted his first noodle, got very interested, then started grabbing huge handfuls of noodles and stuffing them into his mouth.
“No, Otter!” I exclaimed, while desperately trying to retrieve huge streams of noodles from his mouth, “One noodle at a time, this is the first time you have ever eaten real food! You might choke!”
As I frantically pulled noodles away from my boy, he kept grabbing them and shoving them in his mouth. Sauce went everywhere, noodles flew, and I kept trying to get back to one wee noodle at a time.
He looked as happy as a baby can be, trying out his new noodles, playing in them, with his little baby mouth shaped like a monkey, upper lip sticking out, noodles dripping down his chin.
When I woke up this morning, at the now usual ungodly hour, I just laughed.