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March 20, 2000

This past weekend was about as perfect as it could be. Wow. It was one of those times where you know it'll be something you'll hold on to as time goes by. One particular point that stands out was when we were all running around the front yard chasing each other (which must have been quite a sight to passers-by) and laughing hysterically. The sky was an amazing blue, and the trees were just starting to sprout leaves. It was joy to be alive in that moment.

Jason's been in much better spirits. That fourth molar finally came through -- it turns out it was slightly abscessed, so no wonder he was having such a hard time. He's been really funny the past couple of days, still a trouble-maker, but having such a good time playing outdoors, that it's much easier to take his "difficult" moments in stride.

A lot of my stress has been alleviated in terms of work, which of course helps me deal with other areas of my life. I've pretty much decided that when we have another baby, or at least within a year, I'm going to try and reduce my hours and move to a contractor position. I actually talked it over with our HR person, who's also a friend, and she was very open to the idea. Thank god I work for such a progressive company -- most people I know would not be able to talk to their employers about this kind of thing.

Back to talking about my little guy though, he's really starting to pile on the words. One particular word he's added is "my." As in "my ball," "my kitty," and "my cheese." Hmmm, this should be interesting. Jason's really starting to ask for specific things, like bananas ("nana") or avocados ("cado"), which is another leap in his communication skills. He's also calling his pacifier "gu-gu," which I find very fascinating, since that's the word he used to use when he wanted to nurse. I suppose he associates both with comfort. Language development seems like such a random path to me, and I never know which turn Jason's going to take next.

We're trying to figure out a good way to wean Jason off of his pacifier, and I wish I had a foolproof method. What I'm trying to do is hide it when he's not using it and only returning it to him if he specifically asks for it. I don't want to force the transition; I feel that as long as he's using it less and less then we're moving in the right direction. Ideally, I'd like him to be weaned from it before there's another baby in the picture because I don't think he would understand why the baby could have one and he couldn't. It just seems like it could be a real potential jealousy issue that I'd rather avoid.

I wonder about how Jason will be with a sibling. Sometimes he's fine when I'm holding other babies, or have cats on my lap, but other times he seems very territorial. I know that a lot of my friends feel like their second baby isn't getting enough time because they are working so hard to make sure their first doesn't feel neglected, so I wonder how I'll deal with that. My current plan is to keep Jason in daycare for the first 6 weeks, and then slowly drop the hours so that I have a chance to bond with the new baby (and recover!), and Jason's schedule is not completely thrown off. Maybe it's a pipe dream that it'll all work out, but at least I've got a plan! Now I just need to have the second baby to prove my theory, LOL!