Locomotion

What's all happened since my last post? Birdie is growing and developing at such a quick pace now that blogging has been sadly neglected. Blogging, what about my journal? Oh, dear.

Briefly, she's done her first roll over from back to tummy. She's talking like a person who has had a whole lot of thoughts and experiences pent up for a long while (guess that makes sense) and needs to discuss them. Birdie is starting to show her character too, which I think is a mix of quirky, charming (in very specific circumstances), contemplative, determined and honest. This is where my title comes in.

Most certainly, every mother is asked the question of their new child, "Is she/he a good baby?". I encounter this question with some frequency. In fact, at Birdie's second round of immunizations (ouch) recently, the question was formed as "Is she a good-natured baby?" to which before I could respond the lady who asked it said, "Of course you'd say she is, what a silly question." No kidding!

Seriously, what is this question? What is the meaning of it? I've been throwing 'the good baby' term around in my head for some time. The concern I have with this common question is that it isn't as casual as "How are you doing?". People ask that all the time without even listening to the response since it's part of our way of saying hello. Yet, with a new mom, the good baby question is one that comes up to initiate a conversation. Granted, people want to engage the mom on their new babe and so, I hope only out of nervousness, they ask this question.

Okay, the opposite of good is bad. No mother is going to respond that their baby is bad. A baby can't be bad anyway. Frankly, I'm not sure a baby is capable of being good either. Good is defined by behaviour, babies behave like babies and that is, particularly in the early months made up entirely of reflexes - to feed, to poop and to sleep. People, this is an obvious reason to toss the question altogether.

The other stigma attached to the question of a good baby is that it ultimately comes off as a judgement rather than a colloquialism which sounds to me like: "Tell me, do you think your baby is good to you?". People want to know. Strange people.

So, when Birdie squawks loudly at overly-stimulating gatherings of more than 2 people? She's overwhelmed and may be not so into socializing. When Birdie is quiet and not smiling at you albeit content, she's observing her surroundings and likely pre-occupied with sorting it out. If Birdie is cooing like a pigeon she's pontificating about her adventures in the day. If she's smiling like crazy, she's happy. But, she's never good or bad, I can tell you that.