Read It All
When you have two children (ohman my friends who have more!), and you stay home with them, and you blog, and you have an Etsy shop, and you cook from scratch, and you are an urban farmer, and you love playdates, and you love mommy-centric playdates (here, kids, play with this while I gab with my girlfriend), and you love to make elaborate dinners, and you love to go out of town to your family’s lodge in the country, and you love to stay connected to all 700 of your electronic friends, it can be hard to stay sane, and keep your priorities straight. (Nota bene, this post is a confession.) Here’s what I should do, and how I should do it, and how I would be happier: 1) Spiritual life. Family. My spiritual life is intrinsically linked to my family life. We sing prayers all day long (SuperBoy is a big fan of Pater Noster (the Our Father in Latin), Tantum Ergo (another Latin ditty), and Jesus Loves Me), we pray before and after meals, we pray before bedtime, we talk about our dead friends and pray for them, etc. But my own spiritual life isn’t getting personal attention. It gets attention by proxy. I would like to make time to do private devotional reading. I would like to make it to Mass beyond just the Sunday obligation. I would like to go to confession regularly. Hey, maybe throw a holy hour in there? Family is my job, my love,…
Read More
My fabulous hair stylist at Salon George is the owner of a beautiful salon in Saint Paul. She also happens to be a gourmet chef. Of course while she masterfully fixes my hair, we talk about life, family, and most importantly: food. She gave me a great Lebanese sauce that can be everything from salad dressing to drizzling over veggies prior to roasting to whatever. The garlic is what gives it a nice distinct taste. I added 1/2 cup oil (EVOO if you’re using it all right away, canola if it’s going into the fridge as EVOO hardens up!) & 1/2 cup lemon juice together. And ground 2 cloves garlic into a paste with about a big big pinch of salt in the mortar with the pestle (one of my favorite kitchen utensils). Then added garlic & whisked. Tah. Dah. Add freshly ground pepper if you so like. Quinoa made easy-peasy: 2 cups chicken broth & 1 cup rinsed quinoa, bring to a boil, then simmer until all liquid absorbed (circa 20 mins). Add raw diced veggies of any variety, toss with dressing, add a little freshly ground pepper. Convince your husband to do the hard work of grilling up some Wild King salmon, and you have a nutritious and delicious meal. NUMMY! We eat quinoa at least once a week, with beans, with veggies, with eggs, with anything. It’s a wonderful grain with a complete protein strand (unlike other grands) and is from South America. I get the big bags of…
Read More
Please, please get tickets to see the Rembrandt in America exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (affectionately known as the MIA). It is awe inspiriting, breath taking, and lovely. It’s the largest exhibition of Rembrandts in America. Ever! Get tickets in advance (we failed to–thank goodness for our friends who we went with). And hop up to the second floor, and you’re there! All 5 glorious rooms of it. We are big on exposing our children to the arts early. See posts here {Get More Piano and Cello in Your Life} and here {Art and Beauty in Your Life} and here {How to Choose Music for Your Child}. My mom’s been a docent at the MIA for over 25 years so I grew up thinking it was normal to spend your weekend at the MIA. We try to go as often as we can, and did frequent it when we lived on the Other Side of the River (aka Minneapolis). Last year we took SuperBoy a few times, but this trip to see the exhibit was SweetPea’s inaugural visit. They both enjoyed it immensely, in their own special ways–her by sleeping through most of it, and him by asking Dada “who’s that guy?” to every portrait. (And wanting to “touch the sun” in the entrance as seen above.) Here’s a quick & dirty guide to taking your children to a museum exhibit, and I’m not talking about the children’s museum: 1) Be aware. The throngs of people with us, including our dear friends, a…
Read More
Watch this movie: Doulas, A Documentary. Yes, it’s made by our doula, Emily Rumsey!, and sponsored by the Childbirth Collective, both of whom we love mucho mucho. And yep, we’re interviewed in it. You can see SuperBoy when he was right around 12 months running around us. You can rent it for a few bucks or buy it. At least watch the trailer. And then rent it or buy it 🙂 I was a movie star along with AA and SuperBoy for my 15 minutes of fame. Woot! (SweetPea was a mere twinkle in my eye at the time as SuperBoy was around 12 months when we were interviewed for it.) So what’s a doula? Why do I need one? Isn’t that my partner’s role? Doula. It’s Ancient Greek for “female servant.” No, I’m not one, so yes, this is an unbiased post on the necessity of having a birth support person beyond your partner. Consider her a birth support person for both you AND your partner. And your baby. Every person for whom I’ve recommended a doula (now 4) said it was a lifesaver. She was invaluable. Their husband made a complete turn-around and went from suspicion to converting other partners. This is really a great addition to your birth team! I’ll make my case for a doula in two parts (the bifurcated approach, thanks lawyerly instincts for teaching me to think in outline form): 1) She knows what’s going on. She’s been here before, knows what comes…
Read More
Parents tend to freak out about what precisely their toddler / preschooler knows. Don’t google “what should my preschooler know.” Children progress at different rates and respond differently to different environments, so let children develop a love of learning! Learning is fun when all parties are enjoying it, so here are a few enjoyable learning tools we’ve experienced. Things like: books, books, books {Homegrown Gifts, Introducing Books Early, Books for Holiday Gifts}, music and music (Music and Its Impact, Popular Music in Our House}, no screen time {Damage of Screen Time on Babies}, and craft play and bean play {Jumpstarting Toddler Imaginations, Developing Fine Motor Skills}. We all want our children to want to learn, explore, and take delight and pride in their accomplishments. Create an environment without distracting screens, disruptive music, and disengaged adults and you’re on track! That all being said, this is how we’ve introduced numbers and letters in a way that has worked for SuperBoy to be obsessed with them and love finding them: 1) Music + Flashcards. We played the Sesame Street ABC CD during breakfast for about 5 months probably starting a little after a year old. During each letter, I’d stand up the corresponding plain black & white flashcard (buy white index cards, and use a black magic marker–simpler is better). Not within reach, which was traumatic at first, but which preserved the cards from death by mauling. After a while of sitting there, looking at them, with someone feeding him his oatmeal, and singing along to…
Read More
These photos sum up our weekend. Hot holiday. Lots of naked sprinkler time (for SuperBoy, that is). Lots of lounging around for the rest of us. And just loving that it is cooler now. And then SuperBoy ran afterwards, like the dickens. Because that’s what you do on a hot July day, right? Happy belated 4th!
Read More