Dreams

Do you give a lot of thought to what your dreams mean? I don't normally. I figure its just your subconscious working through stuff and you don't really need to be too concerned about it. After all, you can't control what you dream and can't really make changes in your life based on a dream.

Last night, I dreamt that Smug-Hub had decided to give the baby gum. His thinking was that if he gave her a big enough wad, she wouldn't be able to choke on it. When I noticed that her lips seemed to be turning red, and realized what he had done, I pulled this huge wet and slimy hunk of gum out of her mouth. I screamed at him about how all that sugar and red die #5 was bad for babies and how he needed to think before just giving her stuff.

I grabbed the baby and headed off and suddenly I was at a party on a boat and I was looking for my mom to see if I should do anything to counteract the horrible effects of the red die #5 and ran into Vince Neil. I asked him how the recent tour was going and he was very blah about it, saying something like "oh fine, you know". It was a bit awkward so I left him to once again pick up my quest to make sure that Smug-Baby would be OK after having ingested all that red die #5!! Then I woke up.

Now, my husband is a very good father, but sometimes he doesn't think things through. I caught him giving Smug-Baby the cellophane used to keep the can of peanuts fresh. He thought she could chew on it and would like the crackling sound. When I explained that it was small enough that she could inhale it and choke, he thought I was being silly. Then I explained that peanuts are a very high allergen and eating even peanut dust was a bad idea at her young age. Only then, did he realize that I was right and take the wrapper away from her.

The thing is, she has plenty of toys, both toys that were built to be toys and items in our house that have become toys, like the chip clips. She is not hurting for something to play with and yet he gives her stuff that is harmful to her.

One day we were at Olive Garden and he was letting her chew on the little cardboard coaster. In my mind there are a couple of reasons not to let her do this. First, we don't know where that coaster has been, who has touched it or anything. Secondly, it is printed and that ink is made of who knows what, it could be toxic for all we know. Lastly, it is paper, stuck in her mouth it will disintegrate!! When I pointed out this last point to him, he assured me that it would be fine and to illustrate his point he pulled it out of her mouth to reveal a large chunk missing. He tried to feel around in her mouth for the pieces with his huge fingers, but in the end I had to get in there and pull out the several pieces.

The point is this: Why doesn't he listen to me? Why does he argue that something is fine for her to play with and then have to concede that it's not? Why not just listen to me from the start?

So, my thinking is that my dream must be my sub-conscious trying to work though or process how I feel about my husband giving the baby things that are not good for her. We decided before she was born that she would not be a vegetarian (like me), but as the compromise, she would only eat meat at home, that we prepared and we would only buy local, free range stuff. Now he is making noises about how they are going to go to this local sushi place when she gets bigger or how much she is probably going to love eating at the Greek festival. Since she is only 8 months old and not on any solids yet, I didn't feel the need to fight this battle yet, but again, I wonder how he can love her so much and be willing to put bad things into her body.

It's our job as parents to do right by our children and really try to give them the best as much as is possible.

I am philosophically opposed to eating animals, and my husband is opposed to not eating them. I am willing to compromise, but he is going to have to compromise too. Maybe it is time to talk about it again...