Thursday, May 3, 2012

The Good, the Bad, and the Curious (Links)

You know the drill. Things I read make me smile, bang my head on my desk, and think. Look at what I've been reading. Share what you've been reading in the comments. Read. Repeat.

The Good 

"Having a Baby as a Life Organizing Strategy"- Lauren's piece at Mama Nervosa should probably be in "the Curious" because it definitely made me think, but I was smiling so big at how completely and utterly familiar this one part is. She talks about how her two-year-old finally slept through the night for the first time:

This means I slept through the night, too! For the first time! In over four years! I woke up at 5 am and could tell that it was way later than I typically got to sleep before being called back to the kids’ room. I squinted at the clock to bring the numbers in focus and couldn’t quite believe it. Then I fretted in bed for thirty minutes, assuming that she had not woken up because ya know, she was probably dead. 
My daughter has slept through the whole night maybe four times in her life. Each time, I've woken up around five a.m. in a blind panic. That's how skewed your world gets when you're chronically sleep deprived: getting to sleep through the night is panic-inducing.


These next two go together. See my daughter has gone from this little cuddly baby into an amazing and inquisitive toddler. While we drive, I listen to her practice her words from the car seat ("Baby. Baby. Baby. Kitty. Kitty. Kitty. Nose. Nose. Nose. Shoes. Shoes. Shoes.") It is adorable. But it also means that she is getting big. It, like sleeping through the night, is panic-inducing, so I was really happy to see these two sites this week because both of them made me stay positive about my daughter's inevitable big-ness. Sure, she's not going to be a baby forever, but look at these fun things we're going to get to do!

Molly at First the Egg has graciously shared her hand drawn scavenger hunt list that she and her son use on walks.

Then I saw a post for Kiwi Crate (which I haven't used yet, so I can't officially endorse it, but it looks amazing!) You sign up for themed, age-appropriate craft kits and they send you everything you need to complete two creative projects each month. For someone like me (full of good ideas and great intentions, but not a lot of spare time for shopping and not a lot of organization for making sure we have all the pieces), this looks fantastic!

Also, this slideshow from Huffington Post of kids with their pets made me smile.

The Bad


This post over at Collective Shout looking at AFL football player Lance "Buddy" Franklin's simultaneous entrepreneurial forays into rape-supporting misogynistic apparel and children's sporting gear is sad.

Richard Grenell, an openly gay aide to the Romney campaign, quit after feeling that Romney was trying to minimize his public appearances under pressure from extremist anti-gay groups.

The Curious


Andie Fox (from blue milk) has a piece titled "Leave Work at 5:30" that looks at how we (sometimes don't) balance motherhood and professional careers:
Regardless of whether you are a parent or not, if you are not being recompensed for work after your 'day' is done you probably should not be there. You have other things to do, you have a life. My priorities and work flow will shift several times over my lifetime, not because I am a woman but because I am human. Yours will, too.  There may be serious illness, there may be elderly parents to care for, there may be divorce and falling in love with someone new.  
This is what it is to be human. Becoming a parent only sharpened my realisation of that fact. Perhaps parents will be the workers who humanise the workplace for everyone. After all, the problem is not children, the problem is the tyranny of workplaces that behave like you are theirs 24/7.
So smart, and she has a great story about one reader's reaction over on her blog today.

This NYT piece looks at a study that found (in rats) that mentally-engaging environments didn't have an impact on brain function; exercise did.

Blacktating has a piece examining Beyonce's decision to stop breastfeeding at 10 weeks and Beyonce's comments that suggests she breastfed for the weight loss benefits. Is she still a role model for the cause?

1 comment:

  1. Like, like, like. Thanks for the link (again!). FWIW Holly hasn't slept through the night since that one night. Sigh.

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