Moby Comment of the Day

As PrincesS is happily observing the surroundings and starting to look sleepy.

"Don't you have a stroller?"

(She was sleeping soundly 10mins later and slept thru the entire laundry wash-dry-fold cycle.)

Mainstream thinking at its best. *sigh*

What happened to penmanship and basic math?

I can't believe it, but Craz-E will be 3 years old in 7wks! Where did my little baby go?

So, with him turning 3, I've found myself starting to look at preschools and school districts. I never understood the importance of checking the school district when looking for a place to live. Now I do!

I was talking with some other moms a few weeks ago and one of them said that they know of a student in 6th grade who can't do simple math without a calculator and can't write on paper with a pencil. The school just doesn't teach penmanship or basic math. They put children in front of computers at age 6 - first grade!

I remember HATING penmanship lessons - the writing sentences over and over and over. I always gripped my pencil too tight and all thru school I had a dent on the side of my finger where the pencil sat. And it kind of bothers me to realize that I no longer have that dent because I hardly ever write anything on paper anymore.

But regardless of whether or not I actually DO write on paper, the simple fact of the matter is that I know HOW to do so.

And math! Oh how I hated math in elementary school! For me it was a form of torture. Unlike most of my peers, I just couldn't memorize the tables we were given. I eventually taught myself (with tremendous help from my mom) little tricks to get thru the tests and actually still use the tricks as an adult. I was so over-the-moon happy when I got to Junior High and we could use calculators. Once I had a calculator in hand, I actually started to enjoy math.

But it appears that schools are giving children calculators in elementary school. They no longer have to learn basic math.

What happens when these kids have to write a check? Or fill out paperwork for a job? Are we that dependent on computers and technology these days that we honestly think that it will eventually eliminate the need for pen and paper entirely?

Things that make me "weird"

Recently, I had an overwhelming feeling that I was being judged by a "mainstreamer" because of an opinion I voiced. It really bothered me that my OPINION, that was clearly labeled as just that, was grounds for someone else to comment on with their opinion in a way that made me feel like the way I do things is "wrong".

So here I am making a list of the things I do that some may see as "weird" or "wrong" as well as a few things that I feel very strongly about.

Please don't comment to tell me I'm "damaging" my children. I am a researcher by nature. Before I had children, I looked things up to learn new stuff for FUN. Now that I have little lives that I am responsible for shaping, I do more research. I have not made any decision about how I'm raising my children lightly. There is a lot of research and thought behind everything.

Please do not take anything in this series as a personal attack on your choices. Everyone is allowed to have their own choices and beliefs. If nothing else, please use this post as a way to open your mind to other possibilities.

This first post is just my list / index. In the coming days (or more likely weeks or months) I'll post my detailed explanations and edit here to link to each one.

First, the things I feel very strongly about.

• Circumcision
• Car Seat Safety / Extended Rear Facing
• Cry It Out (CIO) / Sleep Training / Controlled Crying

Ok, now the things that just make me seem crazy to some people.

• Breastfeeding
• Cloth Diapers
• Babywearing
• Selective and Delayed Vaccinations
• Baby-Led Weaning / Feeding
• Co-Sleeping
• Medications (Tylenol, etc) / Chemicals
• Potty Training
• Spanking / Physical Punishment
• Getting Dirty / Germs
• Natural Childbirth

Please come back so I can defend discuss my points.

2010-11 November

PrincesS says "I Spy..... PIZZA!!!!"

Crunch - Explained

So I've been thinking lately about my "crunchy-ness" and WHY I'm crunchy in the areas that I am. There are really good reasons behind the way I do things. Really! There is! But I think there's also an underlying secret reason too. Let me explain....

Extended Breastfeeding
I breastfed Craz-E until he was 22months old and plan on going as long as PrincesS wants to.
Good Reason - American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that babies be exclusively breastfed for about the first 6 months of life and should continue to breastfeed for a year and for as long as is mutually desired by the mother and baby.
Secret Reason - I'm LAZY! Who wants to deal with sterilizing, mixing formula, toting around bottles and stressing over how much the baby is eating, waking up in the middle of the night to prep a bottle for midnight feeding!? With breastfeeding, its pre-mixed, no bottles necessary. We can run out the door and not worry if I've got a bottle packed in case we're out longer then expected.

Co-Sleeping
Craz-E has never spent more then 20 minutes in a crib in his life. PrincesS only sleeps in the Pack-N-Play for naps and at night until I go to bed as a safety measure after I caught Craz-E "playing" and he had piled all the bed pillows on her. But at night, they are both cuddled up with Mum and Dad in the Family Bed.
Good Reason - Dr Sears reports several findings on Co-Sleeping research that basically boils down to babies are happier and healthier when they are in a sleep-sharing environment, especially for the first year.
Secret Reason - I'm LAZY! Craz-E was an accidental co-sleeper. I couldn't get up fast enough when he was born to get to him in the bassinet due to a damaged tailbone during child-birth. So I just brought him into bed with us to make night-parenting easier. Of course, he was a fussy, high-needs baby and I ended up in the glider most nights anyhow. But once he got past the colic, co-sleeping was still easier then hearing him cry. But really, with breastfeeding and co-sleeping, I didn't actually have to wake up in the middle of the night. I got more sleep cause I wasn't having to physically get out of bed.

Baby-Led Weaning/Feeding
Craz-E started with a soft banana when he was about 5 months. I just put it on his tray and let him chase it around. He cornered it and kinda chewed on it for a few minutes. He very much enjoyed it! But I never did the spoon-feeding cereal or jars of pureed food.
Good Reason - It's natural and allows babies to grow into confident, skilled and happy eaters.
Secret Reason - I'm LAZY! I detested the idea of sitting in front of a highchair and shoveling purees into my baby's face just to scrape it off his chin and stick it back in his mouth. It made me frustrated just thinking about it. You see it on TV - mom or dad is spoon-feeding baby, baby flings pureed peas and it splats mom or dad in the face. That was just NOT my idea of "cute dinner-time activities. With BLW, I was free to eat my dinner in peace while Craz-E happily played with whatever I gave him from my plate. I didn't worry about what he was ingesting cause he was still breastfeeding and getting all the nutrients he needed from that. BLW was just EASIER!

Of course, there are a few areas of my "crunch" that seem to be contra-indicative of my Laziness.
Cloth Diapering involves extra laundry and just throwing away a disposable would be way easier. But for all the other benefits, a few extra loads of laundry are worth it to me.
Baby-Wearing is a work-out, carrying around an ever-increasing weight on my chest or back. I could use a stroller exclusively and it would be a lot less work. But having PrincesS safely strapped to my chest just kinda makes sense. I still use the stroller but mostly so if I have to chase after Craz-E I don't have worry about dropping PrincesS.

So there you go. My family sees me as "weird" for some of my parenting choices. But when it comes down to it, it's just cause I'm LAZY. ;-)

Welcome!

This is my first blog and, even tho it's a school assignment, I'm pretty excited to be starting it. For now this will be just for school purposes but I'm hoping once I'm no longer REQUIRED to post, that I will continue to do so on my own.

I guess I would start with a little about who I am.....
I am a 33yo stay-at-home-mom to two beautiful children, Craz-E is just shy of 3yo and PrincesS was born in July of this year. I have been married to a wonderful man who drives me nuts for almost 4yrs. My life has been a series of crazy moments and even crazier decisions since we got together. If nothing else, we'll have a bunch of exciting stories to tell our grandchildren one day. Maybe I'll post those here soon.

As I said, I'm a stay-at-home mom right now. I left the work-force in 2007 when I moved to England and became a house-wife while expecting Craz-E. Prior to that, I worked as a "Warranty Coordinator" for a swimming pool construction company in Phoenix, AZ. I loved my job and sometimes miss it even tho it was incredibly stressful.

I plan on staying home to raise my children until the youngest is in school. At this point, it will be another 5 years before I return to the work-force full time.

I realized this year that I was coming up on the 10-year limit on how long you can be absent from taking classes before you lose your credits towards your degree. So even tho I knew I'd have my plate pretty full with having a new baby and a toddler in the throws of the Terrible Twos, I decided I was to close to finishing my degree to let it all get lost. So after almost 10 years out of the classroom, I re-enrolled.

So that's a little about Me. I hope you will stick around to follow along as I complete my first semester back to college and hopefully beyond.