Monday, November 17, 2008

Ingrid at Barnes and Nobles

Ingrid and I are pals of course. I ended up taking the boys to Scouts this evening and after tackling a few errands, the little person had had it with running around. So.....I made a beeline for Barnes and Noble. She was pretty much crying quite a bit at this point. The last time I was the driver for the Scouts, I went there and A LOT of people stared at us and one lady made a comment about how small she was. Why does everyone point out that she is small. Is she small compared to some of the gigantic babies I've seen? Are there no other average babies? I find this an odd observation.

Anyway, I headed for the knitting book section and found a chair in an inconspicuous spot. Yes, I found a book my family would be free to indulge me with for Christmas..... After she calmed down, (it must have been the patterns) I searched out a German dictionary for Anna and went to check out. The man behind the counter said "Cute baby". He paused, stared, then said "Snotty". What could I say? So I said "Well, that's honesty for you." The man kept staring. I sort of snickered and had to look away. He would not stop staring at her! People say and do THE ODDEST THINGS! What does it mean if my nearly three month old has a runny nose? Should I lock myself up? Or.....what does it mean when they comment how small she is? Weird. I just do not know what to say back. People with babies must not go anywhere unless they are at the grocery store past my bedtime. I think that is one of the few places I see babies. Or maybe I just don't go anywhere. Actually, I am such a klutz that I am sure my inability to move smoothly through a store with a whimpering infant just adds to their need to say something.

So that is this evenings adventure.

4 comments:

Susan said...

I think you're right about all the gigantic babies out there. For one thing, it's easy enough to forget how LITTLE they are when they're so new. But then with all these 10# newborns, it makes a normal-sized baby look tiny.

When Katie took Alia in for her one-week appointment, the doctor put her on the growth chart at about the 25th percentile. She isn't tiny; she's a perfectly normal-sized newborn. I was glad that the doctor had the sense to say, "That's okay, though. With all the huge 10#- and 11#-babies these days, that drives the average up. There's nothing wrong with her size."

Karin said...

Uh yes. I whole heartily agree. If Katie is ever sick of hearing commnets about her normal baby being small, send her my way. My now giant children (tall) were all average. They are thin too! Ingrid is in the 25th percentile as well. Small is a good thing!

Unknown said...

That's funny because when I had ds 10 years ago all I heard was what a big baby he was, he was a little over 10 lbs. He looked enormous compared to all the other babies in the hospital.

I think people comment on the size of a baby because they want to say something but can't figure out what to say.

Karin said...

I suppose so, but we small baby people do get to feeling like the baby is small so that must mean we are not providing for them. I am sure most of this is read into the conversation but when you are surrounded by big babies, which seem to be the norm, then this mom might imagine it is because I am not feeding this kid enough. Big babies at birth are of course remarkable but even the babies who were my babies size at birth are now HUGE! One who is one month older than Ingrid is now 20 pounds!!!!! Ingrid is not quite eleven right now. She might be twelve by Christmas. It is all a woman fear thing. You know, sin, thinking this baby thing is all about me and my abilities. So we all try to keep smiling. ;o) Make sense?