I went to the Animal Fair...

[beetiger]

I took Rhys to the Dutchess County Fair today. It was a longer drive up the Taconic than I expected, but he slept the whole way, so it wasn't really a big deal. Rhys was amazingly good the whole day, giggling at pigs and crawling around in the horticulture exhibit area and letting me drink 4H nearly-right-out-of-the-cow milkshakes and eat corn dogs and stuff, though he did eat a good portion of my pierogies and managed to swipe a bunch of fried clams. I won him a set of fuzzy dice for his stroller by looking young at the guess-your-age booth. He didn't sleep the whole day once we arrived, but he didn't whine or fuss either. He seemed like he was just having so much fun, like this was a great world he'd decided to show up for.

You know, some days I feel really kind of guilty about still being home with the baby after almost a year, doing what sort of feels like leisure activities all of the time. But today was one of those days when I just felt lucky. "While you poor fools were out making a living, I got to hear my son break out in laughter at his first carousel ride!" kind of lucky. I wouldn't trade these things for the world.

(An aside: Someone said they thought this icon looked "intimidating". Does it?)

Comments

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

First off, you live in one of the few modern western countries which has no laws relating to maternity leaves, lumping them in with sick leaves in most cases. In Canada, birth mothers get 52 weeks of mat leave, paid for by Employment Insurance, which in turn is paid for by contributions from the paycheques of all working Canadians. (Non-birth mothers get 35 weeks, I believe, and fathers can take all or part of that 35 weeks as parental leave as well, either at the same time as or immediately following the seventeen weeks which are reserved exclusively for birth mothers.) Don't feel guilty about staying home with your baby. He needs you more than any workplace could, and you're blessed to have this time with him.

Second, anyone who feels that icon is intimidating is looking to be intimidated. Ignore them. It's a great picture.