Tuesday, July 22, 2008

babies have little bladders...

i'm inside the cabin of a boat that is traveling relatively quickly. beside me are extended family members, including children. we are looking out the window as it tours the coastline. however, the scenery in my dream does not appear as waking life scenery would appear. exciting sights pass one after another and are all unrealistically visible and close, as if they were designed for our boatride's viewing pleasure. at one point, i see legoland, which in waking life is in the san diego area. immediately, i look towards my "nephews" (what we call our cousins' sons in the chinese language) and tell them to quickly look up at legoland passing by.

no longer am i at the side of the cabin, staring out the large windows. in the middle of the cabin, there are rows of seats, where a young lady holding a baby, someone older (possibly my mother, i forget), and i am. the baby is crying, and the young lady, probably in her early twenties, is walking back and forth behind the rows of seats, trying to console the baby, who is not hers and is possibly mine. i'm sitting in the middle of the rows of seats with our belongings, near the older woman. the rows are otherwise empty/unoccupied. the young woman starts to look for the baby's bottle, asking where it is, trying to find a way to stop the baby's crying. however, the baby was fed not too long ago, so i tell her, "you can't just keep on feeding the baby everytime it cries!" i try to explain rationally, uncertain in the logic i am using to persuade her it's wrong to feed the baby again, using my hands to illustrate the point, "babies have small bladders. what goes in must come out!"

2 comments:

bananasplitz said...

OMG J!! this dream is hilarious. does it hold any meaning for you? I really have no idea how to interpret it but I'm really glad you posted it! :P

(did the baby not have a diaper on?? or do you not remember?)

J. said...

haha! i know, i thought it was so funny, too, after i woke up and remembered it! i think the baby was wearing clothes, but i guess a diaper would be implied.

i felt like the girl holding the baby represented the part of me that is naive about raising babies and children. this past year, i've learned a lot from my cousin-in-law about caring for a baby (i.e. the way the baby communicates and the developmental stages), since she gave birth to my "nephew."

at the same time, i am an older "aunt" to many many young'uns, and i do have a very maternal instinct, so i think the part of me that was pointing out legoland to my nephews and the part of me that was mother to the baby and teaching the girl represent the more mature/knowledgeable and confident parts of me.

*in chinese language and family structure (as well as in indian and latino cultures), our cousins are considered sisters and brothers and therefore, we are aunts and uncles to our cousin's children.