What I've been doing instead of blogging

I started this blog as a way to practice writing.  And also to give voice to my thoughts.  My plan was to write once a week.  That seemed to rarely happen.  Especially this spring as due dates for my Montessori Training course loomed.  My last training weekend was last week and I was able to hand in 2 curriculum albums (Practical Life and Sensorial), my Cultural Studies Album (including History, Science, Geography, Music, Art and Peace Education) and presented my Cultural Unit Project on Quilting.  Despite having months to put these together I must admit much of the work was done in the last two days before the seminar. 

It feels good to have passed so much in.  I still have some to do, Language and Math albums, a couple of papers and classroom observations.  But there is light at the end of the tunnel.  At our closing ceremonies we pulled words out of a jar.  Mine was ‘hope’.  There have been many times through this school year when the thought of actually finishing not only the training course but my Masters degree was daunting.  The moment I click open on the paper, Cora cries, waking from her nap early, again.  When I pulled the word hope out of the jar I realized I may not be done, but there is hope.  I will finish.  All the money, time and gas has a purpose.

Here are some pictures of what I've been up to.  My Unit on Quilting went over really well in the classroom.  It is a Montessori Primary classroom (ages 3-6).  I developed material for each area of the classroom and we did two group projects together.

Quilt Block 3 Part Matching for Language

Paper Quilt Art Project

"Color-by-Number" Pattern Grid for Math

Running Stitch Work for Practical Life

We did a sewing project as a class.  The quilt top was pieced by my mom's quilt group Winding Ways. The children helped lay out the 'quilt sandwich' and baste.  Then they had the choice of tying, sewing a button or quilting.  The Extended Day children (kindergartners) had to quilt first before choosing something else.

Laying out the 'quilt sandwich'

5 year old sewing a button

3 year old sewing a button

I had so much fun doing this unit.  The children did so well sewing.  I love that sewing is a part of the Montessori curriculum and I hope to emphasize it more in my own classroom.

The unit has also inspired me to do more quilting projects.  Stay tuned...but don't hold your breath.

Using the Pretty Spoons

I love yard sales.  I love them because you can get good deals, but also because you can find old stuff.  I like old stuff.  Anything that looks old or smells old.  Old books, old photographs, old textiles, old furniture.  But it also has to be a good deal, i.e. cheap.  Because of my affinity for yard sales I end up with lots of mismatched items, especially in the kitchen.  You could say my design sense is “eclectic”.  I love that my silverware is mismatched, that I don’t have more than three of the same kind of mug, that all seven dessert plates are different.

The house at Caroga Lake has mismatched silverware.  If it was my turn to set the table for dinner I would make sure each place had a different fork, knife and spoon.  The plates were old, the cups mismatched and it was all beautiful.  I do this at home too.  If I set the table, I make sure the fork and knife are different.  Just because I can.

Pete had a set of silverware before we got married.  So we didn’t register for any.  My sister gave me silverware for my wedding shower anyway.  Place-settings for 4, from Goodwill, each knife, fork and spoon were different.  She knows me so well.  So I have a lot of ‘teaspoons’ and I have my favorites.  I call them the ‘pretty spoons’.  For a while I only used the pretty spoons if I was eating something.  If I needed a spoon to stir milk into my tea (which is multiple times a day) I would pass over the pretty spoons and use a ‘regular’ spoon.

Until I asked myself why.  Why not use the ‘pretty spoons’ whenever you can?  Why save them for special occasions?  Jesus saved us to ‘life abundantly’.  (I realize I’m talking about spoons but go along with me here.)  He wants us to enjoy life, to live life; not just muddle through with ‘regular’ spoons but to use the ‘pretty spoons’.  Everyday is a special occasion because He has made our lives new.

I have pretty forks too.

Another man’s trash is not my treasure.

Last bite.  Mmm, special sauce.  You feel a drip on your chin but your tongue just isn’t long enough.  No way are you wasting it on a napkin, your finger does a much better job.  The crumpled wrapper leaves your hands greasy.  Eh, that’s what pants are for right?  The straw sucks up watery Coke and the ice rattles around.  Damn.  You stuff the empty cup in the paper bag along with the greasy wrapper from your lap and a wad of unused napkins the teenager at the drive-through gave you.  An icy blast greets you as the window slowly rolls down.  Your window is on its way back up before you even see where the bag landed.

I live on a pretty busy road.  But it’s not a major route.  These people are not likely on a long trip, driving for hours and hours without stopping.  They are probably running errands, picking up there kids, going to work or school.  Full McDonald’s bags, newspapers, coffee cups, creamer cups, wrappers of all kinds, banana peels, tshirts, socks, and don’t get me started on the cigarette butts.  They are making my corner of the world ugly.

My dad once stopped me from throwing an apple core into the woods.  I didn’t understand why for the longest time.  Have you ever thrown an apple core out the window or into the woods?  What about a banana peel?  Now there’s a half-eaten apple rotting in my front yard, I get it.  It’s gross.  For all the apple core’s that land in the woods there will be one that was thrown at just the wrong moment.  The one that someone’s child finds and doesn’t know not to eat.  The one that someone’s dog finds while their out for a walk.  Or the one that just sits there, rotting.

Trash is a by-product of our world.  It happens, there is no way around it.  But you have a choice.  I’m gonna go clean up my yard now....

Did You Know Lent Was Half Over?

I never knew what Lent was growing up.  At least, I don't think I knew.  My church growing up wasn’t liturgical and I don’t remember ever talking about it.  Perhaps it was there, somewhere in the back of my mind, the knowledge of the forty days of fasting leading up to Easter weekend, but it had no weight of meaning for me.  

After eight years of being home-schooled my parents sent me to Catholic high school, an eye-opening experience in so many ways.  One in particular was becoming more familiar with the liturgical calendar: feast days, special masses and, of course, Lent.  What I saw during those four years didn't give me a high opinion of the tradition.  Watching classmates complain about how much they wanted a soda or pizza, but couldn’t because they’d “given it up for Lent” was not a ringing endorsement.  When asked if they believe in Jesus they say no, but choose to give up soda for Lent, which ends up being such a sacrifice that they have to complain about it?  Really?

The spring of my freshman year at UNH I roomed with a high school classmate.  Lent came around and instead of giving up things like pizza or soda she took something on.  She read The Purpose Driven Life, it’s 40 chapters fitting perfectly into the 40 days of Lent.  

I wish I could say she inspired me to become more aware of Lent and what it can mean to me as a follower of Jesus.  But every year Lent rolls around, and it’s half over before I even knew it began.  I could beat myself up (I forgot again), start my 40 days now, give up more things to make up for half the time, but that would just be me trying to add my deeds to what Jesus did on the cross.  He died so I could have grace.  Amazing grace.  Grace that forgives my worst actions, as well as my forgetfulness.

I do believe Lent is important.  It gives us time to look forward to what is going to happen at Easter.  There is nothing more glorious or exciting than Jesus’ resurrection.  When He said ‘It is finished’ it really was finished.  Done.  Forever.  No “to be continued pending what you give up during Lent”.  Or any other time of year for that matter.

So today, the 20th day of Lent, with 20 more days to go I won’t beat myself up for forgetting Lent again.  I won’t try to give up twice as many things to make up for it.  I will remember that nothing I do will add to what Jesus did on the cross. 

His grace is enough.

It is finished.

Answered Prayer

I have a good baby.  I’m not just saying this because she’s mine.  I mean it, I have a really good baby.  She’s happy, smiles all the time, babbles and coos.  Plays by herself when I put her down, plays with me when I pick her up.  Bounces in the bouncer, rolls over on the floor, rarely cries and when she does it’s usually for a reason (like gas) and she falls asleep when I put her in her crib.  Yes, you read that right.  I turn off the light, turn on the fan, sing to her, pray and put her down.  That’s it, she falls asleep.  Maybe not right away.  Sometimes she babbles to herself for 15, 20 or maybe even 30 minutes, but she doesn’t cry and eventually she falls asleep.

I’m not lying, others have commented on this phenomenon.

So last night in my action track (kinda like a Bible Study group), we were talking about prayer.  We were asked to share stories of answered prayers.  There were some great stories about prayers being answered.  Then the conversation moved on to how the heck Paul was able to “pray continuously” (seriously, are you praying right now as you read this?  Didn’t think so.)  I remembered this quote from G.K. Chesterton:

“You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.”

I shared it with the group and went on to explain that when I first read this quote in my writing group action track (which I miss very much) Cora was just a month or so old.  I was challenged by it and decided to say grace throughout the day.  Well, the only time I remembered was right before her nap.  “Grace” is usually short and sweet and to the point so I would say “Jesus I pray that you would bless Cora’s nap, help her to sleep well and give me patience if she doesn’t”.  Then I’d kiss her and put her down.

Since birth she was a pretty good baby, sleeping 5 hours the first night home which freaked me out because I slept too, but naps were hit or miss and some nights were better than others.  She first slept through the night at 6 weeks old (by sleeping through the night I mean a 6 hour stretch), but I didn’t realize it until last night but that was about the time when she settled in and slept well both during the day and at night.  I was asked recently ‘what I did’ to get my daughter to sleep through the night.  I now have an answer, I prayed.

So which prayer did God answer first?  The sleeping through the night or my increased patience?  Judging from my attitude towards my dog right now, I’d say I’m still working on the patience.  So here goes: Jesus, I pray that Ronon would go to the bathroom quickly because it’s cold, and give me patience if he doesn’t.  Amen.

On Using BabyWise

I’ve been composing this for a little while now.  Trying to keep it from being a rant.

I didn’t realize BabyWise was so polarizing until I read some reviews of the book.  People seem to either love it or hate it.  It is either the best thing since sliced bread or paramount to child abuse.  Most of the criticism (especially listed here) talks about dehydration and the infants failure to thrive, obviously very serious issues.  My problem with that is more with the parents, not the book.  It is a book, a guideline.  It is not law.  No one is forcing you to follow it and no baby fits a book 100%.  Where’s the common sense?  Where’s the maternal instinct that says ‘my baby is hungry, f** the book, I will feed her’?

I first read the book when I was pregnant.   There were sections I read but that didn’t stick with me.  I remember times in the first few weeks when she would cry earlier than the 2.5 - 3 hour schedule.  After checking her diaper and trying to soothe her I would get ready to feed her.  My husband questioned my actions but I did it anyway, my baby was hungry.  After feeding her, I went back to the book and re-read the sections that described the feeding schedule for the first few weeks.  Suddenly it popped out at me: “if your baby is hungry, feed her”.  Over and over and over, like a refrain through the multiple chapters.  “If your baby is hungry, feed her.  Then figure out why she was hungry early.”  They even state it twice in one paragraph in the ‘Problem Solving’ chapter.  

There was also a section on jaundice that I don’t remember reading that said a jaundiced baby will need to eat more often, 2 - 2.5 hour intervals rather than 2.5 - 3 hours.  Cora had jaundice and her bilirubin numbers didn’t even out until she was over one week old.  It wasn’t information that stuck out to me until I needed it.  After re-reading parts of the book I felt much more prepared and able to handle at least this one aspect of motherhood.

BabyWise is good advice.  But it is just that, advice.  Take it with a grain of salt.  You don’t take the grandma at the grocery store’s advice as if it’s law (or at least you shouldn’t), don’t take this as law either.  I have found it to be valuable advice, especially early on, but I also find myself moving off from it now.  According to the book I should be stretching Cora’s feedings to be 4 hours apart.  I’ve been trying for a few weeks now to adjust her schedule but it has been much harder.  She’s more fussy and has woken up from naps early, and hungry.  

I’ve tried to figure out why and the conclusion I’ve come to is that her metabolism is higher.  My husband’s is, so it fits.  She’s a petite baby who’s never ‘packed on the pounds’ as some babies seem to, though her growth has been consistent.  So, after taking into consideration the advice in the book, I’ve made the decision as a parent to not follow the book to the letter.

One of the most helpful parenting/feeding advice came from a different book that I also recommend: Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg.  She said “start as you mean to go on”.  In other words don’t do anything now you don’t want to be doing when the child is 4 years old (like allowing them to sleep in your bed) and do start doing the things you want them to do when they are 4 years old (like eating at allotted meal times and taking naps).  Looking at my decisions in the light of this advice has made it easier.

And yet I have only scratched the surface.  I have so much more to learn. 

To Kindle or not to Kindle

I love books.  The summer after my senior year in high school I worked at The Book Warehouse, boxes and boxes of cheap books. I constantly had a stack of books behind the counter that I was going to buy once I got paid.

When I first heard of the kindle and reading ‘ebooks’ I was skeptical, and pretty certain that would never be me.  But this Christmas I asked for one.  Well, I said I think I would like one.  Which was closer to the truth, I was still a little skeptical.  But it looked convenient, especially for travel.  And I always like to have a book with me because you never know when you will end up waiting long enough to want something to read.

I’ve had it for a couple months now and here are the pro’s and con’s.

What I like about the kindle: 

-It’s very portable.  I don’t have to choose which book I may be in the mood for when I leave the house.  I can take multiple books with me; with the 3G I am taking them all with me.  

-Even if I’m reading a thousand pager, like The Count of Monte Cristo, it takes up the same amount of space in my bag.  

-No one can tell what I’m reading.  I can read sappy Christian romance or War and Peace all with the same cover.

What I don’t like about the kindle: 

-No one will be impressed I am reading War and Peace instead of a sappy romance.  No one will know if my copy of a favorite classic is creased and worn.

-There is no weight of thousands of pages making an indent on my hand.  I haven’t decided if this is a pro or con.  Perhaps it belongs in both categories.

-A book doesn’t get a dead battery.  Which is especially annoying when you forget to charge it like I did today.  Sitting in a coffee shop with no book is worse than having to pick just one to bring with me.

-The question of “what are you reading?” can no longer be wordlessly answered by holding up the book.  I must interrupt my reading to answer, that is if I want to admit what I’m reading.  So here’s another pro - I can lie and say I’m reading War and Peace.

(I've never actually read War and Peace, it just sounds impressive.)

I also still have a problem buying books for the kindle.  So far I have only downloaded free books.  When my free library loan of the Fellowship of the Ring expired with two chapters left to read I couldn’t bring myself to click the ‘buy this book now’ button.  I don’t own it yet so it wouldn’t have been superfluous.  I had to check the physical book our of my physical town library from a real life librarian in order to finish those two chapters because I decided if I’m going to buy the book I want it to be a physical copy not an ‘ebook’.

I do like my kindle, and will be reading from it later today.  Once it's charged of course.