Potatoes in the Mist

D's sister is expecting a baby girl near the end of October (right around Z's birthday, in fact). I am really excited. They are only going to be a year apart in age. I hope they will be best friends. I grew up in a large family, which I enjoyed, with many cousins, but nobody was near my age. I'm thinking of making her this: Of course I will make it in pink.

...is cutting baby nails. I remember when E was born, somebody (probably my mother) told me, "You're going to have to cut his nails." I thought, are you kidding? Clipping those tiny nails would be like plucking a hair from a worm. I managed to get out of it with E - my mother did it that first time, with scissors (that's what all the '70s moms did), and afterward I just kind of peeled them off (like I usually do with my own). That's not an option with Z, who has strong, sharp nails that can't be peeled. And she likes to use them. I saw a network of scratches on my chest; she likes to rake her nails there when she nurses. Fearing I would scar, I had D hold her hands still while I clipped. Hopefully her scratches will hurt less now.

I'll never forget when I met one of the other moms in my co-op. In the land of helicopter parenting, she really stands out. She drank Red Bull when she was nursing, etc. Anyway, once I was in the playroom with her and her child started going through her pocketbook. Suddenly her mouth was full of cigarette butts and the mother was lunging across the room at her: "Don't eat those! Those things are expensive!" I remember smugly thinking, "E would never put cigarette butts in his mouth." Fast-forward four years. I have a baby who has swallowed my moisturizer, tried to eat A&D diaper ointment (resulting in a call to Poison Control after I read the warning on the label), and stuffed some twigs and leaves into her mouth at a park near E's school today. E was always very cautious with eating. "He'll never be poisoned," my mother observed; he often wanted us to eat something before he would try it. It just amazes me how different two children ...

Today was a good day. I put on Z's swim diaper and we all went to D's gym (which I recently joined) for Family Day, when you can all use the pool together. D held Z so that I could swim independently. It was the first time I've swam (not counting wading while holding Z) since she was born! And she was perfectly content to be held by him. We also rested in the hot tub and went out on the sundeck. This is one of the views from the deck: Later, I made an asparagus and Havarti puff pastry tart.

So we went to the beach today. It was nice to have a break from our routine. The train was packed, filled with people who smelled like sunscreen and beer. Both E and Z loved the water, and Z loved the sand as well. She kept trying to eat it, and laughing when I tried to stop her. For dinner we had quesadillas that we ate on the beach, plus a bit of rose wine.

I did some thinking about my post yesterday. I decided one solution is to try to get Z used to the stroller -- either the car seat stroller or the Maclaren. She is just getting too heavy for the Ergo (baby carrier). Technically it goes up to 45 lbs, but even 20 lbs is a bit much for me. I'm writing this here to remind myself to do it.

In the Austen nerd category: I finished All Roads Lead to Austen and loved it. Left me with an interest in Chile and Argentina as well. Maybe someday I will go to Buenos Aires...who knows. Then I started re-reading Sense and Sensibility. (I re-read S&S , Pride & Prejudice and Emma every few years. This is my first time reading them in Kindle editions. Sometimes I re-read Persuasion, too.) Right now S&S is hitting the spot. I loved the Ang Lee film version with Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman. In the True Confessions category: I would love to find a gentle way to get Z less attached during the daytime. The amount of stuff I can do with one hand is limited. Suggestions? P.S. I know, about 300 miles north of here, a woman is sitting in her computer chair, shaking her head and thinking, I told you so. I have to note that having Z so attached to me is not unpleasant...she is probably my last baby, after all, and we are planning to send her to E...