Time is relative.

Right? I mean, the first trimester of this pregnancy seemed to crawl along, more like 13 months than 13 weeks.

Now that I have passed the first trimester it seems like every week goes by faster than the last. Three weeks ago when I made my appointment for our "big" anatomy ultrasound, I felt like March 5 was forever away. Now it's a week from today. One of the things that keeps slipping through my fingers is remembering to make an entry here every so often. I will come back with a shiny new poetry challenge next week. I have found that if I do one on the weekend everyone is too busy to do it, anyway.

Meanwhile, my son told me as I got him out of his crib today and our dog was having a conniption fit downstairs, "Puppy barking!" Yes, and I had no idea he knew how to say that. Cute guy. He also discovered the word "broken" to describe the crackers he likes to destroy during snacks, only he pronounces it more like "bacon." "Cracker bacon!" he says, pointing out the two halves sitting on his tray.

Something that tends to dependably provide giggles the last few days has been if my son points to my belly, we'll play peek-a-boo. I will lift my shirt up and say "Belly!" and he laughs. If I put it down, he wants me to do it again. We'll see how long it is a novelty, I guess.

Poetry Challenge #25: "Wordle" poem

Once again, a huge thanks to ReadWritePoem.org for this lovely prompt. Please click on their link to see the original "wordle," or collection of random words, from which to draw your inspiration. You may use as many or as few of the words in the wordle as you would like. Any form is fine. Enjoy!

Here is my effort, using all of the words provided.

Evening Commute

Briskly striding forth, bracing
against cold wind as fading
light glints off frosted sidewalks,
she sees him, collar turned up,
smoke curling from corner of mouth
around his head. Staring.

A lubricious fellow, she thinks,
quickening her pace, feeling as if
she now walks on eggshells.
Her ear sharpens, waiting
to hear footsteps behind.
As day decays, her mind runs wild.

She tries to force the images
out of her panic-prone mind:
a patter of hacksaw, crown of nails,
red blood flowing as in a botched
dissection of a frog...
Arriving at her gate, a glance behind
confirms her mind’s fiction.

Home.

Miss me?

I do.

Seriously, sometimes I miss my brain lately. I think the process of growing a new baby eats it to a certain extent. "Pregnancy brain" is in full effect from early on, and I'm lucky to remember to take my son upstairs with me when I go to change his diaper. I mispronounce words or get sentences in the wrong order. Once I plop down on the couch for the night it's usually over for me to get anything else done. Oh, and lately babe rewards my laziness with a few barrel rolls or gentle shadow-boxing. Ahh.

My little boy is the cutest thing ever lately. He loves making all kinds of animal noises (my personal favorites: the peacock: "ah-aaah" and the frog: "bi-hit") and lately has been pretty obsessed with letters. I swear, I do not sit him down with flash cards, he just has been pointing at them and I will tell him what they are, and he remembers. He has an alphabet puzzle that he will go through and name most of the letters right off the bat with no prompting. He just turned two on the 4th. We may be in trouble here. :)

To top it off, I am somewhat of an Olympic nerd so I am continuously distracted by watching the various Olympic events, particularly the figure skating (even though the new scoring system leaves me completely baffled). I guess I am a sucker for the looks on Olympians' faces (not JUST Americans, really anyone) that realize that all of their hard work and dedication has paid off in winning a medal. Or sometimes (such as in the case of the American pairs skaters) they are just happy with getting a personal best score. I love that. Having competed on a much lower level in horseback riding, I remember having personal goals that felt just as good as winning when I reached them.

So, this is my way of saying, my apologies for being so absent lately. I guess it is shortchanging my son if I don't come on and keep track of what he's doing despite my mental lameness. I am going to try to be better now (I know, I've said that before too...I mean it this time!). I will be back tomorrow with a new poetry challenge.

Haiku News

Girl sues principal

over Facebook page against

teacher; cites free speech.

Kevin Eubanks quits

"Tonight Show with Jay Leno;"

some know when to leave.

Problems keep coming

for Toyota; now U.S.

probing Corollas.