Never too old...

You know, I was starting to wonder if my 2 1/2 year old was getting to that age where he wouldn't want to ever 'ride' again if he could RUN. But the other night, as I was desperately trying to clean and organize a room that he was in, I realized that alternating play time with clean up time really got me no where. At one point I was putting away shoes and coats and came across Brandon's favorite monkey carrier and was folding it up and getting it ready to hang on a coat hook when he glanced over and saw it... whining and tears and clingy-ness immediately ensued. I was totally confused... I knew it was getting past bedtime and I wasn't sure WHAT he wanted, as all that was coming out of his mouth was confused babble... until finally I realized he wasn't patting my legs, but was patting the carrier resting against my legs. I said "what... this?" and held it up. And he immediately said "uh HUH." and promptly turned around and faced away from me.

Still a little confused, I thought maybe he was just wanting a blanket to cuddle with while watching cartoons (which happened to be in the direction he was facing). So I started to hand it to him and he shoved it back and grunted then turned his back again to me and walked backwards towards me... waiting for me to reach down and pick him up and flip him over my shoulder. I thought "you're kidding, right? 30 lbs of kid, in a 75 degree house, and you want to hang out on my back and watch cartoons while I clean?"

.... but then I realized, he was QUIET. And with my recent surgery I was instructed not to strain, or carry more than 50 lbs, and having him on my back in the carrier was a LOT less strain than trying to carry him on my hip and keep bending over to pick things up. So... on my back he went, turning his head whatever direction the TV was in.

Yes, after about 10 minutes, he wanted to get down to go get a toy. So I pulled the straps down and let him climb off and just let the carrier dangle on my butt. But 15 minutes later, while crouching down to put shoes away in a shoe rack, I was tackled from behind with arms wrapped around my waist and directed to "tarry me!" again, so the straps came back up and we promptly folded blankets and put away knick knacks that were in the wrong place until I finally decided it was bath time (and break time!).

I tell ya, it warmed my heart to know that my little monkey still loves cuddling with me even when his matchbox cars are only 10 feet away. <3

Happy babywearing everyone!

Misty

URGENT: donating breast-milk to bank in HAITI

I don't want to copy someone else's blog, but for the sake of passing on critical information I will post this link instead and summarize....
"GIVE THEM ROOTS" BLOG SITE:
http://www.givethemroots.com/2010/01/urgent-milk-donations-for-haiti-infants.html

And here is the detailed information about breastmilk donations from HMBNA directly:
http://www.hmbana.org/index/haiti

Being a Mom who has breastfed two happy, healthy children of her own and never regretting one minute of it, it saddens me to know that there are children suffering in Haiti because they have been orphaned or seperated from their mothers and are now lacking that precious nurishment. Switching a child from breastmilk to formula, especially in a time of such change and scary surroundings, can be devestating to their health. Especially in disasters, where local water may be contaminated and cannot be used for formula (only bottled water), breastmilk is an essential resource!

For more information on how to help this effort and details on the project to provide breast milk banks to Haiti relief efforts, please click the link above. Here is some further information copied from that site:

"Urgent Call for Human Milk Donations for Haiti InfantsWashington, DC--The Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA), United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC), International Lactation Consultant Association/United States Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA/USLCA), and La Leche League International (LLLI) are jointly issuing an urgent call for human milk donations for premature infants in Haiti, as well as sick and premature infants in the United States."

"Mothers who are willing to donate human milk should contact their regional Mothers' Milk Bank of HMBANA. A list of regional milk banks is available on the HMBANA Web site at (www.hmbana.org/index/locations)."

"For more information, contact HMBANA at 408-998-4550 (www.hmbana.org). Additional information can be provided from the United States Breastfeeding Committee at 202-367-1132 (www.usbreastfeeding.org), ILCA/USLCA at 800-452-2478 (www.ilca.org or www.uslca.org), or La Leche League at 847-519-7730 (http://www.llli.org/)."