The attitude of a two-year old

I was listening to my iPod the other day on my way to work, and one of the songs in my playlist begged to be blogged about. We negotiated, and I lost. So here I am, bending to the will of the song and writing about it.

There is a very funny song by Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband. It's called "Two-year Old Attitude." (See end of post for help on finding the song online.)

This song cracks me up. If you haven't heard it, it is a father describing his two-year old son's attitude. It includes lines like the following:

Now that he is two years old,
He thinks he is some kind of king.
Goes where he wants, He does what he wants
and gets into everything.
'Cauz wait until you get into a church
or a store or another public place,
and then he'll pout and he'll shout and
he'll rant and rave and he'll cry and
he'll scream until he his red in the face--
He's got a serious, serious,
serious, serious
Two-year old attitude.

I think this song cracks me up, in part, because I don't have a two-year old, but I have seen what they can be like. (But hey, maybe the song isn't so funny if you've had to endure toddler meltdown at Target. I dunno.)

But just wait. I'm sure my time will come.

In the mean time, enjoy the song.


Finding the Song online:

The song is available on iTunes; If you have iTunes you can click this link (or search the iTunes music store for): "2 yr. old attitude".

The sample that plays in iTunes, however doesn't include a part of the song where they are actually singing, though, so if you want to hear some of the words, you'll have to try one of these options:

1. Yahoo music. Search Yahoo Music for Ryan Shupe (clicking the link will perform the search for you automatically). At the bottom of the page there is a list of songs. Two Year Old attitude is there, and you can hear a sample. (Its the button with the headphones icon.)
   
2. Ryan Shupe website. Go to the music page of the Ryan Shupe website. The second album, "If I were a bird" includes the song, and from there you can hear a sample of this particular song. (Requires Quicktime.)
   

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Preparing for Pre Natal

You might think that it doesn't make sense to prepare for prenatal. I mean, isn't that what the prenatal phase is for? Preparation for the natality of your child? Is natility even a word? My dictionary says no, but I'm going to be descriptive here and use it anyway.

But that is the phase we are in, right now. We are preparing for prenatal classes. Third trimester prenatal classes to be specific. This is the class that we hear horror stories of.

Let's just say I get a bit queasy around blood. Ok, I get super queasy at the thought of blood. So I'm not really looking forward to that part of the birthing process. But I think that it is one thing to have to watch it for your own child. It is totally something different to watch a video of somebody else going through it.

The thought of it makes me shiver.

But lest you think I'm totally uneducated (which, in truth, I pretty much am), I do recognize that prenatal classes are more than just a video of child birth. In fact, there are a number of different types of classes you can attend. Apparently there are different philosophies about child birth. There is Bradley and there is Lamaze.

Do you realize that these are weekly classes you go to for like 6 weeks?

Hmmm. And how do you determine which class you are going to go to? I mean, if they were an hour a piece, you could go to multiple ones, but really, I can't go to all the different varieties of classes when they are 6 week courses.

We haven't signed up yet. We have to decide first which type of class to attend. Lamaze seems to be pretty popular. At least, it was the only method I'd ever hear about before I was like 22. Then I had a supervisor who was a former Bradley instructor and proponent. And today, my wife got a message from a friend that included the following Bradley advocation (you know, from the root "advocate"): "On the good side - it is the best thing that has happened to child-birth in the last 40 years...at its worst - you leave being VERY educated about everything involved. I can't suggest it more highly."

So now I turn to you, oh experienced web of friends: What methods do you propose? Why?

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11-ish weeks and counting

Well, with delivery planned in just over 11 weeks, things feel like they are finally picking up in pace. Eleven weeks sounds like forever, but I think it is going to go by very quickly.

Now C is in the third trimester, and things are going great. There are currently no signs of any complications and our little girl seems to be doing great. She keeps C up at all hours of the night, probably helping her to get ready for weeks of sleepless nights after she arrives. I don't get any such early preparation, but I suppose that is okay. I don't mind sleeping through the nights now, even knowing that I won't get to in December. Poor C, though, doesn't get much choice.

C recently went to visit her family in another state. While she was there, her mom hosted a baby shower for friends and relatives. It took an extra suitcase, and an extra duffle bag to get all the generously-given gifts back home. And I've never seen so much pink in my whole life. There are pink outfits and pink blankets. Pink dresses and pink pants. Pink undershirts (I think they call these things onesies?) and pink bibs. Pink receiving blankets (I'm still not sure what you use a receiving blanket for yet...). It's all pretty cool. But it makes the pending arrival all that more real.

You know, it is kind of weird. For C, every moment of every day (and night, for that matter) is spent being pregnant. It is always on her mind, because she is carrying the baby with her all the time. For me, however, it isn't an ever-present kind of thing. I think about it when it comes up, but I don't spend every minute of every day anticipating the blessed event. Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying I'm not excited, because I am. It just isn't an ever-present thought. Sometimes it kind of surprises me when I remember. But all these baby clothes around the house are making it seem more real.

We made our first joint trip to Babies R Us last week. Wow. They have a lot of stuff. We looked at clothes and strollers and baby monitors, and binkies and cribs and changing tables and mattresses. Wow. wow. wow. Talk about overwhelming. How am I ever supposed to make a decision on anything when there are 40,000 options for each thing?

I think we have narrowed the stroller options down, though. We are looking at a Mclaren, but are also considering the Pliko. Babies R Us had the Mclarens in stock, and I loved that as a 6'4" dad, I won't have to bend over to push it. The Pliko got great reviews on one of the web sites I read, but I haven't found one in stock yet to try out.

Fun fun fun!

Stay tuned for my next post on planning for the 3rd trimester classes...

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Rambling, Jumbled Thoughts

Well, we made it through the rest of the alphabet. We came up with some interesting names, and I think that there are a couple that we really like that we'll keep thinking about. We'll see.

The delivery date is starting to loom. In some ways, December sounds SO FAR away. Then, in others, it seems that there is so much to do that at the pace we're going, none of it is ever going to get done. I think that on C's next appointment, the doctor is going to tell us to go to prenatal classes. Hmmmmm... Not sure what I think about that. I'm trying to reserve judgement, and I'm being mostly successful. On good days.

So, C and I will have the first grandchild on both sides of the family, which is fun. I think it means that Baby L (its an L day again) will get more spoiled. I think it also means that her arrival will require some, shall we say 'getting used to' for certain members of our family. My younger brother, who is in his early twenties, has never been around babies, and isn't comfortable when they are nearby. He most certainly doesn't want to touch one (egad!).

A couple of weekends ago we went boating at a local lake. My cousin, his wife, and their 9 month old baby boy were all there with us. My brother wasn't sure what to make of a 9 month old. He thought it was weird that it was in the in between stage: not quite infant, not quite toddler. "They come in that size?" he wanted to know. Well, no. But they do GROW to be that size .

It will be interesting to see how he behaves as an uncle. I'm thinking that it will take some getting used to for him, but that in the end he will adjust.

Well, we are now in the 26th week. Now I've started having dreams that C goes into labor early. Last night I dreamed that she went into labor this week. It was not a good dream. Twenty six weeks is way too early. I awoke this morning with the panic of the event still giving me a sick feeling in my stomach.

My guess is that this dream came about because C spent the evening last night saying that she hadn't felt Baby L moving all evening, and it was making her nervous. Apparently it made my subconscious nervous as well.

No worries there, though, because this morning Baby L is active again and moving. C describes the movements as Baby L adjusting the reading lamp. Ooooh! I hope Baby L likes to read.

Well, this has been kind of a rambled jumble of thoughts this morning. Not very focused on any specific event, but these are some of the thoughts I've been having over the last couple of weeks.

C has her last "4-week" appointment next week. After that, she switches to the 2-week schedule. So that will be exciting. This is getting close.

I guess I better get the boxes out of the spare room. It won't be spare for much longer.

We hope.

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The Name Game, an ABC exercise

As you know, we are expecting a baby girl sometime in December. About a month ago, we went in for the twenty-week ultrasound appointment. The ultrasonographer and C's doctor were both almost certain that the new addition will be a girl.

Because we now know the gender, apparently we are supposed to be thinking of names. Everybody we meet asks us if we have picked a name yet.

"Can't you give us a little time?" I silently wonder? After all, we are barely half way there! But just about everybody asks us "the question" when they know the gender and find out how far along we are.

Dealing with this has been harder than I anticipated. From the very beginning, C and I decided that we didn't want to talk publicly about the names we liked or had chosen. For some reason, people seem to think that if the baby hasn't been born yet, then they can give whatever opinion they want about the name that you have selected.

Everybody, it seems, thinks that we care about their opinion.

Frankly, we don't. Not to be rude, but I'm not going to give my child a different name because your best friend in elementary school had a dog with the name we like.

Guess what? I don't care. We are going to pick the name that feels right and sounds right to us. Our neighbors, friends, and well-meaning relatives are invited to keep their opinions to themselves.

However, I can't come right out and say that to them. So instead, I found a way to deflect the question whenever it comes up. I decided to go through the alphabet, one letter at a time, and each day we will think of girl names that start with that letter. We started with the letter A, and today we are on the letter K. When people ask us what names we're thinking about, we say something like, "Well, today is a K day. What girl names do you like that start with K?"

I've found that this is a pretty good solution. It deflects the conversation away from us having to provide the names we like, and instead, we get to let people give their input on names they like instead. They can give their opinion on names without us having to be the ones who provided the fodder for analysis.

Judgement of the names is left to us, which we can do, in private. And in case you are wondering, there is a name or two that we like above the others. But I'm not going to tell you what it is. December will arrive, the baby will be born, and her name will be announced to the world. Once it is announced and attached to a beautiful baby girl, people will have to keep their dislike of the name to themselves. Until then, we welcome your suggestions.

Kindly remember, however, that today is a K day. And if you ask what names we like, we'll try to deflect the question so subtly that you don't even realize we've done it, unless we tell you about it. Like this post: a paragraph that starts with each letter used so far; discovering names with a new letter every day.

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