A Goal Beginning to be Realized

Continuing on with the meditation and yoga course I took over the last few months, I've started a teaching training class to be RYT-200 certified (aka a real yoga teacher). It's something I've been contemplating and working toward and then moving away from for years. I even taught for several months, thought about pursuing again before getting pregnant with Milo and am just now catching my breath. It's been a work in progress and will continue to be a process because I won't graduate from my class until November. I'm actually thankful for these delays because it reminds me yoga is something I always come back to. It's something of a signpost in my life. Plus yoga itself is a process and it is no shock to me that coming to the discipline has been a journey in itself.

The curriculum is rich in yoga philosophy, asana and tradition. I have monthly weekend trainings in addition to home practice and attending other classes. There is assigned and homework to be completed. I'm excited about the material and the opportunity. And I look forward to seeing where this rung of my yoga journey will lead.

Eating In

For the month of January, we challenged ourselves to eat each meal at a home. In other words, no eating out. This was in an effort to curb some spending, plan better and eat more healthfully. We weren't eating out a lot, but we were relying on it a little too much. If we had late afternoon plans, we would just stop at Chipotle or Graffiti Burger for dinner. Sundays we would often combine brunch with grocery shopping.

To successfully eat every meal in a home takes some planning. We would plan out dinners for the week and then always have breakfast and lunch staples on hand. By the end of the month, I was a little burned out on menu planning. It is a task that I don't enjoy while I am doing it, but I appreciate having the plan as the days go by.

While we did improve on planning, the jury is still out on the money spending. Our grocery bills went up, but I think we still came out ahead over a couple of meals out. Certainly, meal for meal eating in is less expensive (for example one night we had filet, salad and baked potatoes at home for about $20, the same meal out would have been $50ish).

It was a great experiment and while I'll loosen up the reins from here on out, it did teach me that we don't need to eat out quite as often as were as long as I have a plan and stick with it.

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?

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.

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.

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

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?