baffled by the book

dear world,

i will do a proper holiday celebration post here pretty soon. today, i simply have to vent about one of the most ridiculous children’s books to enter our home. i did not buy it. it was received by my oldest daughter as a gift.

allow me to introduce you to hernando fandango, the great dancing dog! by rachel swirles.

at fist glance, it’s really no worse than some of the other randomly published children’s books we have encountered. but then, i read on. here’s my beef:

it’s like reading a book with no basis in reality. what on earth is a pajama-case dog? doesn’t this need some minor explanation in order to feature so prominently in the plot line? seriously, i’m pretty well read and i’ve never head of a pajama-case dog.

the rhymes are really reaching: “chances” rhymes with “dancers” twice. once, i could forgive, but twice? and she also rhymed “paw” with “floor”. again, forgivable on it’s own, but combined with the rest, it’s just terrible.

but, you  know what? i read it with gusto. i read it with excitement and a tone of “this is the way it should be” because ultimately my girls both enjoy the story. at the end of the day, if a story speaks to my girls, i will continue to read it over and over and over again. whether i like it or not.

feeling fairly unimpressed,

cm

potty training: not my first rodeo

dear world,

N is ready to pee on the potty. i remember before i had children and felt faintly embarrassed by discussions of potty training, peeing, pooping and all the ins and outs of making this type of transition. let’s just say i’ve moved beyond that.

sunday, we started. N would have sat on her potty for 8 hours if we let her. the novelty of having something she could do on her own and something that she really doesn’t have to share must have felt pretty good. today, i sent her to school in training pants. she only had 2 accidents! amazing.

(i should note that i packed a giant bag of extra training pants and back-up clothes for just in case which i proceeded to forget on the porch. that added about 15 minutes to my morning: drop off N, pick up clothes, drop off V, go back and drop off clothes.)

we’re rewarding with big smiles. we’re rewarding with m&m’s. we’re reading potty books together. it’s pretty much all we’re talking about right now. however, it’s working. our two favorite potty books have been a hit with both girls:

a potty for me, by karen katz

once upon a potty, by alona frankel

has anything in particular worked for you? V didn’t get rolling until at least 2 1/2. N is ready much earlier because she wants to be just like her big sister. everyone got cheers for peeing on the potty this morning.

almost done with diapers,

cm

well loved books

dear world,

last night during settle down, N picked out a very old board book. i mean, it went through 2 kids before my 2 even got a hold of it. the book is so worn that the pages are almost impossible to turn. it’s a board book, so they’re extra thick which means the edges get soft and worn away. which means they stick like glue. i literally had to pry the pages apart with my finger nail.

now that’s love.

cm

children’s book: piglet’s picnic

dear world,

i must admit, i am a big fan of well written children’s books. there are some terrible books out there for all ages, but a poorly written children’s book is such a shame. it makes me appreciate a good one even more.

piglet’s picnic, by jessica souhami is one of my favorites at the moment. we got it a long time ago, but every once in a while V will bring it out again. it has all the elements of a good story- animals going on an adventure, food, repetition. it’s super fun. and all the animals think the food the other animals bring is yucky so as you’re reading aloud, you get to say, “that’s just nasty!” how many books for children are honest like that? not many.

i don’t know if they have it at the library, but i know they have it at cover to cover. i would recommend it for any young person, even early readers. the language isn’t complicated, but it is clear and concise. there aren’t any extra words.

always looking to add to our library,

cm

mother earth, modern medicine and me

hello world,

it seems that the time has arrived for my friends and peers to have second babies. i am pregnant now along with at least two of my co-workers and two friends delivered healthy babies last month.

healthy baby #1: my friend carried her baby to full-term or maybe even a little beyond. she decided to have a home birth and work with a team of midwives to have a safe pregnancy and birth experience. she had a short labor, but still enough time to fill the pool for a planned water birth. the baby didn’t actually wait long enough to be born in the tub, but it was ready. her son was present and had read lots of books on what to expect. he’ll be two in july.

healthy baby #2: this mama had serious trouble with the birth of her daughter which resulted in a c-section. her birth plan for her son included working with her doctor to set a reasonable date (1 week before full term) to schedule a c-section. she went to the hospital at 5:30am and by 8am they had a baby boy. everyone is healthy and happy and her recovery was remarkably short. she’s already in her pre-pregnancy jeans.

each of these mamas feels so strongly that her choice is right and best. and for each of them, it was. if i had tried to have a home birth, either me or V would have probably not made it. for me, i’m hoping to make it even close to full term.

i feel like i’m both far enough along and close enough to a potential pre-term birth to study up on delivery and how to prepare for it. i read penny simkin’s pregnancy, childbirth and the newborn last weekend. i also just ordered birthing from within. if i actually make it to a proper labor, i’d like to be prepared to deal with it. i’m hoping to figure out enough ways to focus on what’s happening to avoid using drugs, but i have to say, if there’s trouble, i’m going to do whatever my doctor tells me to do.

figuring out what’s best for me,

cm

in other news

hello world,

recently, V has been very into listening to music. we have a wonderful album of songs in spanish, but i don’t know the name to give credit to the singer. it’s 27 songs of fun and she can sing along to most of them. buenos dias, la granja and more.

usually, on the way to school in the morning, we listen to the news on the radio. i brought the ipod along a couple of times and now she wants to listen to buenos dias every time we get in the car. which is fine, except when i forget to bring the ipod. then we’re stuck with the news.

last week, while she finished her breakfast of pancakes and syrup (left over pancakes from sunday morning breakfast, mind you. who makes pancakes on a weekday morning?) she says, i’m all messy! just like the pig in if you give a pig a pancake, i asked. she thought that was about the coolest thing ever.

“mommy, she says, i want to read give a pig a pancake and listen to the news.”

well, what’s a mother to do with a request like that? we cleaned up her sticky hands, i ran upstairs to get the book, turned on the radio and we read and listened to the news together in the middle of the kitchen floor. i’m so proud of her for not only specifically asking for what she wanted, but that she wanted to both read and listen to the news at the same time. i love that this is part of her normal world and not a drag that we’re stuck with the news. (although sometimes she does wish we could be stuck with buenos dias instead.)

multi-media mama,

cm

football season follies

dear world,

i am not the biggest fan of sports. allow me to illustrate: it’s the end of december and MHM and i are sitting in the living room. i am watching some random show on tv and MHM looking at his phone.

MHM: bowl season starts today.

me: what?

MHM: you know, college football bowls. there are 35 of them!

me: i hate * sports. (*insert more colorful language here. your choice.)

now, i understand that college football is over. as part of my marriage it is essential that i pay some attention to the wide wide world of sports or lose the ability to converse on some days. however, it is now nfl football playoffs. it never ends.

here’s my ray of sunshine in the darkness of playoff season: cake wrecks. i heard a great interview with the author of this blog recently on the radio. apparently she recently published a book from the work of her blog and it’s supposed to be great. in the interview, she tells the story of how the blog began then expanded. she started by finding the cake wrecks herself and now gets over 50 submissions a day. who knew there were so many cake wrecks out there! here are my sport-related favorites. (please note her captions are much funnier than mine.)

actual helmet model

broccoli helmet

words cannot describe this

thanks for the laugh,

cm

what reading means to V

dear world,

i woke V out of a dead sleep to get ready for school this morning. she has started to wake up and want to go potty which is confusing for her and sleepy for all of us. needless to say, we ran a little behind.

after breakfast, V and i climbed back upstairs so i could get dressed. i asked V if she would like to sit in her chair and read to puppy while mommy got dressed. i handed her the great chicken escape a woodcut book by nikki mcclure. we removed the changing table from V’s room yesterday and this book had fallen behind. we looked at it before bed last night.

i went into my room and could hear her reading the story to her puppy. there are no words on the pages, just black and white pictures. “come back chickens,” she called. “look at the cows, puppy!”

i feel so proud and amazed at those moments. when she is able to take something in, process it and put it back out into the world in her own way i feel successful as a mother.

enjoying a nice morning moment,

cm

potty training: round 3

hello world,

well, we still have a very clean floor, but this week we had a major turning point. usually, while watching sesame street V cannot think about anything else. she zones. wednesday night, after drinking 2 entire sippy cups of water and peeing on the floor 3 times we decided to watch the count. as the count is counting sneezes (2, 2 sneezes!), she looks at me and says, “mommy, i have to go potty.” i scooped her up, ran into the bathroom and she did it! she peed in the potty! not on the floor, not on the way. actually in the potty. i gave her 3 m&m’s because i was so proud.

yesterday at school she only had 1 or 2 accidents and since she’s been home with us, she has had zero accidents. that’s right. she is officially going in the potty. and not just at home- this morning at the market and at the bookstore she said, “mommy, i have to go potty.” and then she did! i put her in a pull up just in case, but it was dry when we got home.

we also added a new potty book to the mix, once upon a potty, by alona frankel. V loves this book. we read it on the potty together. she reads it to her puppy in the kitchen. it’s about a little girl named prudence and actually talks about body parts and shows prudence sitting on the potty. there are a remarkable number of potty books which don’t do either of those things.

proudly,

cm

potty training pre-game show

hello world,

i never thought i would be that mommy who talked about poop all the time, but it turns out my time has come. in our build up to no diapers tomorrow we have engaged in a number of potty discussions and activities:

1. watching elmo’s potty time
2. reading a potty for me, by karen katz
3. modelling how to actually go potty
4. wearing big girl panties over the diaper
5. losing the diaper altogether for pull-ups this morning
6. transferring poop from said pull-up into the big potty

seriously, how much more can we talk about this before pulling the trigger? now, when you ask V what she should do when she has to pee, she responds, “run, run, run to the potty.” i have yet to see any action on these words, but i think she knows what they mean.

guess who’s cleaning the floor tomorrow…

cm