Second Cousins

2004/12/20

Posted in Daily Photo

http://bethology.blogspot.com Beth

This is a great picture! George looks like he loves little Leta very much.

And at the risk of sounding like a psycho stalker, I’ve been reading your site for a couple of years now, and I feel PROUD of you – a person I don’t even know – for the job you’re doing raising your baby girl.
http://blogs.salon.com/0002504 Anita

Dooce–

I’m calling it Baby Competition. And it does make me, at least, feel like I am an incompetent Mom when others talk about their children’s milestones. Lately, it’s sleeping through the night. We’re not. Others are.

I totally agree with Marie, too, about anyone who thinks a 10 month old should be walking is a dolt.

I hope you get a virtual hug from these comments. We all feel insecure with our parenting skills. I’m getting tired of defending what we’re doing (and we’ve just started!). Leta is lucky to have you for a mom. And the sharpie commercial is hysterical.
http://almost30.blogspot.com ab

See? She’s in training for her forst word already. I can see it now. GEORGE!!!
http://www.mistercrunchy.com Chris

Our youngest never crawled. She scooted backwards on her butt for a few months and then she stood up and started toddling. Now she’s five and goes in the right direction and you’d never know her parents were worried that she’d picked up some crab DNA. Leta’s fine. You’re on top of it. Relax.
http://holyschmidt.blogspot.com Melanie S

Dooce,

My sister’s youngest child didn’t walk until he was almost 15 months old. He would sit and scream for you to come get him. They started using an “exersaucer” and he finally started to put weight on his legs. I think he was just happy being carried everywhere and just didn’t feel like it. Babies can be stubborn you know.
Kahli

Heather,

You are indeed, the first person I have come across who made me think motherhood was something worth looking into.

Your brutal strength, honesty, vulnerability and style combined with just enough heartache and utter grace, make you the perfect mother with the perfect baby. You SO keep it real and you are always so totally punk rock.

Everyone I know who goes and gets themselves in “the condition” I tell to check dooce.com and then they tell all their pregnant friends and we are in the midst of a pregant/new mother online revolution. All because of you I am not even pregnant!

You are wonderful and Leta is so going to be so right on in every phase because she totally already is.

Comment gallery: Thank you for sharing and always being punk rock. I enjoy coming here and visiting. Heather- thanks for making the space available.

xo
http://alleyesonjenny.com Jenny

The picture is just gorgeous.

Dooce: my sister Kaitlin was born with dislocated hips, though we did not know this until she was just about Leta’s age and wasn’t crawling or trying to move at all really. She ended up in a full body cast for several months and didn’t walk until she was over 2 years old. Of course she’s fine now, but for the first 2 years of my sister’s life, through the cast, the physical therapy, my mom beat herself up the whole time. Like you, she thought she did something wrong, that she was never doing enough – when in reality she was doing all she could do and more.

Don’t doubt your parenting skills. Leta is a very happy baby, and we all know just how much you love her and all that you do for her.
Viv

You are right on about your mothering comments, it is the best *and* worst job. And every kid is so unique; those developmental milestones (like in those preachy “What to Expect” books) only make us feel guilty and inadequate. I mean, just look at Leta – beautiful!
Kahli

How about:

All because of you AND I am not even pregnant?

Jeeeeezus.

I AM FINISHED WITH FINALS YOU GUYS SO NOW I AM JUST LAZY AND DUMB BUT SOOOOOO NOT BUSY WRITING PAPERS!
http://moodswung.blogspot.com bunny

With motherhood it’s always something. I think in a way the fact that she stays where you put her right now is good for your sanity.

Moms worry. That is what we do. One of mine used to pull her hair out as a toddler. People thought she was on chemo. Now she’s eighteen and could be a stunt double for Eowyn.

This too shall pass. Soon enough you will be running behind her everywhere. Just tell people “Yes, she’s a handful” and don’t worry about it.
http://www.dooce.com Amanda B.

K, Molly wins the “Bravest Hoo-Hoo of All Time” award.

And George! You are like Antonio Banderas, no?
http://blackbird17.blogspot.com blackbird

Your maternal mixed feelings will always be caught up in something. That’s my experience anyway.
But let’s all just remember that we ALL end up walking, functioning adults. (Well, maybe not so much my oldest.)

What am I. like 360th?
Reb

Well, technically, George and Leta would be first cousins once removed. George’s son/daughter would be Leta’s second cousin, unless of course George IS Heather’s first cousin’s kid.

Leta is beautiful, nonetheless, and her hair is getting noticeably less red. And George, of course, is still GEORGE!
http://www.kristyk.org kristal

Re: Milestones

My niece and I had our sons the same day, just hours apart. Her son was walking at eight months. By his first birthday, he was running and had a full mouth of teeth. My son had one tooth and was doing good to crawl around the living room. Now, Echo is fifteen months old and just getting the hang of this walking thing.

When people comment on how far behind my son is, I say “Yes. Aren’t I lucky? I get to enjoy his time as a baby longer.”

Every child is perfect, and Leta is no exception.
joy

My son never really crawled. He started walking while hanging on to things at first and went on from there. But he didn’t start walking for as long as 15 months. His short feet and fat tummy were the obsticle. Oh well, now he’s 23 going on 24.
Caroline

GEORGE! With Leta!

I’m so jealous of the cuteness that is your family.

Yes, I realize I’m totally kissing ass. Can I get a date with George out of it?
Les

I know you’re getting a MILLION comments like this, but here’s my two cents: I’m the youngest of almost 30 cousins, and I didn’t walk until (gasp!) nearly a year and a half. My mom had to listen to all of my aunts stressing about how slow I was…one of them even suggested I might be retarded!

Ok, so flash forward some years…I have TWO masters degrees, and not one of my cousins ever even went to college.

Not that college necessarily means you’re smart, but it’s nice for my mom to say, “I told you so.”

Oh, and I believe my mother finally got me to walk by bribing me with brownies.

God, brownies…I could still be bribed with those.
Carol

â€œBravest Hoo-Hoo of All Timeâ€

I didn’t even know they gave awards for hoo-hoos! I want one.

Other Categories:
The Hoo-Hoo Least Afraid of Hot Wax
Smartest Hoo-Hoo
Most Ambitious Hoo-Hoo

: )
Sara from WI

We may need to start some sort of a group for all of the people who have been reading this site for so long but have never posted anything. Dooce Lurkers Anonymous. Now my lurking has expanded into the sites of your online posse.
P.S. Being a mom is hard and wonderful. You know your daughter is wonderful and you know you’re doing better for her than anyone else ever could. The hard thing about motherhood is that you feel like you need to make everyone else see that.
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=hoo+hoo Sheryl

Hooha categories:
Biggest Flirt
Class Clown

Most Likely to Succeed
“___” Own a Volkswagen
“___” Be on Survivor
U.B.

I’m having kind of a venus vs. mars moment reading all the motherhood comments.

My daughter had big problems as an infant that basically suspended her physical development at six months, then she started (slowly) back up at about a year. No crawling or walking until much later after much phys. therapy and effort by all of us.

But, at the time and since, I was worried only about moving heaven and earth to help her and get her what she needed. It never once occurred to me think about other people’s perceptions of what we were going through. I had to relate her story countless times, but I never thought much of it and just felt like the questions were genuine concern/human curiousity.

I’m pretty sure my beautiful wife felt the same way through the whole thing. But I’d better go give her a hug just in case (even though we went through this 6-7 years ago).
Caroline

Okay, one think I was thinking about. If the underscore makes the font italic than how do you underline something?

Oh, and George, seriously, pick me.

Plus, STILL no GEORGE! category? Who, _who_ else will fill the gaping hole between ‘Feeling Guilty,’ and ‘How to Annoy Me?’

Honestly.
Carol

Best Dressed Hoo-Hoo
http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/NatSci102/images/god4.gif Girl.A

Who will fill the gaping hole?
Caroline

Okay, if no one’s said it — most popular hooha.
http://dirtyfloorsandfilthyjokes.blogspot.com/ closet metrosexual

Most Popular Hoo-Hoo
and the ever important “Miss Congeniality”
Caroline

Also, there’s most attractive, most likely to be a hippie, and most likely to work at McDonalds.
http://ladybug4791.tripod.com/ladybug/ LadyBug

Well, as long as we’re handing out hoo-hoo awards, Dooce should definitely get one for _this_ post:

http://www.dooce.com/archives/daily/12_19_2002.html
http://www.dooce.com Amanda B.

The hoohoo most likely to be transgendered…

Girl A- I always a little afraid to click on your link…afraid yet curious…
http://www.rotten.com/library/sex/vagina-dentata/ Girl.A

Hooha with
The Best Smile
http://www.dooce.com Amanda B.

aaaaaaaaaah. no dentata!

Hoohoo not Hooha. Hooha is what rednecks have after a few beers.

Not that I’m the Hoohoo police…
http://dirtyfloorsandfilthyjokes.blogspot.com/ closet metrosexual

Be brave, Amanda B. Girl.A’s links are the best, even if often times a bit disturbing (like the dentata. I’m still having bad dreams. Good dreams that turn into very, very, bad dreams.)
kp

i think my mother feels guilty for my Multiple Sclerosis…that breaks my heart because I know it’s not her fault, and I know it’s not your fault that Leta isn’t mobile yet…maybe think of it as extra time for you to prepare for the day she does start to move! AHHHHHH. oh the stories you’ll have then! i look forward to reading them.

sidenote–we had a “most likely to get lost in hometown”at school…can there be a most likely to get lost in a hoo-hoo?
http://nowhere.com moose

walking at 10 months is not typical. i’m sure he was just trying to connect with you, but it’s amazing the doofus things people say. “sensory problems” aside, the tall ones usually walk later. it’s just physically harder to balance all that height. i’m guessing, from your and Jon’s height, that Leta is tall. not to make a prediction or anything…
http://www.msu.edu/user/newellch/monkey.jpg Girl.A

closet metrosexual, I have dreams like that – but the opposite.

I’m being chased by the Killer Tomatoes or maybe the 50 Foot Woman. I’m crazed with terror and running away but then they catch me and THEN something good happens, unexpectedly.

Like, apparently only my subconscious knew that Frankenstein’s neck bolts would make the perfect handlebars for the special humpty face dance.
http://johnsloas.typepad.com/crooked_line/ John Sloas

i miss the non-moble days. hang in there.
http://dirtyfloorsandfilthyjokes.blogspot.com/ closet metrosexual

Girl.A – why couldn’t that have been a pic of you and the fifty foot woman? Then I’d be sure to have nice dreams. How about you e-mail me a little bedtime story tonight?
http://symbioticfishes.blogspot.com Fish

Girl.A, you really DO need your own sub-world in which to rule with an iron fist, don’t you?
Michelle

Dooce, you are such a sweet mum. You can see in Leta’s eyes that there is nothing wrong with either her or you! She has just got a strong character (much like her parents, I suspect) and she is showing it by doin’ things her own way.

My brother was almost 2 when he started walking. He never even crawled. He scooted on his butt. One day another (walking) toddler was visiting, my brother obviously got sick of scooting after after him!

So what I am trying to say is – quit being so hard on yourself. Get Jon to give you a big hug, and know that you are doing a great job and raising the cutest little kid that makes the ovaries ache of every childless woman on here!
http://symbioticfishes.blogspot.com Fish

*gasp, Fish is actually going to comment on the picture*

Is it just me, or does Leta’s hair look MUCH less red, and MUCH more blond than it has previously?
http://geeks.free.fr/gif/geek.gif Girl.A

Amanda, please excuse my incorrect use of hooha. That’s what we called it in the West but I am happy to oblige. I like Hoo Hoo better. It rhymes with Yoo Hoo. And is more Scarlett O’Hara than Hoo Ha, which is more Dana Hill, as you say…

Fish, I am flexible, not fascist.
MrsDoF

I’m thinking that the question about the state of your bottom system is a subtle hint that it might be time for some buffalo wings. The last such Eats sent you both to the bathrooms.
http://chaoticharmony.typepad.com/chaotic_harmony/ Lactivist

I look at it this way – the later they’re mobile, the easier my life is!

Hang in there, Dooce! Leta is perfect.
Angela

Just like “the niffer” commented- whenever I see the Nikon D70 commercial with the rhino- I think of you Dooce. Not that you remind me of a rhino or anything.

P.S.
I think you are a great mom. Leta is precious. George too.
Susie

Looking over the comments, I’m not at all sure what a “Hoo-Hoo” is here today, but I think you’ve missed
The Hoo-Hoo Most Likely to Succeed
http://symbioticfishes.blogspot.com Fish

Girl.A/Amanda B (by virtue of her role as Hoo Hoo policewoman): Just what counts as an incorrect use of a hoohoo?
http://www.dooce.com Amanda B.

Hmmm…I would think using a hoohoo as a plantholder would be out of bounds.

Wouldn’t want to use it as a cookie jar.

Certainly not as a place to keep loose change.
Sheryl

Wait, Fish, are you asking about incorrect use HooHoo the word, or HooHoo the animal?
http://symbioticfishes.blogspot.com Fish

Remember that old David Spade SNL skit: “You can put your weed in there.”
http://dirtyfloorsandfilthyjokes.blogspot.com/ closet metrosexual

Amanda B – it’s not a cookie jar, it’s a nookie jar.

(Bad, bad, man. I’ll shuddup now.)

Second Cousins

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