Namaste, Baby

When I was pregnant, I thought, November will be a good time to have a baby.  I probably won't want to go out with her much while she is itty bitty, and that will be during the chilly winter months when I won't really want to go anywhere anyway.

But I was wrong about that.  When you're home all day just you and the baby, you need to get OUT!  Which makes those chilly winter months problematic.  Cooped up indoors all day does not actually work for me.

Bitty and I went to Mommy & Me yoga this week.  It's supposed to be bonding and relaxing, right?  Sounded like a perfect mama-baby outing to me.

Everything started off just fine.  Bitty was content in her car seat during the drive (she has recently decided that she hates the car).  She was fed and appeared to be in a good mood, despite the pathetic excuse for a nap she took that morning.  I got a good parking spot, and I even made it there five minutes early.  I got us all set up--my yoga mat unrolled, Bitty's stack of blankies arranged at the top.  She laid peacefully kicking and punching away on her blanket as we waited for class to begin.  All of the babies were as relaxed as could be.

The instructor began class with a series of Oms as each mama held our babes seated in our laps.  That's when it got a little ugly.  Bitty did not want to be held in my lap.  She did not want to be held in front of me, or against my shoulder.  She only wanted to be cradled--left side only, definitely not the right--and rocked from side to side.  Once I got her calmed down, I tried to rejoin the class in the poses; baby on my belly, while doing a bridge; baby held in front, while doing a lunge.  Bitty, however, was having none of this.  And naturally, she expressed her displeasure with dire urgency.   This set off something of a chain reaction.  Soon, half of the babies were fussing and crying away.  The instructor shouted out directions over the wails, in vain, as the majority of moms could not do the poses while attempting to soothe their babies.

This continued throughout most of the class.  That is, until the very end, when the instructor banged the gong.  All the babies became silent, entranced by the vibrating sound of the gong.  It was amazing, and got me thinking that maybe I should get my own gong for home use.  It would be like a call to sanity when things get a little hairy around here.

The gong banging went on for about five minutes, signaling the conclusion of class.  Predictably, as soon as the ringing ended, Bitty made it clear that she was ready to go--NOW.  She apparently had things to do and there was no time to dawdle.  So we hightailed it out of there and I was once again reminded of who is in charge in this family.



P.S. As I am writing this post, Bitty is napping IN HER CRIB!!!  She's never slept in there before!  And she has been sleeping two hours!  I am feeling like a super awesome mom with this crib transition thing.