The Baby Expert: No Worries

I think I’ve had a revelation this weekend concerning our baby’s refusal to be held by others – who cares! On Sunday, we visited our friend Karen and her baby, the Mav. No one was in Caitlyn’s face or trying to convince her to be held. She just did her thing on the floor, and we all just sat around and interacted with her without being too overwhelming. And the best part of it was that she was happy, which was surprising since this was at 3 in the afternoon and she had only had a 10 minute nap since 8 that morning.

All this made me realize that it doesn’t really matter if our baby lets other people hold her or not. If she does, then great. But if she doesn’t, it’s not the end of the world. The more we try and push her towards this, the more she’s probably just going to fight and resent it. I mean, when she grows up, being held by others isn’t a skill set she’s going to need. But being able to interact well with others is. And from what I’ve seen so far, she’s pretty good at it.

Now that I’m no longer burdened by this worry, I can turn my focus elsewhere. And that focus comes in the form of interior decorating. I am pleased to announce that the wife and I are now official home owners! After a year or two of searching and debating whether we should buy a place, we’ve finally landed a pretty nice little pad. And the best part is, it’s in the same apartment complex as the wife’s oldest sister and her two kids. That can only mean one thing – free, convenient babysitting service!

This also means that I can finally begin seriously thinking about what I want Caitlyn’s room to look like. If you remember, the wife had promised that I could decorate her room how I wanted, unimpeded, if I allowed her to decorate the rest of the apartment.

I’m not saying I have the best taste in the world, but it worries me when the wife says that people always tell her that she has great taste and then follows that up by saying she wants a north European/country style for our place. North European/country style?! What is the heck is that?! Are we talking about Scandinavian cowboys or Norwegian farmers here?

In all the design books that we’ve looked at thus far, she has yet to see anything remotely to her liking. I have no idea what our place will look like in the end, but this should definitely be interesting.