Finn: AKA "The Pill"

*Warning, this post involves a poop story. Read at your own risk.

We don't really call him The Pill, but I do refer to him as my birth control. In the last few weeks, Finn has become the most destructive force in our home.
1. He broke our TV (yes, it cost more than I care to admit, but we thought it would last for a year).
2. He toasted metal measuring spoons and broke the toaster. *(I know a 2 year old should not be near a toaster, it was actually the 4 year old who was toasting and Finn jumped in to help).
3. Today, while trying to be helpful with his potty training, he attempted to empty his poop from the potty bowl into the toilet, but his gag reflex is very sensitive, so he ended up barfing all over the bathroom floor. Thank heavens Mark cleaned it all up. By the way, no one was in the bathroom to see this, we just deduced it from the clues. Finn was just walking around (not wiped yet) the house cool as a cucumber. No big deal.

Mark has started calling Finn a raptor (think Jurassic Park) because he constantly adapts to get into things. He was standing on the counter trying to get candy on the fridge the other day. I can't remember all of the other things on my list but actually as I'm reading what I've written, it occurs to me that Finn isn't the problem, it's his parental supervision that is the problem. :(

I guess that's birth control enough.

It Turns Out, I'm Not A Bad Mom: I Let My Babies Eat Dirt

I admit it, sometimes I let my babies put dirt or other foreign objects in their mouths.

For example, Finn crawled out of the car today and paused to put something from the car's carpet in his mouth.
What was that?, I wondered. But, I didn't have the energy to fish it out and he'd probably already swallowed it.

Here's why that's not as bad as you think.

A Rose by Any Other Name . . .

When we named Finley, almost a year ago, we knew that it was rare, but ranked higher for boys than for girls. (If you haven't checked out Name Voyager, you should, it tracks the popularity of names back to the 1800's).

So, we went with the fun name, Finley, because it makes us smile, and so does our little Twinkie.

However, since his birth, we keep hearing about people naming their little GIRLS Finley. First, a girl in the newspaper, then a girl at the gym childcare. Now, Lisa Marie Presley makes it famous by naming her daughter Finley.

For us, we're starting to call him Finn sometimes. It's a cute nickname, not unlike Brad for Bradley or Stan for Stanley. But Finn is a little tricky because it's so short, people don't understand it the first time I say it.

It seems to me that Finley is going the way of Whitney, Courtney, and Leslie: and probably many others. These were boy names that later became girl names so that now only the nickname is masculine. For example, our HS student body president was named Whitney, but he went by "Whit."

Finley's other choice is his middle name, I guess, Cannon. That's a nice name, too.

As a feminist, I'm trying to kick the idea that boys doing "girly" things is somehow bad. It's a misogyny that runs deep in our culture, and it's hard to break. That's why I'm a little conflicted about changing the way we refer to our child based solely on the fact that girls share his name.

What do you think about gendered names?
What do you think this little guy looks like? Finley? Finn? Cannon? Something else?

Singing, Singing and Crawling

Alisa, this one's for you!




After we recorded this, Asher wanted a turn, so here's his 6 second version.
(Tell me if you can hear, "Don't Eat Jelly Bean")




And of course, here's our first video of Finn crawling. Asher and I got a bit of footage, too. (Note the "Champ" bib that Finn is sporting, very appropriate)