Mean Baby at the Library

Since it has been so hot lately Baby M and I have been spending some time at the local libraries. We haven't been to a story time yet, but every library has at least one scheduled during the week. Baby M is not quite ready to sit and listen to a story, but he loves crawling around and pulling books off the shelves. These days Baby M needs a lot of space to explore and our little 1940's era house just isn't cutting it.

So far my favorite library is the LAPL Playa Vista branch. The library has a large children's wing with plenty of board books and also wooden puzzles, large foam blocks and funny little velvet cars. We went on a Monday morning and there was only one other child in the room which meant Baby M could crawl around without any danger of being run over by an older kid. The Mar Vista branch is also nice. The children's room is much smaller, but it has lots of board books in large tin buckets and a built in bench that is the perfect height for Baby M to cruise on.

Today we went to the Main Branch of the Santa Monica library. I spent a lot of time in this library pre-Baby M because it has a much larger selection of titles than my local branch and it's really just a lovely space to be in. There is a garden patio, a cafe and lots of natural light. But today was the first time that I'd ventured into the children's area. There are no toys and the board books are not really baby accessible; they sit on a low shelf along a main walkway and I'm concerned that Baby M would get stepped on while he picked out his books. On the plus side, there is a huge open activity area where Baby M was able to crawl to his heart's content. Without any doorways, heating grates, tables or chairs to dodge he was really able to build up some speed. He was like Baby Flash, or whichever superhero has the power of super-speed. While Baby M happily wandered around a little boy, maybe 3 years old, came into the room and was very excited to point out the baby. He got down on his hands and knees to mimic Baby M's crawling. This got Baby M very excited and he made a bee-line for the little boy, hands and knees pounding, head wobbling, screeching like a banshee. The little boy stood up, said "Mean Baby" and stomped out of the room. Completely unconcerned my "Mean Baby" ambled off to try to pick up some shadows by the window.

Baby bites dog

Baby M has been crawling for a couple of weeks now and he is getting faster and more confident by the day. Gone are the days when I could plop him down in the center of the rug with a toy and expect to find him there when I returned. In fact yesterday I lost him momentarily when I left him playing happily in his room and ran into the office to grab a pen. When I got back 30 seconds later he was gone. After a brief moment of panic I found him hiding behind the glider rocker. He thought hiding from Mommy was a riot and began laughing like a loon.

This new milestone means some changes for me, but I think our dog may be having the hardest time adjusting. Up until now all interaction between Baby M and our dog, a Lab-German Shepherd mix, has been closely monitored by me. Thankfully our dog is very mellow and has patiently allowed Baby M to "pet" her, which really means pull her tail, pinch her back, chew her feet and attempt to climb on top of her. I am always right there, scratching her ears and making sure Baby M doesn't get to rough. Now, however, Baby M decides when he wants some doggy-time, and it is pretty much all the time. He chases the dog all over the house hoping to get a handful of hair. Our poor puppy runs from room to room, hides behind furniture, until finally, Baby M's persistence wears her down and she whines to be let out. I know this has been a rough few months for our dog-- we used to go on long walks every day and now she is lucky to get walked once a week. We'll try to give her a little extra attention this week so she knows she is still loved.