Monday, April 14, 2008

Miss Jackson's Cartwheels

If fetal activity is any indication, Miss Jackson is going to be a live wire once she's on the outside. I started feeling her kick early -- before sixteen weeks.  For the past couple of weeks, I have been feeling her on a regular and consistent basis, and can distinguish between kicks, punches, and general squirminess.  I believe that I have even felt a head butt a time or two.  

It's only been in the last few days (right before I left for New York) that Jake has been able to feel her kicking, though.  He is simultaneously thrilled and somewhat icked out.  It is hilarious when he has his hand on my stomach and feels a particularly strong one -- his eyes light up and he smiles a huge smile and then his face drops and he snatches his hand away.  Like lots of things related to pregnancy and childbirth, it is both awesome and not just a little bit weird/gross.  (I mean, personally, I love it, but when you stop to think about it -- that there is a creature in your stomach moving around, rearranging your insides, poking and prodding and elbowing you -- that's a little alien-like, right?)

One thing I don't know, however, is whether her squirms and kicks means she likes or dislikes something.  So far I have been assuming that it means she likes it, but obviously the opposite could be the case.  Maybe when I was eating gummy candy while watching a play on Saturday night and she was going crazy, maybe that wasn't because she was so excited for a snack of Haribo Fruit Salad.  Maybe she's a health nut and she was pummeling me because she hated it.  Surely not, though, right?  I mean, she is my child.

Incidentally, the play was Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and I am sorry to say that it was NOT GOOD. Miss Jackson's first Broadway experience was quite disappointing.  Even Terrence Howard couldn't save it (in fact, he was one of the weak links).  And while Anika Noni Rose (from Dreamgirls) was a passable Maggie the Cat, I think the role could have been performed equally well by Brenda, Kelly, or even Laura Who Almost Falsely Accused Steve Sanders of Date Rape.

2 comments:

Hannah said...

When I was in utero my dad used to assume all my kicking meant I was going to be a great football player. He would talk to me about my future career as a Sooner placekicker and I would kick him even harder. So possibly Miss Jackson is protesting as well.

Catherine said...

ohmigosh...i wish i had known. Toonce and I saw COAHTR on Broadway years ago (is it the same running?) Just awful. Ashley Judd and Jason Patrick (he had the absolute WORST fake accent I have ever heard from an actor). T said it was worth it though to see Ashley Judd in a slip.

Mary Lee would kick like crazy at the movies.

Catherine