My Neurotic Mind

Similar to how I "had a feeling" that Peanut's a boy before we found out he is a boy, I've been feeling that Peanut's gonna be an August baby, rather than a September baby. This feeling was most intense about a week ago when I was sure that he'd be here before the end of August (well, I thought he'd be here between the 20th and the 25th to be exact. but it's becoming less likely now since today's already the 23rd). Nonetheless, the feeling that Peanut's gonna be an August baby was still quite strong... until this morning.

This morning I woke up with an overwhelming thought that it might actually be better if he's born in September. Though that means he'll more likely have to wait a year to go to school, it may actually be advantageous for him in the long run since he'll be physically, mentally, intellectually, and developmentally more mature than his peers in the same year. I also think this is particularly good for a boy. The possible downside is that he might easily be bored with school , but Bill and I are confident that we can help him with that since we both had the experience of being bored with school when we were younger.

This is exciting stuff..... the things that pop into my mind now that I'm about to be a parent.

Incidentally, when Bill was out last night, Simon (the friend who joked about coming over to read the Economist to Peanut) told him about a book called Outliers, in which the author Malcolm Gladwell talks about the success of individuals as the result of a series of opportunities provided by the environment and circumstances.

"Outliers opens, for example, by examining why a hugely disproportionate number of professional hockey and soccer players are born in January, February and March. I'm not going to spoil things for you by giving you the answer. But the point is that very best hockey players are people who are talented and work hard but who also benefit from the weird and largely unexamined and peculiar ways in which their world is organized."

"... that we've been far too focused on the individual—on describing the characteristics and habits and personality traits of those who get furthest ahead in the world. And that's the problem, because in order to understand the outlier I think you have to look around them—at their culture and community and family and generation. We've been looking at tall trees, and I think we should have been looking at the forest."

I am yet to read the book to find out exactly what Gladwell's talking about, but phew~ I feel better knowing that I'm not completely wacko for analyzing first thing in the morning the correlation that may exist between my son's birth month and the experience he will have in school !