Dreams

I dreamt that Tory had started rolling over last night. I’m one of those people who usually remember their dreams when they wake up. This gives me the opportunity to psychoanalyze my subconscious every morning and try to figure out why I was driving a tractor through the Alaskan tundra with a sombrero-toting clown in the backseat. Ellie on the other hand almost never remembers her dreams, which means she wakes most mornings unencumbered by random disturbing images projected by her cortex. Poor thing.

As I was saying, I dreamt that Tory had started rolling over. I was sitting on the floor in my standard baby entertaining position with Ian in one arm and Tory in the other. In reality I rarely hold both babies at once since each child squirms enough to require two hands to safely contain. This being a dream though, I did whatever my brain told me to do, like I’m Katie Holmes to my brain’s Tom Cruise. While holding both babies, I looked down to see a second Tory, I was still holding Tory #1, rolling away from me faster than a log rolling downhill.

While feeding the boys their breakfast, I stopped to analyze my night’s Masterpiece Theater. I’m petty sure that it reflects my concern with their developmental progress. I’m not worried about anything yet as they’re both flailing, smiling, and spitting up just like they should for their age. Otherwise they’re still stuck on the same immobile blob phase they’ve been on since birth. They can support their heads much better than they could four months ago, but they’re showing little else in independent movement, and I’m starting to wonder when they will. Rolling over should be their first venture into independent movement, and I’m guessing it will happen sometime in the next couple of months.

Rolling over will necessitate a big change in the way I take care of them. No longer will I be able to balance them on the couch while I fetch a bottle, change a diaper, or pull lord-knows-what out of Abbie’s mouth. If I set someone down and turn my back on him, he could be in a completely different position several inches away by the time I turn back around. This is probably why I dreamt of having two Torys, because when they start rolling over they’ll become twice as difficult to keep track of. I’ll set Tory in his baby gym while holding Ian and looking lovingly into his eyes, look back down to see an empty gym, and find Tory rolled halfway down the steps if I’m not careful.

What I’m not sure of is why I dreamt Tory would be the first to roll. It could have been a random choice by my brain. It could be because he’s stronger and squirms more, and therefore seems more likely to roll sooner. It could be because he’s a fatter, rounder shape that better lends itself to rolling. Or maybe my brain is just randomly interpreting meaningless signals sent by my cortex, and all dreams are just inconsequential drivel. I’m going to guess number one.