Who'd Have Thunked?

I am prone to overthinking every little and big thing that comes along in life. (To the various assorted family members who read this blog and are now falling off their chairs in laughter as I once again state the obvious - knock it off. I'm going somewhere with this.)

Not so long ago I saw Liam "feeding" one of his dolls with a toy bottle. I freaked out at such obvious evidence of my negligent parenting skills. "Oh, no!" thought I. "I have marred my child for life by even allowing a toy bottle in the house. Now he will never appreciate the vast importance of mother's milk, and not only that but, oh my stars and garters, he might even believe he was raised on bottles, and oh no the end of the world is surely looming any moment now....But wait! Perhaps this could help him understand that different people do things differently, and that's OK, too. That would not be the end of the world, would it?"

I told Kevin this story, and his response was, "You're way overthinking this. He's just playing. Tomorrow, why don't you ask him about the bottle?" (Yes, my overanalysis of the situation was keeping me, and as a result, Kevin, awake.)

What was Liam's answer when asked why he was using a bottle? "I was pretending to be a Daddy, and Daddies are boys . They don't generally have milk in their nipples."

Oh, right.

Today at the grocery store I spent several minutes in the produce section debating whether I should buy a platter of cut-up fruit or buy the whole fruit and cut it up at home. "Hhhhmmm," thought I. "Buying the cut-up fruit exposes us to a potential food poisoning risk, and the fruit comes in plastic trays which might not be recyclable, and Liam likes to help me cut things up. But! I'm way pregnant. Too pregnant. I'm tired. It would be so easy to just buy the cut-up fruit, and then after the baby comes and I have some more energy*, I can resume buying the whole fruit. But then I will be exposing my son to the evils of convenient consumerism and not teaching him about the environmental treachery of overpackaged products. But I'm tired, but, but..."

The problem was solved for me when, as I stood in silent reverie considering my various options, a less neurotic less analytical shopper scooped the last package of fruit out from under me.

I could tell Kevin about the fruit problem tonight, but I probably won't. For some reason he is prone to telling me, "You know what? You need to turn your brain off and go to sleep." Which is not only true, but impossible for me to actually accomplish.

Now, see, those who know me only through my blog might not suspect that I am such an overthinker, since in recent months pregnancy and a certain Great Big Doggie have drained me of much energy, and I've been posting cute kid/cute ferret stories out the wazoo. Also, in all honesty, I don't blog much about the worries I have since I originally envisioned this blog not only as a repository of day-to-day minutia that might otherwise never reach my long-term memory, but also as an mental escape from overthinking things.

But I guess my non-intellectual cover was too thin, as the very thoughtful Dana has awarded me the very cool Thinking Blogger Award, and it turns out that with this award I'm joining some fine bloggers who are well-known for thinking and thunking. I'm surprised but hugely flattered to receive this award - it honestly has made my whole weekend. Thank you for the honor, Dana!

(And also? Thank you for distracting me from my overdueness. Yes, for those who are here only for baby news and have been forced to read this far, we have no new baby here. In theory, he should arrive soon. Maybe tomorrow. Time will tell. I hope.)

And now, without further delay, I get the fun duty of awarding these cool, shiny Thinking Blogger Awards to some folks who routinely challenge my neurons:

Amy and Kevin at BlogSchmog
Amy at Musings of a Crunchy Domestic Goddess
Phantom at Phantom Scribbler
Opal at Raw Vegan Momma
CCW at Destined to be the Crazy Cat Woman

Come pick up your buttons, ladies and gentlemen, and thanks to all of my fellow bloggers who make me think, and laugh, and cry, on a regular basis.

*OK, y'all are now allowed to fall off your chairs with laughter.