Swine flu and play dates

Have you guys thought about the swine flu at all? Well I have, and I tell you, I am pretty spooked. I keep debating with myself whether I should have Emma vaccinated or not. One of Emma's doctors told me it is totally up to me and the he does not recommend nor discourage either way. When I went for her 9-month check up, that doctor said I should definitely vaccinate her. So, I have two opinions, and I am not sure which one to choose...

On the one hand, this H1N1 virus is spreading like a fire, it can be deadly, and children are especially prone to getting it. On the other hand, there are so many debates at the moment stating the vaccine can potentially cause a lot of problems such as autism, and there is no guarantee that Emma won't get the virus even though she has been vaccinated. While Emma's doctor assured me that there is no known link between autism and vaccinations, it still makes me think twice about it since we are going to Sweden for Christmas and airplanes are known germ collectors. What are your thoughts about the topic?

On to another more fun topic...baby skills. Or should I say baby aerobics. Emma turned 9 months yesterday, and she is just getting bigger and bigger. She amazes me every single day as she is learning more and more skills. She must be learning new skills in her sleep because every day she is doing something new. She has been almost crawling for weeks now but hasn't quite got it yet. Then yesterday, she all of a sudden started to crawl and did it flawlessly :-). And while she was doing it she was looking at me as if she was saying: "What was the big fuss about? I can do this in my sleep..." And she sure can. She's also pulling herself up to standing position very easily by now, and she's even taking a few steps while holding on to things, but she's not quite ready to let go yet.

She is getting used to her new play group too, and she has even gotten a boyfriend. Or that's what we moms in the group like to call him. Joey is an 8-month old super cute guy in Emma's play group, and Emma simply loves him. He is actually the only guy in the group, so you can imagine that he gets a lot of attention from all the girls. Every time Emma sees him, she crawls/scoots over to him and lean in as if she wants to give him a kiss. And bless his heart he's just sitting there letting her do all the work. It is so cute to see. I even have a picture of it, but since my camera is not working, I guess it has to wait until another time...

As I was watching Emma interact with Joey today, I thought about how times have changed. Emma doesn't know any rules or social etiquette of how she is "supposed" to behave. She only knows what she wants and she's going for it. It is very refreshing to see. What if we grown ups were more like children in this sense and went for things we wanted instead of letting fears and limiting beliefs hold us back? Aside from the obvious potential of total chaos, imagine what the world would look like if we all went for what we wanted and didn't let anyone tell us we couldn't do it or didn't deserve it. I am thinking the world would look pretty different. And I am thinking we would be a lot happier too....