May Day

May Day or Labor Day as it is known here in the former soviet union. It’s a national holiday but most of the rallies are attended by students these days, not the larger population that used to be required to attend – at least so says my translator. Despite that, one thing I have been struck with here is the number of people, young educated people included, who look back fondly on the soviet Union days – if not actually yearn for them. One person I had lunch with summed it up thusly: “In the old days, we didn’t have much choice of product but everyone could afford most things; now we have lots of choice, but many people cannot afford anything.” Apparently, it’s a grass is always greener situation.

Today I have to spend much of the day writing my speech for court (next Wednesday) and my old translator Inna is coming over this afternoon to help me work on it.

Yesterday, as I was prowling around the vast expanse of my apartment looking for a diversion, I came across a cupboard I had not yet explored. And inside I found a treasure trove of more bad novels, a Yahtzee board and a baby book “your baby’s first year”. It then occurred to me that I haven’t actually read any books on babies. Sure, I read “how to make your child a reader” and “Raising a moral child”, but I hadn’t actually read anything about what to do with them before they are reading or making moral decisions. So I thought, hmmm, might be a good idea to peruse. Well, wouldn’t you know it is chock full of information. I read the 4-7 months section first since Annabelle is 7 months. One of the things mentioned is that they should start sitting on their own during this time period. So we worked on that today. You can see below how that worked out.

Day 13_files\Sitting Up Video.MOV

The book also says that if your child is crying for no good reason (as opposed to when mama doesn’t change her diaper) you should use “kind words” to distract her. So when Annabelle started getting cranky today, for no apparent reason, I used my kind words and applied a dab of logic (my own little addition to the recipe) and tried to figure out what was wrong with her. Was she upset because Nortel was down in the stock market? Or was it because of the increasing nuclear standoff with Iran? Or perhaps the genocide in Darfur is getting to her? Finally I struck pay dirt when I asked, “is it because Tom Cruise’s new baby is getting more media attention than you?” She burped loudly at that question, which I took for an assent. I reassured her and told her lots and lots of people are reading about her and she’s very famous too. After that she settled down and went to sleep.

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