I Didn't Understand

I once wrote that one of the more frustrating phrases for a non-mother to hear is "you wouldn't understand because you don't have children".  It's a pet peeve of mine.  It's patronizing and not always accurate.  Ironically, I recently found myself saying those words...to myself...in my head.  

It all took place on the subway, where everything blog-worthy in my life seems to occur.  I was happily sitting for my commute home.  Unlike most evening commutes, there were plenty of open seats.  A mother and her toddler walked onto the subway.  The toddler was relatively sturdy on her feet with the curliest brown hair I have ever seen.  My first inner thought was - what a cutie.  

Remember Curly Sue?  Another cutie with curly hair.
She's all growns up and recently had a baby.

Upon entering the subway car, the mother immediately asked her mini me to sit in an empty seat between me and another woman.  The toddler partly refused and partly ignored the request.  Unphased, the mother then asked the toddler to sit in different empty seat.  Again, the toddler refused and this time walked away from the mother.  My interest perked.  How was the mother going to handle this blatant disobedience in such a public forum?  Plus, the train was about to start moving, safety was becoming an issue.  

The mother calmly followed the toddler's path, asking her to sit in yet another seat.  No dice.  The train started to move.  Ultimately the toddler didn't sit.  Instead, she placed her small hands on a pole and spun.  She spun and spun and spun as the train moved and shook and wobbled to its next stop.  And as the whirling dervish made circles, the mother turned to a nearby stranger and said "she's just crazy!" in a genuinely tickled, proud tone.

FYI - These are whirling dervishes.

I already told you my first, distinct inner thought.  Here was my second: she's crazy because you let her be crazy.  I didn't understand how this mother let her two-year-old so blatantly defy her.  I didn't understand how this mother let her two-year-old behave objectively dangerous.  No one should be spinning around those subway poles while the train is moving regardless of age.  Those sort of antics are reserved for drunk college kids who typically crack open their heads at the end of the show.  More than anything, I didn't understand how this mother was seemingly pleased with her defiant child and neither embarrassed nor fuming.  

Before I accidentally made a sour face to match my sour thoughts, I reminded myself that the hellion wasn't mine.  And, more importantly, who knows how I will eventually act and feel when it is my hellion.  So, truth be told, I didn't understand.  

The Most Popular Names of 2012 (a psychic prediction)

I've put my super psychic powers internet searching and excel spreadsheeting skills to use one again.  Last week I went to one of my favorite online baby name resources (Baby Namescape) to check out baby name popularity by state.  Baby Namescape not only breaks down popularity by state, but it also shows popularity by city and hospital.  The mystery about Baby Namescape (that remains unsolved despite my grueling efforts) is how often the lists are updated.  I can't tell whether the lists reflect daily popularity, weekly popularity, monthly popularity, yearly popularity so far...or something different.  My frequent use of the site tells me that it's a daily aggregate of the most popular names, but I have no corroboration of this.

Below is a snapshot of the Baby Namescape website - the stats below are from yesterday (8/27/12) for New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, NY.  You can also look up New York as a whole and Brooklyn as a whole.  Not every hospital is included on the website, so the results aren't ironclad.  But it's certainly a great tool for researching general naming trends.  

The lists below contain the most popular baby names in the country (last Thursday, August 23) based on the number of states that had the name as the #1 most popular name.  The rest should be self explanatory.  The only thing that is not self explanatory is the most popular boy name in Iowa. 


GIRLS

• Sophia (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin)
• Emma (Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Vermont, West Virginia)
• Ava (Georgia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island)
• Isabella (Florida, Minnesota, Tennessee)
• Olivia (Colorado, Mississippi, New Hampshire)
• Addison (Iowa, Nebraska)
• Chloe (Louisiana, North Dakota)
• Avery (Maine)
• Ella (Utah)
• Jordynn (Delaware)
• Josie (Montana)
• Kylee (Alaska)
• Logan (Washington DC)
• Mia (South Dakota)
• Nevaeh (New Mexico)
• Rylee (Wyoming)

BOYS

• Mason (Georgia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Arizona, New York, Virgina, Washington)
• Jayden (Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, Nevada)
• Jacob (California, New Jersey, Texas)
• Carter (Vermont, Michigan, Wisconsin)
• Liam (Indiana, Kansas, Colorado)
• William (Alabama, Arkansas, South Carolina)
• Aiden (Utah, Hawaii)
• Ethan (Connecticut, South Dakota)
• James (Maine, Missouri)
• Michael (Illinois, Maryland)
• Noah (Minnesota, New Mexico)
• Alexander (Oklahoma)
• Benjamin (Wyoming)
• Brayden (West Virginia)
• Bryce (Alaska)
• Daniel (Delaware)
• Eli (North Dakota)
• Gabriel (Washington DC)
• Isaac (Oregon)
• Jace (Idaho)
• Jackson (New Hampshire)
• Jose (Nebraska)
• Joshua (North Carolina)
• Nicholas (Montana)
• Ryan (Massachusetts)
• Security (Iowa)....REALLY?!????

If this random sampling is any indication of general 2012 trends, Sophia, Emma and Isabella are going to remain on top...for a while.  On the boy's side, it seems that Mason may just overtake Jacob for the number one spot in 2012.  And where did Carter come from?  It was #36 most popular name in 2011, but it seems to be on the rise.  Is this the result of the undeniably, ever-charming Carter Oosterhouse?  Could be.  Regardless of the cause, it looks like Carter is going to make a star appearance on the 2012 list.

Stuff People Google 66

At first, I wast a huge fan of today's edition of Stuff People Google.

pregnant women are rude

In my experience, people are rude to pregnant women and not the other way around.  People are especially rude to pregnant women on the subway (more on that here).  But, there are two sides to every story, yes?  So, I racked my brain for an example of a particularly rude pregnant woman.  BAM - Gisele Bundchen.  If my memory serves me, Mrs. Tom Brady was full of misguided quotes during her first pregnancy, which included an assertion that it should be illegal not to breastfeed.

How else are pregnant women rude?  Do they swing their bellies around like weapons?  Steal snacks in the office place?  Cut ahead in long lines?  I thought line cutting was primarily occupied by a sector the senior population...yes, I've gone ahead and said something colorful about the senior population once again.  I wonder if there will be a backlash like last time.  For those who don't remember the last time I said something remotely unkind about the senior population (here), I suffered the wrath of one very angry commenter.

Is She or Isn't She?

Is Catelynn Lowell pregnant or what? 

A long time ago, I falsely announced (here) that Catelynn Lowell was pregnant, again.  I say falsely because if she had been pregnant way back then she would have certainly had the baby by now.  My announcement was based on Catelynn's MySpace where she, at the time, declared that she was expecting.  To be specific, the "details" section of her myself page said "Children: Expecting".  Here's what the details section of her MySpace page looks like today:

Earlier this year, rumors (not started by me) once against swirled that she was knocked up.  These rumors came to a head in early summer with a cover of In Touch magazine that featured Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra.  The cover declared "I'm Pregnant!"...a statement attributed to Catelynn herself.

Now, I know that In Touch magazine isn't known for its hard journalism, but I would have guessed that fact checking comes into play when a cover and feature article are at issue.  With all the defamation suits that celebs throw around these days, what magazine would put out a cover story with false information?  So my assumption, upon seeing the cover, was that Catelynn Lowell was preggers again.  This time for real.

The plot thickened when Ms. Lowell gave an exclusive interview to US Weekly shortly after the In Touch cover went public.  In that interview she stated that she was NOT pregnant, despite the In Touch cover and article.  And so the pendulum swung back. 

But wait.  In response to Catelynn's interview with US Weekly, In Touch responded with one of those "we stand by our story" statements to the Huffington Post.  It's their story and they're sticking to it.

So, which is it?  Did In Touch get the scoop from a ratty insider or is Catelynn Lowell genuinely waiting for number two until she's a tad bit older?  She's currently 20, if anyone was wondering.

I guess time will tell, again.

An Unannounced Birth

What's the deal with birth announcements?  I love receiving them, but how important are they?  If a birth goes unannounced, did it really happen?

A birth announcement is an announcement of a birth.  Shocker.  The a traditional birth announcement is made on a card or postcard and snail mailed to friends and family.  A while back I wrote a post about some cute announcement options, like the one below (here's the original post).

Not everyone sends a traditional birth announcement.  There's a reasonable explanation for this - modern technology.  Nowadays, parents announce the birth of their new family member with a Facebook post or a text (more inventive ideas here).  Especially close family members get a phone call and a visit to the hospital.  Still, some choose to double up their announcement by mailing traditional birth announcements even when the recipients already got non-traditional birth announcements.  Why?  I think there's a couple reasons: it's more formal, and more classy (let's be honest), than a text and it's a photo sharing opportunity (a pic to hang on the fridge is awesome even when you've seen photos online).

All that said, traditional birth announcements are not necessary.  Quite frankly, formalities aren't as appreciated these days as they once were.  Few people know which side of the plate the fork goes on (versus the spoon and knife) and I'd wager that even less people give a rat's behind whether they get a traditional birth announcement.  The joy is the baby's birth, how people are informed isn't all that important.

Now you know.  (source)

A controversial question: does sending a traditional birth announcement imply that the recipient should send a gift?  Hmmm.  Well, no, it's not a prompt.  But, inevitably, some people may take it that way.  Those who were invited to the baby shower and already gave a gift won't think twice about a sweet birth announcement, those who haven't had an official opportunity to give a gift may feel compelled.  So, again, it's not a prompt, but it does have that effect on some.

Here is some basic birth announcement etiquette:

Who - Send them to whomever you want.  Friends, family, coworkers, neighbors...anyone.

When - Once the baby is born, ASAP.

What - Include the name, birth date, birth length and birth weight.  And, in my opinion, go with the photo card so everyone can appreciate the cuteness up close.