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

[sydb42.livejournal.com]

I've never met you, so I don't know what your normal "at rest" face is. Like someone else who commented, I get asked "are you ok?" or told "you look mad" when I'm just sitting, so I definitely understand about facial expressions being mis-interpreted. Having said that, the picture in your user icon looks to me like you've been interrupted and you look vaguely annoyed at the interruption. Not intimidating, but not happy either.

As for being a SAHM, I love it, and feel lucky to be able to do it every single day. It's not just about seeing the firsts, it's about all sorts of things....getting to see her play pretend and know what experience in her day she's acting out, being able to understand some of her baby talk that no one else gets, being able to teach her things and be amazed at all the things she picks up all on her own, etc. etc. etc. It's also hard work...it takes a special person to be able to sit at home (or be out) with a child (or children) all day, then still be with that child all evening and possibly up with them in the middle of the night as well. Of course, I think it also takes a special person to be able to leave and go earn the money day after day so the family can live comfortably. Both are hard to do. BTW, I intend to be a full-time SAHM at least until my daughter and any siblings she may have are in school, and even then I will make sure to be home when they get home. And, she gets the kid interaction through MOMS Club, which is the main positive feature about daycare, IMO.