Saturday, January 22, 2011

For Breakfast

As we continue picking up books on a whim at the library, I also try to grab one or two by authors I am more familiar. One of these authors is Tomie dePaola, who I remember fondly from childhood. Some people don't like his artwork (I do) and some people don't like the content of some of his books (he has a lot of them), but overall I enjoy his work. Some of the books I've grabbed are not age appropriate for Milo right now, but some are and we've enjoyed reading those.

Yesterday at the library, we noticed a copy of Pancakes for Breakfast which while new to me has already become a hit at our house. The book (which doesn't have words) traces the morning of a little old lady who would like to have pancakes for breakfast. A series of misadventures does finally lead to that pancake breakfast, but it doesn't come easily. With no words, this book is a fun way to have children describe what they are seeing in the pictures and notice more closely how the pictures in books help to advance the story. I've also noticed Chris and I have slightly different ways of telling the story because of what we pick out of the illustrations. Another fun lesson in perception.

And perhaps best of all, guess what we're having for breakfast tomorrow?

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

22 Months

Milo at 22 months is very fun, quite happy and super busy. He's go, go, go, climb, climb, climb and giggle, giggle, giggle. He keeps up almost a constant steam of conversation, most of it words I still can't decipher, but certainly actual words thrown in also. I can pretty much hold a conversation with him now although it mostly consists of the same questions and answers repeatedly.

My budding little chef loves to help me cook. He is almost always with me at the kitchen counter (and occasionally on the counter itself) standing on a chair helping me add "spice" to recipes. I've got to tell you, he's a little heavy handed with the garlic powder, but pretty much spot on with the other spices.

In addition to his love of cooking, he has created an ever deeper bond with his friend Baby Bunny (pictured with Milo here). BB was gifted to him last year for his birthday and has been a companion ever since especially at sleep times. Lately, however it is all BB all the time and Milo would prefer to have him with him at all times. I'm scared of losing BB, so the Bunny only stays in our house.

We're back to gymnastics and swim lessons and he is loving both. At swim lessons he can blow bubbles in the water and is getting more comfortable with going under the water. At gymnastics he mostly bounces off the mats. After both he sleeps well.

Also this month, we've been doing the letter of the day on his new chalkboard. We draw the letters, make the sounds, talk about words that begin with that letter, and eat a cookie of the letter. Partly because of this and partly because of the some alphabet books we have, Milo can identify most of the letters in the alphabet. He can also spell his name, but he does insist that MILO spells ELMO. So we have some work to do on that one.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Actual Family Photos


We're not a put on matching outfits and head to the mall for portriats type of family. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just doesn't seem to fit our style. For that reason we have exactly one "professional" shot of Milo which is him from his daycare stint on school picture day (we bought it for the irony and because his gummy smile was so adorable).

So when I noticed a Groupon (click there and sign up by January 18 and we both get free credits!) deal of a photography package earlier this year, we decided to try it out. After much cancelling and rescheduling of the date, we met up with Tiara from McFalls Images on an unseasonably warm day in November. We all met at one of our favorite parks and had a lovely day playing in the sunshine while Tiara photographed us. It was a lot of fun and with a toddler sure beats a screaming fit at JC Penney.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Books I Read (and I don't mean to my toddler)

Here are the books I read in 2010. I feel like I stopped recording at some point late in the year, but I do like having the list. Several of the books were for my book club, some were picked up a whim at the library, and a few came referred from NPR. I really liked almost all of these books although some while enjoyable at the time are easy forgotten (The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club) and some (Never Let Me Go) still have me thinking.

Books Read 2010

  1. Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
  2. Me Talk Pretty One Day – David Sedaris (re-read)
  3. Her Fearful Symmetry – Audrey Niffenegger
  4. The Help – Kathryn Stockett
  5. NurtureShock - Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
  6. The Unhealthy Trurth - Robyn O'Brien
  7. Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage - Elizabeth Gilbert
  8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson
  9. The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion
  10. Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay
  11. No Reservations - Anthony Bourdain
  12. The Happiest Toddler on the Block - Dr. Harvey Karp
  13. The Last Chinese Chef - Nicole Mones
  14. The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
  15. Life's a Beach - Claire Cook
  16. The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club - Gil McNeil
  17. Lost and Found: A Novel - Carolyn Parkhurst
  18. The Hand that First Held Mine - Maggie O'Farrell
  19. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
  20. The Handmaid and the Carpenter - Elizabeth Berg
  21. A Version of the Truth - Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack
  22. Irish Girls About Town: An Anthology of Short Stories - various
  23. Best Friends Forever: A Novel - Jennifer Weiner
  24. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
  25. The Wedding Officer: A Novel - Anthony Cappella
  26. Little Bee - Chris Cleave
  27. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  28. Alice I Have Been - Melanie Benjamin
  29. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
  30. All We Ever Wanted Was Everything - Janelle Brown
  31. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk - David Sedaris

Saturday, January 1, 2011

2011 Goals

I'm sitting here on my couch, sipping lukewarm coffee and listening to Jack Johnson. It is a rare moment of quiet and stillness in the house since Chris took Milo out to meet Dora. And I am totally content. Sometimes when things are good it is hard for me to think about how to make them better, so I am having a tough time framing resolutions for this year. However, even a totally content life can use a few little tweaks to make it more fulfilling. In that light, here are my goals for 2011.

  • Spend less time on Facebook. I'm addicted and I need to curb the habit. The site allows me to catch up with friends and family and I appreciate that, but I have the tendency to check it way too often and get annoyed with myself. So moving forward, I will check Facebook no more than three times per day for no longer than 10 minutes per session.
  • Promote a more peaceful house through less clutter and more cleaning. With cutting back on Facebook I should have more time for picking up toys, organizing mail and keeping counters clear.
Did you make any resolutions?