Practical & Conscientious Parenting
Things We Like
What We’re Reading Now
Anne and I have been talking lately about how we both want to write more, but we don’t make time for it in our day. I’m not very schedule-oriented, and I don’t have many routines in my day. There’s a weird push-pull between me and schedules: I know I function well on regular sleep and exercise, but I don’t want to feel like I’m stuck in a rigid routine.
I’ve been reading The No-Cry Sleep Solution (I’ve actually been reading the one for toddlers and pre-schoolers – it was the only copy they had at our local library, so I started reading it while we waited for the version for babies to ship). One of the things the author suggests is keeping a sleep log, both for naps and night-time. Like my aversion to schedules, I’m not much of a list keeper, but I think I’m going to start doing this (especially since I already keep this list in my head, anyway).
I just finished setting up an affiliate account at IndieBound.org, a website run by the American Booksellers Association. What I like about them is that on every book page, there’s a button to either buy the book online from a local independent bookstore, or find a local brick-and-mortar independent bookstore. And the web designer in me likes that the website is really easy to use, it’s visually uncluttered (unlike Amazon), and they allow anyone to add independent bookstores to the site. A surprising number of business in Yakima have no web presence at all, including our awesome children’s book store Out On A Whim. So I wasn’t surprised that it wasn’t listed at IndieBound.org. But I was quickly able to enter all the information I have about Out On A Whim, and the listing appeared immediately!
So, with my drive to created a little more routine in my day, and a new affiliate account through IndieBound.org, we’ve decided to start a monthly feature on what we’re reading. We’re going to include what we’re reading to ourselves and what we’re reading with our little ones. With this long-winded intro out of the way, here goes:
What Zach’s reading
The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers ~ As I mentioned above, I’m reading this version, despite having neither a toddler nor a preschooler at home – the general ideas are the same as the book for babies. I’ll do a full review when I’m done, so I won’t go into much detail here, but I will say this: most of the ideas presented in the book are common sense, and it’s always good to get a reminder about common sense. What I found particularly helpful is the list of general sleep requirements for different age groups. The author is good to point out that we all have varying sleep needs, but she lays out good guidelines.
Seeds of Deception ~ Having worked with genetically modified food crops myself, I’m always interested in reading arguments in favor and against genetically modified foods. The author provides very good examples of what can potentially go wrong with genetically modified foods, what has gone wrong, and why we should be exercising more caution in dealing with them. It’s a somewhat frightening book, if for no other reason than it exposes how much control the people making money from genetically modified foods are the same people determining their safety.
What Zach’s reading with Edie
When I’m Big ~ Another great book from the creators of Guess How Much I Love you. It’s especially nice right now, since the book talks about spring. The writing is so gentle and playful, I easily read this multiple times a day to Edie.
There’s a Wocket in My Pocket ~ I just about have this Dr. Suess classic memorized. It’s really fun to say all the funny words, and it holds Edie’s attention well since I have a lot of fun reading it.
Global Babies ~ Edie gets really excited when she sees the baby faces in this book. The simple text is about diversity, but I usually just read the labels that say where the baby is from like a modified five little piggies: “this little baby is from Thailand.”
That’s it for March!
Metoo Highchair
Edie sitting in her Metoo highchair
We recently received our Metoo highchair from phil&teds. It clamps easily onto our table, and feels really secure. It’s really light-weight and folds up small and flat. It comes with straps to go over little shoulders, we haven’t used them since trying them out. I think they may come in handy when Edie could potentially crawl out (and some of her back-bending of late makes me think that I should try them again). For now, they don’t really get in the way, but it would be nice to be able to detach them.
We’ve taken it to a few friends houses, and a few restaurants, with mixed results. Most places it’s worked just fine, but because it clamps directly onto things using a c-clamp, we’ve had to get creative sometimes. Last weekend we were at a forest service cabin with a group of friends, and the table there had a routed edged about 2″ wide that sloped down from table top. The top of the c-clamp is flat and about 3″, so I thought we were out of luck. But our friend Pete had the genius idea of flipping the clamp over (which I’m sure isn’t recommended by the company). We flipped it over, put down some cloth to protect the table top, and screwed the clamp down extra tight. It worked wonderfully the whole weekend, and Edie had fun playing with the bottom of the clamps!
The only other problem we’ve run into is that it’s not safe on small tables. We took it too a great Mediterranean restaurant here in Yakima, and all of their tables are square café tables that are only about 3 1/2′ wide. I ended up standing on the foot of the table the whole time to make sure that Edie didn’t tip the whole thing over!
We’ve really enjoyed having it at home, because it gets Edie right at the table with us, and it doesn’t take up as much room as a free standing highchair would. And she’s been loving it, too!
Favorite Kids Books – part one
15 years
One of my favorite parts of being a parent is finding new stories to share. At Bug’s baby shower, it was so much fun to see the books that the family and friends love and are wanting to share.
These have been a few of my favorites so far:
Why is the Sky Blue ~ I shared this with Mehalia on our first day of homeschooling as a reminder to myself that I am learning just as much from her as she is from me.
Somewhere in the Ocean & Somewhere in the Garden ~ A sweet mix of science, math, poetry, and music.
A Hat for Ivan & The Sneeches ~ On the importance of being yourself.
Rabbit’s Bedtime & Five Little Kittens ~ Two perfectly balanced days.
Angel Baby Bottom Balm
15 years
A friend of ours gave us a container of Angel Baby Bottom Balm at our baby shower, and we love it. We took it to the hospital with us, but we didn’t use it right away. I had never seen meconium before, and frankly, I was surprised at just how sticky and tar-like it was. We had a tough time cleaning Edie up the first couple of diapers, and then Ashley decided to put it the Angel Baby Bottom Balm on her, and wow! What a difference. She was a ton easier to wipe clean. Now that she’s moved on to breast milk poop, it’s not as tricky to get her cleaned up, but we’re still using it off and on to help keep her from getting too chapped. We haven’t had much in the way of diaper rash (the fleece doublers we’re using help keep her really dry), but when Edie does get a little red, this balm does the trick.