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C lose to the end of my pregnancy, my husband took up crossword puzzles. I think it was a way to lessen the feeling that we were waiting for something that seemed like it would never happen, back when I felt like I would be pregnant forever. Junior was 9 days late, so it really did feel like that for the last few weeks. I think Stephen also thought it might be a good thing to do while waiting for the baby to actually be born …little did he know that he’d be constantly at my side for close to 2 days before labour finally came to an end, with hardly time for a sandwich!

But he really took to those crossword puzzles, and I could see his progression as he got better and faster within a short time. I was a little jealous of his ability to concentrate, since I was pretty restless, and filled my own time rearranging cupboards and buying “supplies” for when the baby came ( I became obsessed with stocking up on things I thought we’d need and wouldn’t have time to shop for post-baby……at one time we had close to 100 rolls of toilet paper in the basement! And the longer the baby was overdue, the more things we used so the more things I went to buy).

Since we’ve had Junior, Stephen has continued with his puzzles, adding Sudoku to the mix. He seems able to put down and pick them up once baby has gone to bed, or whenever he has a spare minute. And he’s getting continually better at them. Junior is also progressing, which is very exciting to see. It’s sometimes difficult to see day by day, but those milestones of grabbing at toys, rolling over, tracking objects with his eyes, all show evidence of his tiny neurons connecting to one another.

I, on the other hand, spend my days saying things like “Do you have a poopie in your pants? Who has a wet diaper?!” and imitating the nonsense syllables that Junior babbles through the spit-up bubbles on his chin. I’ve also found myself saying, “You know, the whatsis,” to my husband in our infrequent adult conversations when we’re not saying things like “Does Daddy want to go walkies too?” I’ve also found that my forgetfulness I previously blamed on pregnancy hasn’t gone away. It’s taken me two weeks to mail a letter, despite being out and about almost every day past countless mailboxes.

It’s nice to know that science says that Junior’s emotional and mental development is a result of positive connection to his father and me, making those early days of constant holding and continued responsiveness to his cries, and high-pitched emphatic vowel noises that make up baby talk all worth it. But it makes me wonder, is Junior’s brain development negatively correlated with my own?? Am I getting dumber as Baby gets smarter?? Are babies zombies that “eat” the brains of their mothers?? Why is my family getting smarter around me as I turn into the village idiot? Will this go away? I can only hope that this mental deficiency is temporary, since I’m going to need all my faculties once Junior hits grade 4 and we have “new math” to do for homework every night.