Baby, it's you and me

Reading: The Philosophical Baby by Alison Gopnik
Listening to: Catfish the TV show
Outside: Balmy, balmy, balmy! It's like Spain out there.

Summer is upon us. Welcome: grass clippings stuck to your feet; a happy glass of white zinfandel sweating in the sun; and BBQs. If autumn is the whisper, and spring is the breeze, then summer is a sigh of relief. I let my hair air-dry after a shower these days - in 26 degrees C (that's 78.8 degrees F in American money!), in a tank top and shorts, I am no longer freezing cold. Ahh, this is perhaps the best British summer I have enjoyed yet.

Summer in London, deckchairs at Regent's Park. Picture from here.

And parenthood continues one day at a time.

I recently admitted to a friend that my little girl (now nearly eight months old) no longer sleeps in her crib during her daytime naps. I explained that no matter what, as soon as her head touches that mattress, she's awake and screaming. I said, I just can't get anything done. I said, "She'll only sleep in my arms." The crazy, crazy, crazy thing is, I said that like I was spilling some kind of horrible dirty secret, like I never wash my socks or something.

My question is, dear reader, why did I feel guilty?

Is it because of the guidelines in NHS pamphlets telling me how to establish (and keep) good sleep habits? Is it because of advice of well-meaning friends? The endless Parade of Rules trumpeting past me, flowered-floats saying Attachment Parenting or Cry It Out or ONLY AT YOUR PERIL..?

And of course I consulted Dr. Google!

But you know what. I thought about it for a second. People have been having babies for millions of years. Babies used to be held in front or back slings twenty-four hours a day. Have the babies changed, or have our parenting strategies?

And even more than all that: have I ever heard anyone say, "I wish I'd held my baby less"?

This little Jellybean will be a baby only once.

When she is a young adult, I will have all the time in the world. And I will have had it for a long time by then.

So now we nap together, me and you, Jellybean.

Is the laundry going to get done in the usual efficient way? No. Will I put my phone down, finally, and stop surfing Ebay? Yes.

Because when it's nap time, it's just you and me, Jellybean. Rest well, dear heart. Sweet dreams.

Me and you, you and me.