One day I’ll read somewhere else than on the can.

One of my favorite things to see: my son sitting by himself “reading” a book. He looks at each page and retells the story as he remembers it. He’ll usually go through two books before he tires of this activity. One gift Hal and I want to be certain to give our kids – its actually more like a “tool” – is the pleasure of reading.

Reading+Information=Knowledge, then mix that with a whole’lot’ah Resourceful and you got an adult who can get through any difficulty. Heh, I could be wrong, but the equation sounded good in my head.

I didn’t find pleasure in reading until I entered my early 20’s. To this day I still struggle to get through a book. I can’t blame my kids for this challenge because it existed before they were around to interrupt me every five minutes.

I think if you want your kids to be readers they have to see you reading, too. Otherwise, its one of those things you tell your kids to do but they have no real reason to do it (or they have to look outside the family for guidance/inspiration). I think that old adage, “lead by example,” applies to getting your kids to read.

Of-course, my kids only see me reading crap magazines on the pot (because they are often in the bathroom with me) but when they are older I would like to pick up the past time of reading good books, again.

Read Full Post »

Free Bird.

I really did know better than to try and level with my MIL. If there is one thing she can’t handle, it is hearing that someone is depressed. So scary for her. She and my BIL talk about depression as if it is a weakness or disorder. The only reason I said something to her is because I wanted to give her a chance to hear the truth. I didn’t like how she reacted to it so she pretty much lost that privilege from me. In my heart, I know she does care and she does love me. She just isn’t aware that normal people get depressed and see therapists and that it is OKAY. Maybe she’ll learn a little from knowing?

I started to feel better last week – probably due to going outside more often – and *almost* decided that I didn’t need to see a therapist. Then I thought, no, there is a reason beyond my understanding that I have been feeling so sad and just because the sadness comes and goes, doesn’t mean I should ignore it. Because we all know what happens when we ignore important emotions… they come back in the future to bite us in our respective ass.

I’m still in the weaning process with Max. I don’t mind nursing him anymore. I feel like since there is so much that I can’t do with him right now I can “make up” for it by allowing him to nurse. I’m careful to not nurse him when I really don’t feel like it because I don’t want to be sitting there hating every moment. He nurses maybe 2-3 times during the day, to go down for a nap, and first thing in the morning. No night nursing. Hey, it’s a start.

Okay, verdict is in… I can not eat eggs or soy products. They have a negative affect on Bella’s skin. Next week, once her skin clears up from the recent soy introduction, I’ll reintroduce dairy to see what happens. That day, I’m going to Whole Foods with a friend and ordering a cheese sandwich and taking home a pizza for dinner. It takes about two days to see if her skin reacts. I’m really hoping I can at least eat dairy! If I have to give that up, welp, that is what I will do. A part of me finds it fun to come up with a variety of foods that don’t have those three ingredients as the staple.

Yesterday I let Max run around our back yard nekked. And by “let” I mean, I couldn’t get him to keep his clothes on. He was playing in his pool and decided it was just not comfortable being wet and having on clothes. When Hal gets home tonight I’m going to run up to the store and buy batteries for my camera – it is killing me to not have it! He was so cute with his curls bouncing up and down as his pudgy little legs took him all over the yard. I love how wild and true kids are to their nature – so beautifully primitive and free.

Read Full Post »