Happy Mom

I don't know if it is that I am finally getting back to my old weight (I am .5 pounds away from being my old fat self, which is the fattest I ever was prior to child; and 5 pounds away from being my old fat normal self, which was my constant usual weight prior to child - that is a loss of 20 pounds since coming home from hospital so far); or if it is the summer weather. Maybe we are doing so many fun things, or it could be that he is walking and that is exciting. It could just be that he is so much more interactive and fun now, or that I am no longer worried about some things... Ah, it could also be that they are finally done working on our house from the February storm damage. I am not sure what it is, but this Mom has been in a good mood!Thought I would share some action shots of the kiddo walking. As you can see, Dad likes to play around with his clothing ala Lady Gaga. He does not seem to mind however and still runs around the house. He has lost Frankenstein arms and is now more of a Statue of Liberty arm man (one arm always up holding a pretend torch while walking, while the other to the side or sometimes folded in). I can't believe he is walking this well, and he is not even 11 months yet. I did not walk until 16 months! Oh boy!
Anyway, since I am in such a good mood I thought I would take this moment to write about all of the things out there that have recently attempted to scare me. Many of them did for a little while, but I think I have newly adopted a strategy for this: "everything in moderation," "what does not kill us makes us stronger," and the final question I shall ask myself, "how many people has this really effected?"

Never in my life before have I been confronted with so many: "don't do that, it is bad" things. I am not sure what the deal is, but I am sure all you Moms out there know that there is something with the media (now I sound political) - that they WANT Moms to constantly feel insecure. They really want us to be questioning our every move. They want us to double-think, worry and be on the constant look out. It drove me mad. I am over it now.
Some examples, I should not watch the Today Show any longer. They LOVE to make Moms nervous. My favorite, today a segment on skin cancer. Do not go to the beach they say. You will get skin cancer. As you know, I just went to the beach, and was paranoid the entire time about the sun. Damn near covered my child from head to toe with sunscreen clothing, then sunscreen. Yet, for the first two minutes of this segment I was thinking, oh no, I am a terrible Mom, never to the beach again! Crap! How can he not go to the beach again? He loves it there! Deep breath, moderation.
Also in the news recently, another favorite stressful topic of mine, feeding your child. Now apparently frozen blueberries cause ADHD. So, I have been making my child delicious homemade treats that are going to have a negative effect on his brain development. Really? Again, this terrified me for a bit, but then I realized a few things. Moderation. And, good thing it is blueberry season soon... But seriously, what next? What are they going to say is bad for us tomorrow? My favorite comment on this type of hysteria, an Exeter Mom friend asked our (same) pediatrician: "Do you know what causes Autism?" - his response, basically, no one knows, it could be prenatal consumption of french fries. After he said that, totally kidding, my Exeter Mom friend freaked - "really, oh no, I ate them every day when I was pregnant!" Then she took a breath and realized what she was saying. Seriously, we are crazed people!

My favorite you-are-ruining-your-child-with-food topic: tofu has estrogen in it. A Mom friend recently asked me if I knew the skinny on this topic, and I actually had not heard it before. As you know, my son LOVES tofu. We follow wholesomebabyfoods.com and they rec. it as a good source of protein, finger food, etc. So, after she questioned me of course I needed to figure this out. So, I go onto said website and they have a whole section about the "estrogen" issue I had never seen. One person posts: "No one should recommend tofu for children, my son ate it and grew breasts." Now, totally freaked out, I search further. Turns out, soy has a hormone with similar tendencies to estrogen. But there is no known link between the two. Furthermore, you would have to eat A LOT of soy in order to be effected by this hormone. Like, A LOT. Some babies drink soy formula consistently, and there is no major finding that this has ever had any effect on them. So, my son can have his package of tofu a week thank you. And lady whose son grew breasts, I am not sure what else you are feeding your child. Again, moderation. And, in this case: "how many people has this really effected?"
Moral of the story is, I am not letting these things freak me out anymore. The TV thing - yes, my son watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for about 10-20 minutes a day, I am not ruining him. He likes Mickey, plain and simple. Of that 10 minutes he is only looking at the screen for 20 seconds, when Mickey first comes on. He loves it! Why deprive him of this? What else could we be doing wrong? I can't wait until they say Cry It Out is the reason so many kids act out later in life. That will be awesome. Or, exposure to grilled cheese makes for fat kids. (I can see how this can be possible...) What I mean to say is, have fun! Do things in moderation! Be active, get out, try new things! Eat what you love! This makes for a much happier mommy, and much happier son. So, just try to freak me out news. Just try, I am not going to let you freak out this happy mom now!