7 Quick Takes, Vol. 142

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It’s been so long since we got to experience it, I forgot how much I love the learning-to-talk stage. Nicholas is just adorable. “It too toe in da pool,” he says at random times during the day. “Tan I tan up? Tan I hop you?” (Can I stand up—on the toilet, he means—and Can I help you. “Tan I teh da ta-el?” (Can I set the table?) It’s also fun because Alex wouldn’t say anything until he could get pretty close, while Nicholas just opens his mouth and says whatever’s on his mind, whether or not he knows how to make the sounds. It sharpens my ears, trying to interpret.

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Of course, it has a down side, too. He’s been cranky and whiny lately, and that translates to unintelligible when he most wants to communicate. And he has a toddler’s stubbornness, too. He finished watching a home movie and asked to watch Thomas the Tank Engine. I told him no, you already watched your movie, and had to put up with a child following me around the kitchen for ten solid minutes, crying, whining and repeating, “Wa…Thoma…moy” (his word for movie). It doesn’t sound like that long, but imagine how many times in a row you can hear that phrase in ten minutes!

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His cutest one, though, took a while to recognize. He kept wanting to open up the pop mower’s “tank” and put grass in it. Finally I realized his lack of an “r” sound makes him not realize there is a difference. “Put…gas…in…won wohr,” he says, and dutifully picks strands of grass from the lawn to drop in his toy. Everybody say “awwww”!

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I can never remember at what point during pregnancy I give up on running and become a walker. So I’m recording in black and white (well, black and tan) that at 25 weeks plus, I am still running, although it’s considerably on the decline. I’m thinking about the 18 pounds I’ve already gained, and the 14 weeks to go, and the 5 pounds I was already over my prepregnancy weight, and the 10 pounds below that that I’d like to get back to. Looking to the post-nursing area.

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The dark side of pregnancy is also beginning to manifest. The hip pain that plagued me last time around is back the last few days. I had hoped my exercise regimen would stave it off, but apparently not. Trying to discern whether PT or massage is the way to go. I was limping yesterday because I couldn’t support my own weight. Yikes.

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We’re changing doctors. The most maddening thing about the process is that asking for recommendations did no good, because not one of the doctors people recommended is accepting patients. So I’ve had to make another switch relatively blind, and hope for the best this time.

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Can’t decide if discretion would be the better part of valor in this case, but seriously, after having it in my head ALL NIGHT LONG, I just need to say: In my personal opinion, every copy of “On This Day O Beautiful Mother” should be burned out of every hymnal in existence. I know it’s a song that has great sentimental value to many, but yikes! “Lisping children”???? And people denigrate contemporary music for saccharine, shallow texts????

(Bracing for incoming! Although really, if Simcha can bash Thomas Kincaid, why can’t I express revulsion for On This Day? Then again, she has a lot more readers than I do. Oh, how I hate controversy.)