irritations

Reading Amanda's recent Pregnant Pause, my mind started to whir with irritations arising from the post partum experience. I'm not talking normal motherhood issues - lack of sleep (even six months in), being barfed on once a day, or the whole smelly diaper parade. These you get used to. No, I'm talking about more subtle irritations and, admittedly, ones not necessarily shared by other mums. Still, I feel the need to vent. So here are the top five:

5. Strangers approaching Oliver, seeing him dressed in blue from head to toe, and asking if he is a boy or a girl. Occasionally, they insist on referring to him as "she," anyway.

4 Mothers who tell me that their four-month-old or three-month-old or even two-month-old weighs more than Oliver, who is just about six months old. I understand that this is not their fault. They have done nothing to deserve my wrath. But when they say, so sweetly, "oh, she's 14 pounds," I feel like repeating it back to them in a smarmy-sarcastic voice. Yes, the Baby Boy's painfully slow weight gain is a bit of a sore spot with me.

3. I was unhappy enough about the larger bra size I needed when I was pregnant - the first visible sign of pregnancy, it was, and one person I know even guessed that I was with child based on that observation (much to my chagrin). But once the milk comes in . . . watch out Pamela Anderson! 'Nuff said. Hmmph.

2. Kid's stores (or more pointedly, a store called The Children's Place, but there are others) that play hard rock music or, worse, sex-infused pop music a la Britney Spears (I kid you not) or Christina Agulara, etc. Now I don't mind this when I'm shopping for myself, but time and place, ladies and gentlemen, time and place. I don't say they need to play Raffi (please, not him!) or More Mother Goose or other obnoxious kid's music, but something a little more in keeping with your target audience, non? Putimayo for kids has some cool stuff that's not too edgy but not condescending, either, and I'm sure there's lots of others.

1. Places that don't tolerate breastfeeding mothers. They don't have to have a special room (although that would be nice) but a little understanding would go a long way. I'm pretty modest (to a fault, some might argue), so I'm not one of those mothers who just lets it all hang out while nursing in public. So it was a little frustrating when, while eating in a Japanese restaurant, Oliver's feeding time rolled around. I covered us up with a blanket and let him eat at the table. No one could see anything. But when the waitress came to ask how we at the table were doing, and we all said fine, she happened to notice Oliver under the blanket and clued in to what was going on. Her eyes grew wide and she did this exaggerated "RIGHT!" with her mouth and walked away with her little fingers all splayed. I wonder if she would have preferred he cry it out??

Given time, I'm sure I could come up with a lot more - and may, in fact, add to the list down the road. In the meantime, I feel better for getting this much off my chest . . . if only it would help make it smaller!