Random musical thought

I am sometime gripped by moments of clarity regarding this whole parenting thing. It's scary.

It came yesterday as we drove to a costume party. We have mercifully loaded a new CD for g containing a random assortment of kiddie songs, the Beatles, motown and broadway. (her old selection was driving us bananas since she insists upon listening to it the minute we open the car door.) I was struck momentarily with the thought that maybe we should start listening to classical music in the car. The popular belief has made its way around the mommiverse that listening to classical music is supposed to make a genius although recent research has debunked this totally. The myth persists though with the advent of Baby Mozart, Baby Bach, etc. I am sure that there is probably a grain of truth in there somewhere, not commensurate to the craze that has been created around it though.

So as my stream of consciousness continued on I280, I thought of my own passion for music. How despite any craziness in my life, music was always my home, always a "place" that I can go to. Then the big "duh" --- why was I going to try making them listen to music, though I appreciate, don't love? Why wouldn't I want to teach them how to tap into musical passion?

One day they will love their own music (maybe someday they'll be listening to some funky version of acid rap, who knows) but for the meantime, I held my g last night and rocked her in my arms to Moonriver.

Happy Birthday g!!!!

g turned 3 yesterday.

It doesn't seem like 3 years have passed but it has. It's been a wild ride but I wouldn't want it any other way.

s is not HAPPY!

I love this photo. Of course, s would really prefer not to be tortured by the clown wig.



(Thanks for lending it to her, Auntie E. By the way, good luck with the birth. Fingers crossed for a speedy l&d!!!)

g in Bermuda

Here is a preview of the video that will be shown at g's wedding someday.

Enjoy.

A Campaign for Real Beauty

I have been a big fan of Dove's campaign for real beauty. I love the images of real women on the billboards that I see, especially the Annie Leibowitz series on older women for Dove Pro Age.

Dove has decided to take it up a notch and speak to moms (and dads) about the other images our children see.

Watch this video.



I know I fret about having girl babies a lot. Parenting them has meant more definitive choices from the start. I had tried my best not to be rigid and yet not to play to any stereotypes. I sent g to gym class. Well now, she is also in dance class. She is more proficient in doing a basket hang from the uneven bars than she is with a plie. Hard as I have tried though, I can't seem to stop calling g beautiful. I know that she should be praised for kindness or for talent, but she is just 2 and she is my baby. She will always be beautiful to me. I guess as the years come, I will have to watch my words. Better yet, try to live a life that relies little on prettiness.

Hmmmm

This was going to go straight to the annals of "what were they thinkin'". However it has gotten me thinking. It is true that s is becoming really wild with her cruising attempts. Last night, she had slept without a sleep sack. When she awoke this morning, I caught her trying to make a break for it (ie climbing out of the crib). Is this a bonnet situation? Granted she has only fallen on her face once and usually when she tries to overcome an obstacle while crawling. Even then she was only barely 6 inches off the ground.

However there is a great risk when she is playing with her sister. g tries to carry s from one place to another and this often results in s falling or getting strangled (which is outside of the bonnet range of safety).

So I am on the fence as to the usefulness of this bonnet. If anyone else is interested in buying or reading reviews, here you go.

A Leap of Faith

I have often spoke about g & s and how dissimilar they are. One big difference is their eating habits, specifically s' lack of desire for food. For those who know g, that couldn't be further from her reality. g has always had a healthy desire for food. She was always easy to feed. s is almost the exact opposite. She is pretty finicky with food, liking one thing today and hating it tomorrow. So making her something to eat is hit or miss. Well, mostly miss. I can't help but be anxious about this though. She is a shrimp. She is barely 18 lbs which put her in the 0-25 percentile. I can't measure her height because she moves around so much. I just know that based on the hand-me-down clothing that she is wearing, she is a lot shorter than her sister when she was the same age.

I know that I can't expect that she would have the exact same appetite as her sister but I would like to see a desire for food. It is sometimes there. This weekend was a good appetite weekend. She ate and ate. However that was the end of that. She is done with food and today, she even refused to drink milk which she never had before.

The books and all these baby guides for picky eaters have all advised the same thing...that if the child refuses to eat, she is probably not hungry and that parents should just trust that she will know when she wants to eat. Parents should also trust that she will eat. That's the leap of faith that I am grappling with, trusting that she will eat when she wants to and not wrangle with her.

I will let go but it is difficult. She is so close to falling off the charts already. What my salvation has been is the pediatrician does not seem worried. No one else seems overly concerned but me. This is a comfort in a way. That her gains in weight seems to be sufficient that it is not a major cause of concern. Her seeming lack of an appetite more a worry for me than a medical problem.

Sigh....and the adventure continues.