Part of the problem is I'm comparing her to my mother's description of my behavior as a baby

My mother has been going on about what I was like as a baby and saying that Owen is a lot like me, etc. Honestly, I think she's nuts. She had five kids and the last two were twins. And she had cancer when we were three and went back to work when we were six. So I think she may not be remembering all that well.

I have a hard enough time not comparing Owen to the babies we meet in Romper Room and in playgroup settings without worrying about comparing him to me as an infant, too.

Even still, Emmett wanted human contact more than to play with toys. So if you can get Annabel to contentedly play with her stuff in there, then I think you're okay. If she's trying to get your attention by testing, then maybe you need to do some resumes after her bedtime.

I could be wrong, but I don't think her attempts to ransack the bookshelves or reach things that the day before I'd have sworn were out of her range are meant to get my attention, because she acts so angry when I come to take her away. I think she's just trying to explore her world and investigate her new physical skills. She's a very self-contained child. I'm not sure she'll be an introvert, because she's friendly and flirty, but she's very mellow and independent.

I have a hard enough time not comparing Owen to the babies we meet in Romper Room and in playgroup settings without worrying about comparing him to me as an infant, too.

We spend so little time around babies who are exactly her age that there's really no one to compare her to.

That's just it, Susan. Don't compare her. It's only adding to your aggravation. She's herself. Her mellow and happy self. Whether she walks at 10 months or whether she walks at 14 months is nothing to get worked up over.

Harumph. Went to do another henna test, but in the process of boiling the coffee, I boiled it all away.

It's all my fault. I drank all the coffee today.

Susan, cut yourself a break, girl. I'm not a parent, so I can't offer any really helpful thoughts, but I've done a lot of babysitting and watching of others raise their babies. You're doing just fine.

I mention this because I secretly believe it somehow makes me cooler and sexier by Jen association

It totally does. Cause she's sexy like that.

a woman tries to help her nine-year-old son deal with being called fag

Goddamn fucking PEOPLE. Jesus.

I may yet develop a taste for it, but it takes extraordinary garnishment to get me to eat asparagus

I will eat all your asparagus, if you eat all my mushrooms.

Now, they are not the most enlightened (can you say "racist") and I figured they would ignore my black BF.

Well, I'm glad to hear that they were better than that! Yay! And ah, the fun of family members.

Now y'all are making me want veggies. Or pot-pie. Mmm, pot pie.

Ah, fuck. Apparently I burnt enough peach cobbler onto the bottom of my oven as to render it completely unusable until I find time to clean it. Also, I have determined beyond a shadow of a doubt that the smoke alarm in the kitchen is dead dead dead.

I was pretty precocious on several levels. I walked at ten months, and while Annabel is close, she's not quite there yet, and she'll be eleven months Sunday. I think I also had a few words at her age,

It's not a race.

It is not a race.

It is not a race because (A) you do not control it in any way and (B) the results are IRRELEVANT to the baby's future life.

When Annabel is 5, you will not care whether she walked early or late. She will not be more graceful at 5 because she walked at 10 months, or clumsier because she waited until 14.

I had one kid who read at 3. I had one kid who read at 6, with a lot of sweating and swearing. Now they're both in double digits, and they both read equally well. They're both wayyyy ahead of their age levels, even though one had a three-year start.

It is not a race.

I think she's just trying to explore her world and investigate her new physical skills. She's a very self-contained child. I'm not sure she'll be an introvert, because she's friendly and flirty, but she's very mellow and independent.

Gah, Susan, you worry so much and beat yourself up so much and then you throw something like this out there and I just want you to listen as hard to the voice that says things like that as you do to the one that seems to be always questioning yourself. That is a beautiful, happy, curious baby you've got there, and I know you sometimes think you're not doing right by her but you are, you really really are.

Dinner: marinated chicken breast (Trader Joe's), edamame (TJ's), and sweet potatoes (yes, TJ's).

I have eaten TWO vegetables, and my tongue doesn't hurt!!! Trader Joe's, my tongue thanks you!