Library Mondays

For as long as I can remember (within the past twenty months, obviously) bear has been extremely interested in books! As soon as she was able to reach out for objects on her play mat, while laying stuck on her immobile buddah belly, books seemed to have carried a much larger spark than any other toy. And to this day it continues; nine out of ten times, bear will pick a book over a toy. In fact, I think she is more into reading than anything else--Though probably not as much as she loves her turtles! But none the less, whether with turtle or without him, it is certainly her favorite pass time.

Many a mornings when I'm cleaning and bear is enjoying some alone play time, I always find her in her bedroom sitting and reading (i.e., babbling and looking at pictures). It is the sweetest sound to a mother's ear and the sweetest sight to one's eyes--to see this sweet little toddler contently sitting and looking at books--my heart just melts. It makes me feel, for right now, that we are (for sure) doing something right.

I, myself, was not into reading, when I was growing up, and I wonder at times if I missed out, especially in the grammar department...

I enjoy reading now and continue to work on re-learning my grammar and spelling; that's certainly better than no interest in it at all. But I wonder if I would have been more successful during my primary and secondary education if I had enjoyed reading as much as bear seems to. I don't think I was ever shown that reading could be fun, and rather than explore my own interests in books I withdrew from anything to do with it. I just plain as day spaced out--I can honestly remember reading out loud but not absorbing one word of it. But that's OK, I struggled in school and because of this I will be better equipped to help bear when she struggles, too.

What I think sparked bear's interest in reading was that I started to read to her very early on. I think my top two priorities when we came home from the hospital were to read to her as much as she would allow it and to follow through with tummy time, three times a day. It wasn't always easy to get tummy time in, as bear did detest it often, but reading came as simple as pie. So it took almost no effort to maintain a good reading habit. We quickly added books into our bedtime routine and we've also come accustomed to it when it's time to just hang around the house. Two words I often hear abruptly flowing from bears mouth are: "Read it!" And I usually, instantaneously, stop whatever I'm doing and read to her, unless we're in the car... And at that time I am usually wishing that bear could understand the concept of waiting...

With bear's impressive love for reading I decided, about a month ago, to take her to the free toddler reading program at our local library. The classes are held on Mondays and it instantly become an amazing way to start off our week! We sit with about 50 other parents and kiddos, sing songs, read books, and explore a specific theme pertaining to what the teacher wants to teach us on that particular day. Bear enjoys each class, she follows the teacher's directions during songs (though most of the time she'll do the song's actions on turtle, like I once did for her when she was little), and sits and listens quietly during reading time. My favorite thing to see bear do during class is help with clean up time, she will walk right up to the teacher and return whatever toy was handed out to her in class. I am very impressed with her eagerness to help out with little to no direction to do so. She is getting a lot out of this class, and if we continue to go, I know our transition to preschool (which is very far away from now) will be an easy one.

Following class we head out to pick out some new books. Bear knows this, she eagerly awaits the end of class in anticipation of this. And of course she knows right where to go once we enter the main section of the library. She pulls out books, looks over them, and pulls out some more. I generally spend my time sifting through these books, picking out good ones for us to take home and then relocating the other lingering books, bear has left behind. Bear will then head to some seats by the windows with the books she is most interested in and we'll spend a little bit of time reading separately, but together. And when we've both had enough, we check our books out and head home to read them some more.


It is an all around good feeling day. Good because I feel that I am setting bear on the right path, good because I am starting a tradition of Library Mondays, and good because bear enjoys it just as much as I do!


Happy reading!

xo
Bear's mom

A tale of meeting Pauly Shore & other D list celebs.

Back in January, when Grammy and Pop-pop were in town, Dada and I took off for Vegas with friends, for a quick get away. Vegas is not usually our style--when it comes to vacations, as we're known for more adventurous outings such as hiking, and camping, or exploring a new city- like San Fran. But after being parents for over a year and a half, and living on the other side of the content from the majority of our family-- we were ready to make up for some lost time... in date nights, that is.

So we said goodbye to bear and 'cadia and headed to Vegas!

Is that Pauly Shore?!

On our last night in V town we ended up at the Playboy Club, at the Palms. We all grabbed drinks at the bar and began to check the place out; it wasn't too long before we noticed that we had ended up at the same small club as Pauly Shore, Tom Green, Dave Navarro, and Andy Dick. It was certainly the icing on the cake for our crazy get away, in the best known party city.

I had a great time but I don't plan on going back to Vegas anytime soon. It was just one of those things that I needed to get out of my system. And though they may say "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas..." it's not necessarily true, because my horrible hangover followed me all the way home and hung out for the next day or so... 

BUT! It was certainly worth it!

xo

Bear's mom. 

The best way to start off
a weekend in Vegas!

Oh, Gisele!

Who'd have thought a supermodel could make you feel any more inadequate...

I'm going to try something a little different this time around, as I've decided to open up a little in regards to Giselle. Yes,  Supermodel Gisele Bundchen. Not only know as one of the hottest models for Victoria's Secret, she is also the last model to reach supermodel status. Yes, Gisele has it all, perfect body, perfect bank account, perfect new baby, and perfect husband, Tom Brady. But I'm really not jealous or that interested in Gisele's supermodel life. I'm sure it's fabulous but there are other reasons this particular supermodel is on my mind.


I bring all this up because Gisele has yet again opened her mouth and made a broad statement with no information, or reasoning (or common sense), to back herself up. She was recently quoted as saying that sunblock is "poison" and that she never goes outside after 8am. While I have generally disregarded Gisele as an ingnornat, non-compassionate, rude, new know-it-all mother, I have to say I slightly agree with her...

I, too am not a big fan of sun block, as scientific research is showing that a lot of the common, mainstream, sun lotions contain chemicals that can cause cancer. But not all sun blocks are bad, you just need to do your research, use only when needed, and try to use other methods of protections, such as: sun hats, clothes, etc.

See EWG for more information

But this is NOT a blog about educating you on sun blocks or attempting to feel sympothetic towards Gisele. This is more me trying to figure out what is going on in Giselle's head. The more I think about her comments, the more I feel bad for her. I think she really means well but is horribly bad at expressing it.

When Giselle said:
"It should be a law to breast feed...''
Perhaps what she really meant to say was:
"It should be against the law to not have the money and benefits that I have, which make this first attempt at breast feeding so darn easy..."


And When Giselle said:
"Sun block is poison... I never go out in the sun past 8am"
Perhaps she really meant:
"I am concerned about the long term effects of sunblock on my skin, though I should probably check on the horrible chemicals in my spray tanner before I try to educate you on this subject..."


I don't mean to sound snooty.


Well, maybe a little. But, honestly, if Gisele never opened her mouth about the whole breast feeding thing in the first place then I wouldn't have thought one second about the sunblock comment. But the bitterness, that sits on my chest and around my heart from her previous comments regarding breast feeding, has just been laying around waiting to be stirred back up again.


So let me tell you Giselle, while you sat in your super expensive house, nursing your child with constant help from you personal assistants (i.e., nannies, nurses, etc.). My first attempt at nursing did not go so well. I tried hard for two months to make it work, so afraid that I would fail. Fail society, fail my standards, but most importantly- fail my own daughter. The very first thing I tried to do good for my daughter just wouldn't work! And I still feel guilty to this day, especially when I see other mothers having such an easy time with it. Seeing someone comfortably nurse their babies and gush about how great their bond is starts to shake my confidence again. All that second guessing kicks in-- maybe they're stronger than me, maybe they're better equipped mentally and physically, maybe I didn't try hard enough, maybe they're a better mom...


Maybe someone told them some sort of breast feeding secret...


I know in the long run I made the best decision, not only for my daughter, but for all of us as a whole. Bear was unable to comfortably digest breast milk, she had horrible rashes, blood and mucous in her stools, and she was colicky for days and DAYS on end. My husband and I were not sleeping, I was having melt down after melt down, and on top of it all, I was sore beyond belief. I went to lactation consultation after lactation consultantation appointment to help the pain (all out of pocket costs, which inevitably were a large waste of money -- did you ever have this problem, Giselle? Just wondering...) but nothing changed. I tried every position invented for nursing, nothing worked! And it didn't really matter anyways-- I could have hung bear upside down from my boob, it still wouldn't have taken away the pain coming from her tiny, still developing, stomach.


After many doctor appointments, changing my diet around four times, a gazillion late night calls with the on-call staff, and peronsal online research, we hit our limit. As soon as Chris came home that Monday night I sped off to the store and bought nutramigen, an easy to digest (very expensive) formula. And, within 24 hours, we all began to sleep again. Bear became content, I stopped melting, and my chest healed.

So yes, I may have failed bear in this way, she may be one point lower in regards to her IQ than the rest of her class. But, I'll tell you this, my dear supermodel friend, for all that we've lost in 10 months of formula, I will make up tenfold in every other way!


And I already have...


Bear is already ahead of most kids her age, she's smart, healthy, prefers veggies to junk, and has no allergies to speak of. She is sweet, happy, loves to cuddle, and has a strong bond with her mommy.
To sum things up, thank you Giselle for opening your mouth again because it has given me a chance to get all of this off my chest. Of course I do feel mildly bad for all the negativity, I'm sure Gisele is a great mom, just as all of us are. If anything, your words have taught me never to judge another mother, because I will never really understand her until I spend a day in her manola blahnik, hiking boots, old navy flip flops, or her run down, green, knock off, shoes.


And, as I ponder about this whole thing some more, I think I just needed this blog to prove to myself that this really was the right choice.

We all do things differently and that's because we are all different.


Bear's mom