Thank you, my friends, for reminding me of the above yesterday in relation to the Orajel (beer, le_merle? Well it could have been worse with straight whiskey I suppose). I have a tendency to hang out on online parenting forums that swing more toward uber-granola than I am. I may have gone to Granola U and steadfastly wear my Birks no matter how hard it's raining outside, but otherwise I'm about as un-crunchy as you can get when it comes to real life.

I had a major freakout this morning when Kieran's cheeks turned bright red for 15 minutes after feeding him carrots. I posted to one of the before-mentioned uber-granola boards... and they reminded me that red cheeks are a part of teething, which was further corroborated by a nurse I called. Oops.

The thing I'm most thankful for this year is obviously Kieran. I'm slightly sad this New Year's Eve in the fact that starting tomorrow I'll have to say he was born last year. Time has flown by way too fast. I just hope I don't mess up too badly along the way and seriously damage him. I know minor neuroses are a given, I survived mine from my parents (I think) and Kieran probably will too.

I wonder how on earth I'm going to swing this parenting thing for the rest of my life when I barely have a clue what I'm doing sometimes (i.e. overreacting about the carrots). Then Kieran looks at me with these adoring eyes, smiles with all he's got (I love how babies are completely unrestrained with smiles, it's sad that that trait vanishes when we're older) & laughs, and I don't worry so much anymore.