Cafe Victoria

I was reading in the October Parent Magaize that now that Sam is reaching 7 months, we should start to hear him say his first word over the next few months. It got me thinking. What could be some words he might say or even what would be some great words to hear him say.
Could say:
“Poopie” ( he hears that alot)
“I know, I know” (As I’m calming him down)
“Yay” (We are extra excited people. Will always be Sam’s first cheerleaders!)

It would be great to hear him say:
“Grateful” (Something our chiropractor mention)
“Love you” (ahh)
“Mommy, Daddy” (Of course)

Will keep you posted on what we hear.

Most Sundays, you can find me reading the local Sunday paper. My favorite part is the Sunday funnies and the travel section. In the travel section of the Marin Journal, there has been stories about the bay area summer scavenger hunt. Today, they listed the winners. The best part of course is the Checklist. As a new mom, I can’t help but think of fun things we can do now with Sam and in the future. This morning at breakfast, I told Matthias that when Sam is older, I want to do a scavenger hunt checklist each week or maybe for the month. So that while we are in the car or at home watching t.v. or even while he is at school, every time Sam sees something from the check list, he can cross it off. Here was the Bay Area 2010 Summer Scavenger Hunt Checklist:

1. Covered bridge
2. Church with visible bell
3. Sign that is intentionally or unintentionally funny
4. Black bear (not from the wild)
5. Lemonade stand
6. Water tower with writing on it
7. Festival celebrating food, vegetable or fruit
8. House that doesn’t have four sides
9. Mime
10. Someone feeding pigeons
11. Ice cream truck
12. Motel named for two people (i.e. Norma Dan Motel, Tenn.)
13. Obscure historical marker
14. Parked car with more than 10 bumper stickers? (Must be parked!)
15. Building painted purple
16. Blank billboard
17. Closed store with “We’ve moved” sign
18. Ferris wheel
19. Rainbow
20. Something unusual not on the list

Traveling overseas? (You can sub out these for any three above; substitutions must be from a location outside of the United States or U.S. territories.)

1. Sign that includes foreign words and name of U.S. state
2. Windmill
3. Outdoor market selling food indigenous to that area

Some days it feels as if I joined the motherhood train a bit later than others. Some days I seem to forget that working in education leaves me seeing the world from “semester” time frames and the outcome being a passing grade or receiving a diploma. Recently, I’ve wanted to get some sort of credit, a grade or even extra credit for being a new mom. I’m coming up on Sam turning 6 months and I have never done so much work in such a short period of time. And I thought a graduate course every 9 weeks was tough. Try teaching Sam to sleep through the night, or balancing nursing while returning to work. I’m really proud of myself but for those of us in education, we are used to getting a grade or some sort of certificate recognizing us for the effort and great work we have done. For motherhood, the “A or B+” will come in ways I have yet to realize. For now, I am going to say the laughs Sam gives me while I am changing him is a sure sign I’m doing a pretty good job as his mom.

As I finished my second week back at work, I found myself wanting to have clear reasons on why I was going to work and not staying home with Sam. I think any working mother could agree, if you have to work or are choosing to work, the best way to handle the separation from your baby is have a really good reason. So, what is mine?  I have some simple reasons: travel money so we can take Sam to Germany next summer and money towards the down payment for our future home so Sam has a back yard to run around in. Those are great reasons, but as summer approaches and life slows down, I need to take this time to develop a clear vision of why I want to be a working mom. I do know something, this week, I loved being able to say “It’s 5:30, got to go”. I think I was even more efficient at work because I knew there was no time at home to do any extra work. And the time I did have with Sam was even more special to me.