Books: NurtureShock
April 30, 2010 | Books
I just finished reading NurtureShock: New Thinking about Children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. I heard about this when someone posted a video with Merryman talking (mostly) about sleep and how devastating it can be to children who don’t get enough. That made sense. I remember when my children were babies, in one sleeping book or another, I read that if their sleeping schedules were off to try putting them to bed earlier instead of later. And it worked. After that, I’ve never underestimated the power and importance of sleep.
Anyway.
This book isn’t just about sleep. It’s about a lot of issues regarding children — from “why kids lie” to “the sibling effect.” It’s all about taking a different look at research and what it’s led us to believe. It provides interesting new ways to think about things.
Posted by Becky @
6:00 am |
Now We Are Six
When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly Me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five,
I was just alive.
But now I am Six, I’m as clever as clever.
So I think I’ll be six now for ever and ever.
~ A. A. Milne
Both of my daughters were excited for their birthday today, but one was especially thrilled.
“I can’t wait for my birthday!” she squealed with glee last night as we tucked her in bed.
Sure enough. She came to our room at 2 a.m., 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. to ask, “Is it my birthday yet?”
Then, at just after 6 a.m., she came running to say, “It’s the 29th! It’s my birthday!”
So … happy birthday, Sweetie. Happy birthday to your lovely sister too.
Posted by Becky @
10:25 am |
Journey
It’s official. My daughters are ready for Kindergarten. I attended an “exiting special education services” conference last month. After almost six years of therapies and special education, this is a huge milestone. They don’t just meet the minimum requirements. They exceed them.
I don’t spend a lot of time going back over everything we’ve been through with preemie twins. I wrote a lot when they were in the NICU. I’ve tried a few times to read it, but I can’t. It was a scary, scary time, and I still can’t relive it. I do have to look back right now, though, to appreciate just how incredibly far they have come.
This is where they started: 2 pounds, 12 ounces each, born at 29 weeks, way before their July due date.
And this is where they are now, trying on their first dancing costumes.
This week, they turn 6. This fall, they start Kindergarten. After that, they’ll take over the world.
Posted by Becky @
6:00 am |
Wine: Picket Fence
April 27, 2010 | Iowa, Wine
I am by no means a wine connoisseur, but I like to drink it, and I really like to try local wines. I was surprised to learn how many wineries there are in Iowa. We even have one just down the road from us. What’s better than trying the local flavor of your new home?
This isn’t a review. I’ll leave that to the experts. No, this is more of an American Bandstand Rate-a-Record opinion, “It’s got a good beat, and you can dance to it. I give it a 98, Dick.” Only, you know. With wine. And without Dick.
I recently tried Picket Fence, a semi-sweet white wine by Park Farm Winery in Bankston, Iowa. It was recommended to me by Eric in the liquor department at Hy-Vee in Mason City. It was $9.99. (He was spot on with all his recommendations.)
On the bottle: “A crisp, clean, semi-sweet white wine. Our Picket Fence pairs wonderfully with fish, seafood, chicken and pork dishes; especially when cooked with butter or cream sauces. Not too dry, yet not too sweet, this wine is on the fence!”
I really liked it. I like white wines, especially German rieslings, but some of the Iowa whites I’ve tasted are way too sweet with a “homemade” taste to them. Picket Fence, though, was just the right balance for me. I drank it with a ham dish with a cream sauce — a recipe I got from @collisionbend (Thanks, Will!) — and it was tasty.
Posted by Becky @
6:00 am |
Books: How Reading Changed My Life
April 26, 2010 | Books
I just finished reading How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen. It’s only 84 pages, but every word on every page spoke to me. Have you ever read her? If you haven’t, you should. She writes like a reader. A very well-read reader. I only disagree with her on Anna Karenina, which made her list of books she would save from a fire.
I thought about taking one of her lists and setting a goal to read everything on it. Each list has 10 books, and I’ve read a few on each list, so I’d have a head start. But I’m more tempted to make my own Anna Quindlen list, picking from each of her lists.
Here goes.
- Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
- Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
- The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
- The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
- The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
- Betsy in Spite of Herself by Maud Hart Lovelace
- Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
- The BFG by Roald Dahl
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- The Group by Mary McCarthy
- Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
A reader’s dozen.
What should I read first?
Posted by Becky @
6:00 am |
Books: Honey for a Child’s Heart
April 24, 2010 | Books
I just finished reading Honey for a Child’s Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life by Gladys Hunt. I read it because Ilina at Dirt & Noise wrote about it.
It’s a tad heavy-handed with the whole “separating the wheat from the chaff” ideas regarding books (and, in my mind, people), but I should have expected that, I suppose, from a Christian writer published by Zondervan, a Christian publisher.
But I like her lists for reminders and ideas. And, ironically, her definition of home is one of the least judgmental things I’ve heard in the last couple of years, and it’s a subject I’ve been thinking a lot about lately, “What is home? My favorite definition is ‘a safe place,’ a place where one is free from attack, a place where one experiences secure relationships and affirmation. It’s a place where people share and understand each other. Its relationships are nurturing. The people in it do not need to be perfect; instead, they need to be honest, loving, supportive, recognizing a common humanity that makes all of us vulnerable.”
I’d have to say amen to that.
Posted by Becky @
6:00 am |
Books: The Many Hats of Jeremiah Porter
April 23, 2010 | Books, Iowa
We just read The Many Hats of Jeremiah Porter by Karen Carr, an Iowa author. The book was illustrated by Joan Nixt, also from Iowa. In fact, they’re very local. The inspiration for the book was Carr’s granddaughter, who attends my children’s elementary school. We got to meet them all on Saturday at our favorite bookstore, Bookadee. They were there for a reading and book-signing. They also brought some of Mrs. Porter’s chocolate-chip cookies. Yum!
Here they are in their butcher hats (one of Jeremiah Porter’s many hats).
Posted by Becky @
6:00 am |
Ode to spring
Daffodils are up. Snow fences are down.
Freedom. Lighter backpacks mean bigger items for show & tell.
Oh, spring. Ooh, you are so big. So absolutely huge. Gosh, we’re really impressed down here, I can tell you. You’re just so super.
I love that you’re here, but I hate that it took so long. I could do without the bipolar extremes, but that won’t happen in Iowa, will it? No. No, it won’t.
Posted by Becky @
6:00 am |
First
Guess who’s coming to our house tonight? For the first time ever. Woo-hoo!
Posted by Becky @
4:35 pm |
Books: The Bean Trees
April 20, 2010 | Books
I just finished reading The Bean Trees, a novel by Barbara Kingsolver. The first Kingsolver book I read was Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and I loved it. This one was good too. She surprised me at the end. Nice.
Posted by Becky @
6:00 am |
