No monkey, just books.

Last year I would tell people that Jacqueline wasn't as interested in books as Julia had been at the same age. Well, chalk that up to a flawed memory. Jacqueline wasn't interested yet...

I just asked "Jacqueline, where are you?"

From across the house she says "I'm reading my book."

Despite her "baby" and stuffed monkey the item she brings into her parents' bed is a stack of books. 1am or 2am I hear her pitter patter into my room, around to my side of the bed, she waits, tosses her books on the bed and then climbs in. Julia never did that.

Julia's First Book Report

OK, it's actually copying the words from the book but hey, she's only 5.

Rushing Part 3

Really! Seriously! My last statement in previous post is so not realistic. Anyone who has seen my house or calendar & the many lists I have, constantly making, editing, crossing off stuff, knows that I am Queen of Multi-Tasking. As much as it seems like a good idea it's not the best plan to do multiple tasks at the same time. Folding laundry while watching TV maybe, writing blog post while pumping, yes possibly, but most tasks need a certain amount of majority attention.

So I forgot to mention about getting home to eat lunch quickly before heading to 1p clinic appt. 
Yep, after the 10am movie, I have my annual well woman exam. It actually worked out in my favor as I went alone & it was quite lovely. I listened to my audio book (Man Made) during drive over & back. Also while waiting in exam room I read book #4 of 5 (Mindy Kaling's satirical memoir) in NPL's Summer Reading Program. Really funny book, I love "The Office" too!

Then after Julia's nap, I decide to go to Y to read book. I dropped girls at Y Play for 45 minutes of quiet time to read book as it was due yesterday. I'm almost finished! I get home at 5pm to feed Jacqueline. However, she fell asleep so had to pump as I'm rushing to leave to pick up Anne Marie (we're carpooling to save the earth & also difficult parking situation). We're going to see "My Sister's Sister" at the Belcourt Theater. Yep I'm seeing another movie, this time without my children. 

We're late of course so running to get ticket so can get code for parking pass. Whew! We're inside finally & we get into DARKEST theater ever, searching for seats & sit down. We're briefly talking, whispering I believe, about what happened, what we missed & we got shushed! We are at the Belcourt so I'm sure that's part of it. So fancy! Really though! The woman stands up with this man, whom we did NOT see sitting there,  & says "of all the seats in this theater you choose this row & then you have to talk" & walks off to some other dark row of seats. Seriously! We just sat down, hardly said anything & not that loud. I doubt you missed anything! I barely thought about it until after the movie, half expecting her to find us & chew us out again. However, when the lights appeared (barely!) it was like the few people in the theater had disappeared into thin air. Strange! Good movie though.

OK so here's another funny tidbit going back to NPL Summer Reading Program. I try to participate every year & this year we registered Julia too. She completed hers, but I forgot to log her 5th star before the deadline. I was doing that last night & also going to log in my 4th star & I cannot find the icon on NPL website. Odd! Then I realize the date & the deadline was LAST Saturday, not this Saturday as I think it is. Trying to reach my goal, cross another item off my list. DANG IT! I was so close too. Jai completed his 5th star on-line so he gets a prize. Oh, well, next year. However, I decided to continue to think this Saturday is my deadline. My 5th star is this YA book "Planet Tad" written by a writer for Daily Show so you know it's funny. It's hilarious! It's written from the perspective of a 7th grade boy & every day is a blog post so wicked easy to read; I'll be done in no time. 3 months a day is my goal. Whatever your age, whether or not you've worked with or lived with a middle school boy, you will enjoy this book. So funny!

Blueberries for Sal

This is the book Julia got from Imagination Library yesterday.

Jai & Julia told me she got a new book, but I forgot to ask what it was or look at it. I usually do when I get home from work as I'm excited when it arrives in the mail. However, it was Friday & I was really tired! Growing this baby is exhausting!

This morning walking home from the Y with Julia, we were talking about her new book & I asked her what it was. She said Blueberries for Sal very clearly, no hesitation. Of course I was impressed which I usually am with her verbal skills in general, but she just got this book. Maybe it's not signficant, but it seems amazing to me that she said the title so quickly & easily. Actually her memory is incredible so maybe it's not that earth shattering.

However, more importantly I loved this book as a child! I'm so excited to be able to read it with her as I was so happy when my mom gave Julia "Bread and Jam for Frances" for Mother's Day in May, another favorite of mine.

I'm so grateful & blessed that my child loves reading as much as I do. I'm sure we'll have many opportunities to bond over something, but I'm glad one experience is the wonders of reading wonderful books!

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

A few weeks ago I finally finished Barbara Kingsolver's recent book. I thought it was published recently, then I saw that it was in 2007 - not so much! : )

1. I wish I had read it sooner, it is so good, so interesting.
2. I love Barbara Kingsolver! It surprises me that it took me 4 years to get & read this book (from the library, you know I don't buy books anymore!).
3. It's impressive & inspiring to read about Barbara's family's goal to eat local food for a year.

After moving from Tucson, AZ to their family farm in Virginia, Barbara's family of husband & 2 daughters decided to eat local food for a year & wrote about the experience. Even though the majority of the book is written from Barbara's perspective, I really enjoyed reading the entries her husband & adult daughter contributed.

In addition to personal narratives about growing, harvesting, preparing food for storage, there is also information about food history, big business agriculture practices, environmental & health consequences & Slow Food movement. There are similar notes found in "Food Inc," "No Impact Man" and "The Omnivoure's Dilemma" - all good books with valuable information that more people, especially in the US, need to read & change habits.

It is slightly intimidating to consider how to incorporate the ideas & concepts into our life.
1. We didn't have much success with the garden we planted last spring/summer.
2. It seems extremely time consuming to grow your own food. Almost as time consuming to cook whole foods instead of buying frozen foods & popping them in the microwave!
3. We participate in a CSA program & that's basically the only meat we eat (I eat vegetarian usually when we eat out, Jai usually takes advantage of his chance to eat pork).
4. To supplement the produce we get in bi-weekly CSA box (we share with Bonnie), we purchased fruits & veggies from neighborhood Farmer's Market. Even until late fall/winter we attempted to get locally grown greens & root vegetables from the city's original Farmer's Market, trying NOT to buy lettuce & tomatoes from CA, FL or Mexico.

We cannot change everything overnight!
We're doing the best we can even though it's not perfect 100% of the time.
We try to make changes every day.

Some changes for 2011
1. We plan to grow a garden again & be more committed & diligent about caring for it.
2. We plan to buy more produce at farmer's markets & preserve food to store for winter use.
3. We support small businesses instead of large corporations like Whole Foods, Kroger, Target.

This isn't new information, but I recently read again in a recent edition of Nashville Parent magazine about how little we spend in this country on food compared to other "developed" countries. Most of us have heard how the current generation is likely to have a shorter life span than their parents. Instead of spending our money on healthy food, Americans buy cheap food & spend money on health care costs (issues related to diabetes, heart disease, obesity, etc.). It's dumb!

One quote in the book has stuck with me, it's written by Wendell Berry, an author & farmer from Kentucky. I keep coming back to it as I try to have the best relationship with food. "Eaters must understand that eating takes place in the world, it is inescapably an agricultural act, and that how we eat determines, how the world is used." If we want to eat cheap food filled with preservatives & HF corn syrup, then support CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) & other large corporations. If we want to eat healthy food filled with nutrients & pay the "real" cost for its growth (produced by the hard work of farmers), then support local food production. If it seems too hard, start small. Ultimately we should care what goes in our bodies as well as how the earth is used to grow it.

Read the book. It made me hungry for fresh veggies & springtime, maybe not a good thought as winter persists in being cold & snowy. However, it made me happy thinking about how wonderful the food grown in TN, or wherever you live, really is.

Daddy Shift

This book by Jeremy Adam Smith is really interesting. I know you wonder how I have time to read all these books I write about on the blog. I wonder too! However, I'm pretty sure this book (Jai bought it last year I think) is one I'd been reading for most of this year. I have a book in different locations - my bedside, near my stationary bike (doesn't get read often), living room for non-TV/computer day (doesn't get read often either), bathroom, car (rarely gets read, I think I've been reading "Under the Tuscan Sun" for 3-4 years!). I read parts of each one periodically & occasionally I finish one. So I was sick a few weeks ago AGAIN & taking naps on the weekends when Julia sleeps & I usually read a bit before I get drowsy (just like at night). However, I couldn't sleep long because of coughing so I kept reading this book & finally finished it.

The sub-title is How Stay-At-Home Dads, Breadwinning Moms, & Shared Parenting are Transforming the American Family. It's a non-fiction book, a series of case studies of different families in various locations around the U.S. It's a combination of anthropology, sociology & psychology, my 3 faves, describing how these families work together to support each other & care for children. JAS weaves in comparisons of how public policy in other countries has changed what parenting looks like for both men & women & their relationships with their children in a positive direction (usually). Both parents have opportunities to stay home for 6-12+ months with their young child, with support financially, culturally & employment-wise. I like the word OPPORTUNITY. That is what it is to take care of your child. I'm glad I had my 6 months with Julia, but full-time care for a child is not my calling.

Often I say to Jai how much I wished we lived in Spain, or now Finland is my new favorite, because of the family friendly parental leave practices & support for breastfeeding. I realized after I finished reading this book, that it definitely would be great to live in Spain as that is one of our life goals, but Finland is too cold for me. : ) However, the other realization is that change is happening in the U.S., slow change, but still happening. There are more men & women switching who stays home & cares for children & who goes to work outside the home. For those children, that will be normal, not non-traditional, so a new model is being constructed.

Read the book if you have a chance.

Talking to your parents

When was the last time you tried to talk to your parents? It was difficult, wasn't it? They don't get you and you don't get them. Is it generational? Sure. Is it vocabulary? Sure. Or is it just a battle of wills? Sure, it was all of that. Now, imagine if you are almost 2 years old and you only have a few sentences at your command. You see, your troubles are nearly as bad as you think they are. You have the ability to drive away when you get in to it with your parents. All I can do is scream like a banshee of spit my newest words of defiance..."No WAY!"

I'm getting there, really. Everyday old words roll off my tongue better (constant repetition of the words I know helps) and new words join my vocab list. My parents still read to me and they talk to me like I understand but we all know I don't. For instance, yesterday I woke from my nap distressed. I was asking for mommy in a kinda pitiful way and Daddy shows up at my door with a concerned look as asks whats the matter. I couldn't say. He then asked me if I had had a bad dream and I said, "yes", in my most confident of voices. I guess it was the way he asked the question b/c I really don't know what he meant by bad dream. So, there is a lot of guessing that goes on but we get by pretty well.

Its been a while so let me catch you up a bit. I still love my books and I like to sing songs but my favorite things to talk about are trucks and buses; our friends Jessie, Michael and India, Grandma Bonnie's cats, especially Alpha and Omega and HOOOOORRSEEESSS! I love horses. I've met a couple this year and they are the best things ever. Dogs and cats are great but horses, wow!

Recently I've been spending more time talking to Mommy b/c Daddy goes to work on Saturday (I love saying Saturday, its a great word). I still eat all sorts of cool stuff although I have kinda grown out of oatmeal. Red Onions have to be one of the newest cool things I eat. We eat salad almost everyday and I usually just pick out the red onions but if there is enough vinegar or mustard nearby I will eat almost anything. Not that that was a problem. Food is good.

The most dramatic thing that has happened is that I fell and busted a tooth. Actually, I just shoved one of my front teeth back up in the gum and can you believe that we won't know if there's a problem until I'm about 7 years old! That is a long time away.

Now that I have sufficiently wandered off topic let just say that I think if I keep trying to talk to Mommy and Daddy and they keep listening we will have a great relationship as I get older.

Keeping the Feast

This is the name of a great book by Paula Butturini. It is non-fiction story about Paula's experience through her husband's journey of depression. I finished the book in early March and didn't write this post until April so I'm not remembering many details. However, it takes place in many countries, mostly in Italy. It involves wonderful descriptions of food and the connections to all kinds of memories, particularly childhood and family. The descriptions of how Paula lives with a depressed person really resonated with me as I recall living with PPD. It is HARD stuff! I've probably written this before, but I remember someone describing it as mild PPD and I think OMG how does someone live with major PPD! I believe it was mild, but it was difficult so I know how challenging it is for individuals who are struggling with depression every day for YEARS!

I am grateful for people who share their story as it helps others understand and cope.

Reading is Fundamental (and so is singing)

Thank you Dolly Parton.

Like so many kids in Tennessee Julia gets a book a month from the wonderful Imagination Library. Overall, I have been pleased - not enough board books but other than that its an amazing program. I've about a correlation between the size of home libraries and an individual's success further down the road. Well, I think we are seeing Julia's future.

Julia loves this book and she knows it by name...our name, "ABC Book". She starts her version of the ABC song as soon as she touches the book.  Her version of the song sounds a bit like the spanish alphabet and goes like "aahhh baaaayyyy deeeedaaa" before it sort of trails off into a hum. Seriously?!? She's been singing some version of the ABC song for a couple of months and it is in a large part due to this particular book, a Leap Frog music table and the fact that her dad cannot remember many words from any other kids song...

She's a wondefully engaged child and I am glad to be along for the ride.

The job of a 13 month old...

Julia has a new job.

She still maintains hours as the household comedienne and noisemaker but she has recently become an interior decorator.

Her style? I would say she's a deconstructionist. She obviously thinks book cases are crap because she empties them on a daily basis. Sometimes she looks at the books but most often she just pulls the book off the shelf and tosses it to the floor. Then she's standing in the middle of a pile of books with a "what are you gonna do about it?" look.

Her other most recent strength is rearranging furniture. Today she started pulling her "music table" to the middle of the kitchen. Today after dinner she moved a couple of chairs from the corner of the room to the head of the table.

As with all things she is very serious about these things, but she is also having a blast!

Wow! What a week or two!

I have never been so tired in my life.

As you all saw, I welcomed Aunt Susie back home with footsteps. I'd been working at it for awhile and I thought that was the perfect time to show it off. And you know what? That was just the beginning of a world wind couple of weeks that lead up to a momentous monthiversary, my 11th month, my last monthiversary before we start celebrating my birthday!!!!!! YEEAAAHHH, MEEEE!

So what else? Well, Grandma Bonnie married Poppy (Grandpa Buddy) on Halloween. It was so much fun, we had to go to back and forth to a dorm room on Scarritt's campus. I was an honored guest so Mom and I were escorted into the big Whitman Chapel. It's a lot like "the chapel" (All Saints) at Sewanee, which I visited a couple of weeks ago. There aren't photos of my first Halloween because Dad's hard drive crashed before he could upload them to Flickr. Hopefully somebody else has some to post, I looked cute. I got to meet all sorts of people but it was weird because they didn't look like normal people, they were all different colors and wearing funny clothes and hats and wings! We danced in a big circle outside and I got to eat at the big people table.

Speaking of food I am really exploring big people food. We went to an Indian restaurant the night before the wedding and I ate some rice and some Spinach Paneer. I didn't think much about it but most of the adults were surprised that I was eating the spicy spinach. Dad and I didn't think it was so spicy. I eat a lot of oat bran and soy yogurt but recently dad introduced me to sweet potato and butternut squash (I like orange food - carrots are pretty good too) but you know what I really, REALLY love? Soy Milk. Yup, like my Mom and my cousin, LJ, I love me some soy milk. I sit there with my sippy cup and guzzle it down. I tried drinking it standing up once but I feel and it didn't feel so good when my butt hit the ground and I had a mouthful of milk.

So everybody knows I'm walking but you know what I really like to do and I'm not sure why? I like to carry stuff while I walk. If I'm in my room I love to carry my bunny rabbit and maybe a book or some blocks. When I'm downstairs its all about the yogurt containers. If those things are within eyesight I will waddle over and do my best to grab them. Then I must pull every magazine or book (especially really big ones) off the shelf. Its really fun.

Well, now I've caught you up to where I am at this 11th month celebration.

I think I'll start talking in big people English soon.

One down and another to go (for me)

Thanks to all of the Edgehillites who showed your love and support this past weekend. The baby shower was great. One of the attendees said we will have a well-read but naked baby. We got a bunch of great books and some clothes. It was funny.

I will miss the one at Tara's work, but we have one at the house next week and that should be pretty crazy.

Tara's side note: It was great! It was lots of fun, got to visit with some friends I don't see often. The clothes we received were "green" (either recycled (barely used) or organic/fair trade) items which was awesome! We actually have a few clothes from that consignment sale I went to in August. I got an email about another consignment sale in mid-November. I'll be taking a power nap to make that event - you know it! : ) I'm looking forward to the shower on Oct. 18 at our house. We worked on the nursery over the weekend, putting gifts away. We still need a crib and bassinet, but there's always Craig's List and Freecycle so we're going to evaluate our needs after the 3 showers.