Book Recommendation: Bringing Up Bebe

I'm having so much fun reading Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting. The truth is, I could probably read a critique of the book and agree with many of its points (the author is a bit self-centered, much of her evidence is anecdotal, etc.). But I still enjoy reading it! Many of the ideas (regardless of whether they're anecdotal or gross generalizations or whatever) resonate with me. 

For example, I'm intrigued by the idea of "The Pause," which is the phrase the author coins for a common strategy used by French parents to get their babies to sleep through the night--on average--much earlier than the average American parents.

Many of the ideas sound similar to the Montessori approach, such as establishing clear limits and then giving children immense freedom within those limits. 

While reading the book, I have several different responses:

1. Wow! I'm already doing that! I'm going to keep it up!
2. Ooh, that makes sense. I'm going to work on that.
3. Ugh, I really don't want to raise my child that way.

Things that fall into the third category for me include the general French resistance to breastfeeding, and the speed with which French parents return to work after welcoming babies into their families.  

At every turn, I find myself analyzing my own parenting philosophy and generating next steps. I definitely recommend it! I added it to my list of recommended parenting books in the left-hand sidebar of this blog.

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Installing a Safer Deadbolt

I belong to a couple different neighborhood list-servs, so I can get to know Austin better. On one of the list-servs, a woman talked about how her door had been kicked in (in the middle of the night while she and her children were sleeping). The thief was trying to grab the TV and run. Fortunately, her alarm (and her shouting) scared him off.

In response to the story, a fellow neighborhood mentioned a really effective deadbolt, called the Medeco Maxum 11WC60L. According to this article in Consumer Reports, it's one of the best. I find the price to be reasonable, too.  

I definitely plan to get this lock installed when we're getting our new house built. We're working with the architect to figure out how we can bring the cost down. Then we have to submit the budget to the bank for a construction loan. Hopefully it will all come together quickly and we can start building! 

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REMINDER: The next Purposeful Conception Course: Preparing Your Mind, Body, and Life for Pregnancy starts July 30. Register today! We'd love to have you join us!

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Halloween in July

 Love this hat!

No doubt this post will make some of your eyes roll back in your head. But, for me, if I'm going to execute a handmade Halloween costume, I have to start planning it in July. And, for the record, it's almost August.

I'm eager for Henry to be able to communicate to us what he wants to be for Halloween. A friend of mine let her four year-old make a list of everything she wanted to be for several weeks (of course it kept changing), but she gave her a deadline. When the deadline came, she had to pick something off her list and stick with it. 

I did realize this is probably the last year we'll get to pick for Henry, so the thought passed through my mind that maybe we should make him dress up in something really cute that coordinates with a "family costume." But then I forced myself to remember that he's his own person and should get to let his own preferences and tastes dictate his costume. 

Matt and I spent approximately 30 seconds brainstorming responses to: "What is Henry's favorite thing?" We already did Hoss last year, so the second runner up was....

[insert drum roll....]

Grapes. 

Yeah, I know it's not very climactic. It is what it is. The kid loves grapes. He stuffs them by the handful into those sweet cheeks of his. 

I know it would be much cheaper to go the balloon route, but it doesn't seem wise to put a toddler in a suit of balloons. I already traumatized the kid with a pinata on his first birthday; I don't need to ruin balloons for him, too. 

The only non-balloon costume I can find for inspiration is the one below:

Grape Costume #1

It's not nearly as cute as the balloon versions. I wonder if I could make the grapes bigger and stuff them with stuffing. Do you think it would be too heavy for a 26-pound kid?

Or any other ideas?

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REMINDER: The next Purposeful Conception Course: Preparing Your Mind, Body, and Life for Pregnancy starts July 30. Register today! We'd love to have you join us!

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The Kind of Life We Want to Live

Building a family house is a big step for Matt and me. In order to recoup the money we're putting into it, we're going to have to live there as long as possible. We may possibly stay there for Henry's entire childhood. 

It's weird to think about our lives like that. It's weird to realize that Henry's entire childhood is going to fly by and, before we know it, he'll be an adult who is leaving the nest.

Thinking like this has definitely made me devote a few spare moments to brainstorming the kind of lives we want for our family. Here are some things that come to mind (this list includes Matt's ideas, too):

• We want to have friends over for get-togethers a lot. We want to swim in the pool, hang out around the fire pit, and cook together around the giant kitchen island.
• We want to have family rituals like pizza + movie night on Fridays (curled up on a gigantic sectional) and breakfast making on Saturday or Sunday morning. 
• We want to take full advantage of Austin's nature: hiking, biking, kayaking, and swimming.
• We want to honor our need for creativity: sewing, crafting, building, etc.
• We also want to honor our need for quiet: reading, napping, writing, etc.
• We want to do quick weekend trips to fun cities across the United States, so Matt can run races and the rest of the family can support him and take in the sights at a new place (we'll track these on our family map).
• We want to go on an extended vacation every year.
• And games! I can't forget games. We want to play lots of games.

Some of these ideas were included in our Family Mission Statement, but these things are more specific. I have to be careful not to spend so much time in the future that I'm not actually living life now. Some of these things will just be so much better when Henry is older. Plus, some of them require money that we just don't have right now. We'll be in a much better place when I'm working full-time again.

In the meantime, it's fun to think about!

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REMINDER: The next Purposeful Conception Course: Preparing Your Mind, Body, and Life for Pregnancy starts July 30. Register today! We'd love to have you join us!

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An Easy Way to Help

How about a 30-second way to do a good deed today?

Step One: 

• Click on our Amazon page

Step Two:

• Find the Facebook "Like" button at the top

 Step Three:

• Click it.

Voila! Good karma coming your way! 

(Fine Print: I apologize for stretching the concepts of "good deeds" and "karma" to fit this tiny little request. It really would mean a lot to me. Thank you in advance for your help!)

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A Call to Action

Did you already buy a copy of the book? If so, thank you! I am doing a little twirl and curtsy in your honor.

If you aren't able to buy the book (I understand the bane of budgets) but still want to help, please consider spreading the word among your networks. I'll take a stab at drafting some sample text to make it easier on you:

Facebook:

• Check out this book my friend just published about cooking with young children to help them develop independence and confidence in a Montessori way. All proceeds go toward starting public Montessori schools in diverse communities nationwide. http://www.amazon.com/Kids-Kitchen-Independence-Confidence-Montessori/dp/1477542043/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342926494&sr=8-1&keywords=kids+in+the+kitchen+montessori

E-mail:

• Hi Friends, I hope this message finds you well! I just wanted to take a second to share an interesting book with you. My friend just published a step-by-step guide to cooking with young children to help them develop independence and confidence in a Montessori way. All proceeds go toward starting public Montessori schools in diverse communities nationwide via an organization called Montessori For All. 
• http://www.amazon.com/Kids-Kitchen-Independence-Confidence-Montessori/dp/1477542043/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342926494&sr=8-1&keywords=kids+in+the+kitchen+montessori
• http://montessoriforall.org

With just five minutes of help, you could make a huge difference in this dream of mine. I look forward to returning the favor! 

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Setting Up a Kid-Friendly Kitchen

I was getting ready to purchase this tracking toy that helps indirectly prepare children for reading (since they follow the balls or cars from top to bottom, left to right--well, preparation for languages that follow that structure). But since Matt and I are desperately trying to save money for the house we're trying to build, I asked myself if Henry really, really needs it. 

I recently bought him several other wooden toys, and he definitely enjoys playing with them. However, he doesn't gravitate toward them, even though they are easily accessible on low shelves. Instead, he wants to interact with new things that he finds in the environment--a box, a magazine, our shoes, etc. He also enjoys spending time outside, just freely exploring the backyard (although the mosquitoes are preventing us from doing much of that lately). Further, he very much enjoys being asked to do things. We ask him to feed Hoss, put away Hoss's leash after walks, hang up his jackets (which he likes to pull off his child-sized coat rack), push his chair back under the weaning table. It's clear that our little boy is entering the Practical Life stage. 

So instead of getting him another new toy, I decided to start making our kitchen more kid-friendly. He already has a Learning Tower and a cabinet dedicated to his stuff, including a child-sized colander that I found on sale at one of those discount home goods store.

For ideas about what to do next, I went straight to a proof copy of the book Kylie and I recently published--Kids in the Kitchen: Simple Recipes That Build Independence and Confidence the Montessori Way. I needed to consult the section about How to Set Up the Kitchen (Kylie wrote it). The section includes a checklist of items with which to stock your kitchen. Since we can't afford to buy everything right now, I decided to flip to the Skills section to figure out the order in which I should introduce each activity (and see which equipment was required).

I decided to order a child-sized pitcher, spreader, mixing spoon, and tongs from Montessori Services. I'm eager for them to arrive so we can get busy!

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PURCHASE NOW: Today's our big push to increase our sales on Amazon. Please support educational reform by purchasing our book. All proceeds will be donated to Montessori For All to help more children in diverse communities nationwide have access to a public Montessori education.

 

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