Ok, so "shock and awe" is actually rapid dominance, a military doctrine based on the use of overwhelming power, to paralyze an adversary's perception of the battlefield and destroy its will to fight (so says wikipedia, and we all know that their truth is THE truth). But, I'd argue, that there's a little bit of that in raising a baby, but in a very positive way (before you worry that I've planned a coup d’état against my daughter).
I am in absolute awe of this little critter. Once we got past the "meat bag" phase (where really all she was was work...a little bag of meat, as Jamie's co-worker put it), she has been changing before my eyes on a daily basis. In the morning, after I watch her squeeze away in her crib (I wait to pick her up until those red faced squeezes end...otherwise it's no fun for mommy), I put her on her changing pad, change her, get her dressed, and then spend about 45 minutes with her just interacting. I really have no idea what she's looking at...there must be something quite interesting above her (we have few toys hanging, so that's my guess). She makes small smiles, she kicks her feet (in a happy way, not in a "I'm mad about something, bitch, get me my dinner" way), she moves her arms around, and she makes these cute excited gaspy things. She even makes sounds (which, as per the internet's instructions, I make back at her...our primative form of belitteling conversation).
I can carry her facing out now, and we walked around under a tree that's changing it's colors to a beautiful array of shades of fire, and she's enthralled by something we take for granted. It's much like the lesson I learned when I got the dogs -- we lose that curiosity of looking at things, smelling things, feeling the breeze, etc, because everything else in life is making us ignore that.
So yes, while "shock and awe" is quite violent in nature, that little girl has rapidly used her power to dominate my everyday thinking. Shes paralyzed any perceptions I've had about being a mom and having a daughter. And she has now started to break down my will to fight. While there are still moments where she's looking in my face and screaming at the top of her lungs and a coup d’état is right around the corner, in the end, she, me, and Jamie are in this together, and fighting that will do us no good.
Bring us our uniforms...we're ready to proceed with mission "shock and awe".
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So I can't find the post about the cost of babies, but I did want to add that Tim went to Wal-Mart every day for a week when Norah was born. Not to mention the number of trips to Babies R'Us for the "Panic Pieces". Don't forget the increased water bill from the additional loads of laundry.
ReplyDeleteYeah I don't know what happened to that post. But yes, so true! And in terms of the laundry, I feel like I'm doing the same load of laundry (with the same clothes, sheets, etc) over and over...it's not like it's a variety like it is with adults!
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