I admit (while secretly hoping my bosses aren’t reading this entry) that I am addicted to the webcam at Pumpkin’s daycare. I think Aaron thought that was just a “new mommy” thing I did when I first returned to work because he was quite shocked when I made reference to the webcam the other day – like, “you still use that thing?!?!?” So yes, I admit, I am the overbearing mommy who checks in on her throughout the day and can generally tell you within a 15 minute tolerance what she is doing at any given instant. In fact, most of the time the screen is minimized on my computer, ready to be called upon at a moment’s notice.
Anyway, in addition to easing my still-relatively-new mommy anxieties, the webcam also provides lots of entertainment – at least as long as you can supply all of the dialog yourself AND fill in several second increments of time for yourself (it is not live action, but has a 20 second delay between posts). The 20 second delay can be particularly difficult since one moment you may see Pumpkin sitting in the middle of the floor playing and with a click of the refresh button she can be gone.
In any event, the webcam has helped me to get to know Pumpkin’s “friends” and her play habits when mommy and daddy aren’t around. Through this cam, I’ve come to know the previously referenced “Bully” (and watch his every move), Pumpkin’s “Boyfriend,” the “Crybaby” and all of her other class mates.
What has been really interesting to watch is Pumpkin’s total independence. I would venture to guess that 90% of the time when I see her playing, she is sitting separated from everyone else in a corner. Now, you can bet your bottom dollar that I checked this development out on the almighty internet and was relieved to find out that babies are not very social with one another at her age. I had to give myself a big "duh" on that one, they can’t exactly chat it up or even figure out what to do with most of their toys other than try to eat them - a uniquely solitary activity.
Thankfully, the almighty internet came through for me this time and I was able to quickly put to rest my fear of raising a future Goth-loner type in trench coats and black eye liner. However, I was still curious as to why that particular corner was so intriguing. As you can see, the view from the webcam is not great (that is Pumpkin in the upper right corner, turqoise shirt, with her face pressed up against a red toy), so I had to do a little investigating to figure out what she was enjoying so much over there. When I went to pick her up one afternoon I figured it out – what (or should I say whom) was providing her with seemingly endless solitary entertainment was none other than…herself.
That’s right – there is a mirror in the corner attached to one of the toys and, just like at home, that means hours of entertainment. I hope it is not a sign of conceit, but Pumpkin loves Pumpkin. She has always loved to look at pictures of herself and even has her own indestructible photo album full of – you guessed it – pictures of herself. And anytime I need to prevent a pending public freak out, all I have to do is pull out my IPhone and let her see the photos of herself (which she is learning to move with her finger).
And every single time she passes a mirror, a shriek of laughter rips from her mouth and she is all smiles. Before and after every bath, every night, we have to stop at the mirror for a few minutes and smile at ourselves. In the morning while mommy and daddy get ready, she plops herself in front of the full length mirror making faces. In the car, the rear facing carseat mirror serves Aly’s imagination more than my concerns (which were its original purpose). And heaven help her if the mirror is one that she can actually hold, because she puts it right up to her forehead as if she just cannot get close enough to the beautiful baby in the reflection. You can imagine how fun the Parade of Homes last weekend was since every house we toured had mirrors galore – including one with a room in which every wall including the ceiling were mirrored. Now we can add to that list, the mirror in the corner at school.
I’m afraid if we added it up, an inordinately large portion of Pumpkin’s waking hours are spent admiring herself. I’ll chalk it up to becoming self-aware or some other psychobabble (I’m sure the internet has something to say about this, too). But, then again, who can blame her. She is just so darn cute – and apparently she just appreciates beauty. And honestly, I guess it’s really not much different than me looking at her on the webcam. Now I just have to figure out what I’m going to do in 4 years when she starts elementary school and my cameras are taken away…
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