This week was our first week of junior/junior high age kids at camp (going into 3rd grade-8th grade). I was definitely not prepared for the kids reaction to my baby. Up until now, we've had families & senior highers. Who thought Z was cute, but they also knew or had been taught the appropriate way to adore a baby. And not poke him.
Oh, yes, my little man has been poked, prodded, kissed, generally adored, and called all kinds of things this week. Yesterday afternoon, one little girl tried to stick her finger in his mouth to see his teeth. Thankfully, I got him away in time!
One evening, as I was leaving with Z in his stroller, a girls' cabin group was all gathered around him, oohing, aahing, poking, adoring...and one of the girls said "Oh, his fuzzy blond hair is so cute. He looks like a fuzzy monkey. Hey, widdle fuzzy monkey..." At which point all the rest of the girls looked at me to see if I would be mad that this girl just called my baby a monkey. I wasn't. It's better than him being called 'It', which also happened this week. "Oh, look at the baby. It's so cute. It's looking at me." It? Really?
There were also a couple little boys that would come up to me at random intervals during the week and say, "Whoa. That's a BIG baby. How old is he?" It was so funny. Like how little are babies supposed to be? I mean, come on, he's at like the 30th percentile for height AND weight, people! I can't keep him any littler! :)
I took him 'swimming' in the pond for the first time this week. It did not go swimmingly. Pardon the pun. Every time his feet would touch the (admittedly) cold water, he would cry. So then these two boys decided he just needed to be splashed. He did not appreciate the sentiment. And he cried. Every time they splashed him. So they finally stopped and decided to dance around and see if their antics would amuse him. They did not. We finally left after about 20 minutes of me standing in the water, holding him, and Z holding his feet up OUT of the water. Fun times. Maybe next year. (sigh)
So, I don't want to be rude to the campers, but really, do I say something, like, "Um, it's not really polite to poke someone else's baby..."? Or am I just being paranoid because, hello, 'first-time mom syndrome' and all. What would YOU do???
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2 comments:
Hi Carrie --
Loved this post! To answer your question I think it's a little of both. You can expect certain behavior when it involves your child. I think you can certainly say, "Please don't stick your fingers in Z's mouth", or "Z doesn't really care to be poked so please touch him gently." And then, under your breath, but loud enough for the poker to hear, you say "Next time I'll poke you twice as hard and see how YOU like it!".
Well, just think about it. :)
Janine
Oh what a delightful post.
I found your blog from the comment you left at One Breath At a Time.
I'm sure all those things don't seem funny to you but it sure made me laugh right out loud. You did exactly the right thing by taking your frustration out on your blog so we could all laugh at real life.
My daughter had twins and my brother in law kept saying they looked like ET (the movie). So I can definetly indentify with Widdle fuzzy monkey.
Thanks again for making me laugh.
Luanne
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