We lived in a suburb in Nashville, on about an acre of land. It backed up to the woods, and you couldn’t see our neighbors to either side, so it was pretty secluded. This one time, mom was at us to go outside and play (over and over! go outside! go play! it’s beautiful! have fun!), so we finally got the gumption to do it, and she kind of sucks in her breath and says “watch out for strange men and wild dogs!”

Yeah. It didn’t inspire the greatest sense of confidence in being alone outside. I know my mom would arge that it never hurt me none–I regularly would go on archaeological digs in college (my old major) to rather unsafe and unsavory places (riots? check. bombs? check), but I felt more comfortable being alone in a foreign country than in my own United States. It’s hard for me to shake a feeling that a molester or abductor is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER. Because, well, aren’t they?

I don’t want this for Jack, because as an adult I still struggle with this (how many of the 2 people who read this blog have received those emails about how to protect yourself or a woman you love from abduction, by the way??). He needs to know how to handle himself, in or out of the house, and to make good decisions. I don’t want him to be afraid, but I do want him to be aware, and trust himself and his skills (yet not be so confident that he thinks he can handle any adult).

This article by the BBC shows a really interesting map of the range of 4 generations of a single family, and how the range of the kids diminishes with each generation. It’s kind of a bummer.

So we showed up, bearing a pretty card in the birthday theme.

Everyone else showed up bearing GIFTS. Including other moms from the playgroup. What would you do? Would you deliver a belated birthday gift or just say “oh well!” and move on? Especially since there’s another first birthday for someone else in the playgroup this weekend, and you need to get a gift?

OK, next question… what do you get a one year old who has lots of toys and books already? I was thinking about getting a card fo rht eparents that said “good for one free babysitting event”, although that’s not really for the kid, now is it?

Lately, it seems like a lot of the people I know in my specific demographic fit a profile (and I thought I was being all new-wave and stuff). Here are a few of the things on my checklist:

• Baby? Check.
• Baby carrier/sling (probably in various versions and types, including but not limited to the Ergo, Moby Wrap, and/or Mai Tei)? Check.
• Homemade quilt(s)/knits/slings? Check.
• Bread making? Check.
• Obsessive research into safety/plastics (bottles, sippy cups, pacifiers, teethers)? Check.
• Cloth diapering? Check.
• Breastfeeding? Check.
• Diamond engagement ring, yet eco-minded and socially conscious? Check.
• Learning to sign with baby? Check.
  
• Making homemade organic baby food? Check.
• Trying to have only wooden toys (although I am not doing so hot on this one)? Check.

All in all, these are good things. Healthy things! I think it’s very interesting that this, at least for a small but significant percentage of this group, is the norm. It still makes me laugh, though, because lately all of these things combined make me feel a bit like a hipster or something. Go figure.