Is it normal for babies to like to rock back and forth? Because Annabel has been doing it for the past day or two. She seems to like the noise it makes when she hits her head against the (soft) side of the playpen, and in the high chair it seems to mean "bored now, can we either give me something different to eat or let me get down". But it just looks weird and is freaking me the hell out.

My brother used to rock his crib all the way across the room and then bang it into the wall. My parents finally had to tie it to the radiator.

She seems to like the noise it makes when she hits her head against the (soft) side of the playpen

She's playing rhythm to the radio station in her head.

A huge buffalo, standing in the middle of lockers and benchs, staring at itself in the mirror. This pleases me.

"You are one handsome son of a bitch! You are! You totally rock!"

Is it normal for babies to like to rock back and forth?

Normal. Everything Annabel does is either normal or way better than normal. Normal normal normal.

Oh...Polter-Cow got a "jump." and I don't mean porn. That's what the "continued" is. Good for you.

Ah, cool. Yeah, the last-minute edits on this weren't as painful as last time. This time, they cut out an analogy from my interviewee (which was fine, really, because it was redundant); put two paragraphs together that shouldn't have been, making the second one appear to refer to things in the first one that it really wasn't (but at least it doesn't misrepresent the answer, only the methods used to obtain it); and added a sentence emphasizing a point that got lost in some of the verbiage. It wasn't a bad sentence (props for using the word "surmised"), and it's not far off from something I would have written, but it was weird to wake up in the morning and find this sentence I had no hand in writing attributed to me.

I hope for next week's article to be blissfully shorter.

Normal. Everything Annabel does is either normal or way better than normal. Normal normal normal.

OK. I thought it probably was, since she's just a baby and all, but she's the first baby I've ever been around for any extended length of time, and since it would be a problem if she were a few years older and doing this, I wondered if it was a precursor to problems to come.

I've found a new radio station. No DJs, and their tag line is "We play what we want." One of their ads is "Got a request? Then scream it at the radio." I've heard U2, Abba, Queen, John Mayer, Aerosmith--if I hear some Billy Idol, I'm a happy woman.

No DJs? Then who are the "we" playing what they want?

if she were a few years older and doing this, I wondered if it was a precursor to problems to come.

It's a little early to be worried about hebephrenic schizophrenia. (Lots of rocking.)

Babies do lots of stuff like rocking because they're still mastering balance and their bodies. When she gets a little older, she's gonna go through a spin around and get dizzy phase. A little older than that? Riding around in pickup trucks with boys drinking cheap wine and lying to you about it. Unfortunately, that's also normal.

Got a request? Then scream it at the radio."

Cue quote from Spin the Bottle: "You stopped the tiny men from singing." (as Angel taps the radio)

Why did Monday fly by so fast and Tuesday's crawling? I want to be at home with Wonderfalls DVD's and drinking a mocha.