A new wind ushers in Monday for our clan - baby Colin is sleeping soundly as i write this - something he has not done much over the weekend. Directly after Turkey day he resumed the evil teething syndrome he began earlier this month. He has two little gerbil teeth poking through his lower gum and they are not taking any prisoners.

Poor Lambikins - he is normally so goodnatured i almost feel guilty -but he did nothing but fuss and fit yesterday ( karmic retribution ??) leaving me in a sleepless state of exhaustion. I tried everything in my bag of tricks to soothe him , homeopathic teething tablets , teething gel, cold washcloth, fingers, baby tylenol, massage , a warm bath, rocking , cuddling , NURSING,etc. Nothing seemed to work for very long. I even made him a bottle with cold water to chew on ( having long run out of milk ) yet he fussed and fussed until we were both crying.

So i decided a change of scenery might help. Although it was cold out yesterday - it was sunny so i bundled him up , put a sweater on Cholula ( our chihuahua ) and ventured out to the backyard . Our yard is still in a state of flux as we just had it graded and mulched for the winter until planting season in the spring arrives.

We sat down in the piles of mulch and i let Colin get filthy , picking up piles of soily mulch and dropping them into his wee lap. Miraculously he did not try and put fistfuls of mulch into his mouth - his gums probably needed a break, lucky me !
Then we tossed the tennis ball to Lula and watched her run around and fetch like a prisoner out on furlow . She has to unhinge her jaw like a snake to fit the tennis ball in her mouth and she had both of us laughing hysterically . Colin has such a good sense of humor already. He really knows when something is funny . He is easily amused but is equally discerning - he watches awhile to see if it will tickle his funnybone just right. It was nice to see him smile after so many hours of crying and boo-boo duck face. He really is a beautiful boy and when he smiles your heart smiles along with him.

I only finally brought him in because his little mitts were ice-cold and his cheeks were taking on the hue of winter apples. He was so happy it made me sad to interrupt such contentment. Ahh, but that's what mother's are for , right ? Doing the right thing but often the thing that ends the momentary bliss of true freedom. All in a day of learning what it's like to be a human being, i guess. A little joy with a little pain thrown in for good measure. The perfect zen experience.Yeah , that's it.
Perfect zen.