Should I be offended, annoyed, or just puzzled?

A couple of days ago I was asked a very, very strange question. It is still bothering me. A co-worker asked, "Now that you have the baby, what did you do with your dogs?" HUH??? I must have mumbled something unintelligible. I was really too stunned to put together a coherent sentence. The person seemed to sense my confusion but continued, "I mean, now that you have a baby, you got rid of the dogs, right?" I was floored. I managed to say "no, we still have the dogs," but not much else.

This is one of those times when you think of all the snappy comebacks well after the window of opportunity has slammed shut. I wish I had said something like, "Well, the dogs were there first. If it hadn't worked out, the kid would have to go." While that's not exactly true, we did make a committment to the dogs to care for them as long as they live. We made every effort to ease the transition of adding another human to the household. I think we did a pretty good job.

I know people who have had trouble with their pets after having a child, and who have taken the painful step of re-homing them. What I don't understand is how the assumption that one gets rid of a pet simply because they had a baby became mainstream. Is my threshold for such things unreasonably high?

Dodging Wilma at The Happiest Place On Earth

Following all the rules of "safe" blogging, I didn't mention that the family was heading to Florida for Educause and a couple of days at The Happiest Place On Earth. We're back now and mostly recovered. We watched Wilma's progress with great interest, as our return flight was Sunday morning. Other than some rain on Saturday, we were unaffected.

Educause was interesting. CD gave a presentation and I went to sessions (when there were seats available), browsed the vendor booths (what happened to all the GOOD tchotchke?!), and searched for places to pump. The (mis) information booth at the convention center kept insisting the handicapped bathroom stalls had outlets. I finally found one that did, but only on the last day and only after discovering at least seven that did not. The kind EMTs let me use one of their spaces. Nicer than bathrooms stalls, for sure.

Oliver came along, of course, and Aunt Suzy joined us as The Nanny once again, reprising her role at the CSCA National Specialty last May. Though Oliver is a lot more interesting now, he's also a lot more work. They spent a day by themselves at The Happiest Place On Earth and poor Suzy was ready to collapse when it was over. As she discovered, Oliver is a lot for one person to handle.

A few highlights from the trip:

• Oliver tried to snag Minnie for himself, but drooling on her nose was probably not the best strategy.
• He did manage to secure a date in January with the lovely Lynda from Troon, who took care of us at the Rose & Crown pub. We will have to see if she's available for babysitting.
• Oliver's lobster costume was a bit of a bust. It was 85 degrees. We almost had boiled lobster.

Check out our family website for more pictures from the trip and a short video.

the six month update, continued

More six month updates today. Oliver was a fountain of drool at school today. A second tooth, right next door to the first, is peeking through. I suppose I should worry about Oliver drowning the dogs, not the other way around.

Our trip to the doc was fairly uneventful. No screams during the first shot but the next two could have awoken the dead. Then he was over it, about a minute after.

Oliver continues to be right at the 50th percentile for height. Same for head circumference. And 75th percentile for weight.

No recommendations on how to convince him to sleep more often or longer, except to be patient.

the six month update

So many new developments for Oliver on the eve of his "half-birthday". Over the weekend the first tooth sprouted. This may explain a few things that happened last week. Maybe not. I'll try to get a picture, though at the moment it's easier to feel the tooth than to see it.

He's also sitting up very well on his own. We pulled out the Pack 'n Play again, after relegating it to the closet when Oliver outgrew the bassinet. He will happily sit in it, with his boppy just in case of an inadvertent flop, and play with whatever toys are there. I call it "baby jail" but he is really happy in there. He was starting to use the toy bar on the bouncy seat to pull himself up, thus risking a tip over, so having a new parking place is very convenient. Oliver also likes being on the same level of the dogs, but without the risk of him drowning in Clumber drool.

Oliver has decided barley is not evil, and that carrots are the greatest thing since....hmmm, he's never had sliced bread so I don't know what is appropriate in this case. Apparently he complained when he finished his carrots at school today. Looks like half a jar, instead of a third, for tomorrow.

No progress on the sleep front. He's up to 40-45 minute naps during the day, when we're lucky. He is still waking every 3 hours at night. We go see the doc tomorrow for shots, etc. Maybe he will have a suggestion. I just hope he doesn't yell at us for starting solids a few weeks early.

even more search hits for "zerbert"

In one of her funniest posts yet, Jenn Mattern wrote about the strange hits she's getting in her search logs. The best I can contribute is that I get an inordinate number of hits from people searching for "zerbert" and I am only going to add fuel to that fire with this post.

Oliver, it appears, understands what it means when he makes his mum laugh. Last night while nursing he had a bit of wind, as CD calls it. (No way was I going to get through a post on bodily functions without referencing our Oracle on such matters, Dooce.) This was some mighty loud, and might I add wet sounding, wind. Immediately following this sound, Oliver decided nursing would be better if he zerberted me. The two sounds were almost exactly the same. Mum laughed. Oliver did it again, then stopped to look at me to see if I would laugh again. It became clear that my laughing encouraged him to zerbert more and nurse less. Not very productive if we were going to get his tummy full and thus encourage a little sleep.

I spent the next 15 minutes trying very hard not to laugh. I have a feeling this is a skill I am going to need in the years to come.

when I wasn't paying attention...

I intended to notice when Oliver doubled his birthweight. It appears to have happened on day 161, when I was totally oblivious. Once again, I am compelled to blame sleep deprivation. It's gone from bad to worse in that department. Two nights ago Oliver decided to be awake from about midnight to 3:30am. I ended up with just over two hours of sleep that night. Last night, as I was heading to bed, Oliver woke up. He was unconsolable from about 9:30pm to midnight. I got a little more sleep but I'm still running a serious deficit, even more than what has become the new normal. We still haven't figured out what is causing this waking. Could be teething or a growth spurt, or something else. Maybe the doc will have some ideas when we go in for his 6 month visit.

The moody bitches continue to be moody. They are dancing for Chewy and each other. Poor old guy had enough of their advances yesterday morning and attempted to put Penguin in her place. Based on the noise one might have expected to find her in little pieces. Chewy, of course, didn't put a scratch on her. Unfortunately, she has an especially short memory at the moment and was back to her favorite tricks, trying to "spoon" with him on his bed, soon after. Piper play bows to everyone and tries, rather foolishly, to flip Penguin onto her back. It's very entertaining and I'll be very glad when it's over.

Coming attractions: CD and I are celebrating the seventh anniversary of our first date by going on another first date, our first night out since Oliver's arrival. Thank you to the brave souls who have graciously agreed to babysit. I'm not sure I will ever be able to sufficiently repay you.