Grin and Bare It

Well, yesterday I got up to find that Margaret had left her watch on the breakfast counter. Not wanting her to have that weird I-forgot-my-watch feeling every time she looked at her wrist, I brought it to her on my way in to work. After getting through the bullet-proof/speaker-box security system at Stafford Middle School, I left the watch with the front desk. The woman said she'd call Margaret down between classes, which was fine. But as I turned to go, I noticed a group of students in the cafeteria and one of them was Margaret. I retrieved the watch and went to hand it to her in person only to find her sitting at one of the tables with two boys hanging on every word she seemed to be saying. She was beaming and when she saw me, she was very happy and waved. I handed her the watch. She was all smiles and girl-crush-like giggles. Not wanting to embarass her with a kiss goodbye, I waved, said I'd pick her up after school and left with a pit in my stomach and the hair standing up on my arms. Hooboy, what's going on. The first time she's in public school after years in parochial school and she's boy crazy. We should have seen it coming, considering there were only three boys in her class at St. Peter's. Now they're all over the place. We told her there is no dating in junior high and she can consider boys as friends in groups, not friends by themselves. She keeps asking questions like, "When are you old enough for your first kiss?" 26. "Is it hormones that makes you like boys?" No, stupidity. "How come I get all giggly and gushy when I'm around (boy's name left out to protect the guilty)?" Because boys make you do stupid things. I don't know how much of this we can take, and she's only in 6th grade.

Patricia, on the other hand, is agog about a boy in her class (fourth grade!) but she's pretty open to other romances, also, because several of the boys are cute, she says. Oh, great. I can only imagine what the next few years will be like for Patricia.

Brigid, on the other hand, has shown no preference for any boys but her Daddy, which is how it should be until the girls are about 28. Her crawling has been getting more steady and more directed. She has it in her mind that she wants to crawl into the area of the living room where the TV is, hardwood floor and all. I've ordered a saftey gate to put across the doorway there so she can't get away. Cruising the furniture is next. She has successfully circumnavigated the crib hand over hand, foot over foot. Can the rest of the house be far off?

She's also been changing some sleeping habits of late, waking frequently to nurse and flop back to sleep. I don't even think she really wakes up, but she lets out a high-pitched wail and I don't want her waking up Daddy. She isn't content to let me take my time to undo the clasp on the bra, either. She wants to help to get things moving. She grabs the clothing, pulls herself onto me. It's funny, really, but it just bogs down the whole process.

I'm feeling a bit fluish today. I also think I may have developed mastitis, thanks to the Hoover who sleeps between us. If I have a fever with it, that would explain the achiness and flu-like feeling. If it doesn't resolve itself in a day, I have to call the doctor because it can be serious. In the meantime, I'm grimacing with the slightest pressure on my left side. As I understand it, you have to grit your teeth and bear it or it will also affect the milk supply if you favor the side and NOT use it. Such is the cross a lactating mother bears.