Warning! Proud Mommy Post

The past several weeks have been full of excitement for Scout. She has acquired a lot of new skills and had some new experiences.

With it being Father's Day, Virginia had to decide what to get for her Dad. She inspected this shirt thoroughly to see whether it required replacement.

No luck, it was still in fine shape. Of course, that was only until James wore it to a conference the next day, with an uncapped pen in his pocket. So the new shirt gift idea was a go after all.

Virginia got to swing for the first time. Overall, she liked it.

She is now pulling herself up on things.

mostly me

She has started eating things that are bigger than bite size.

We are still working on not shoving an entire pancake into your mouth at the same time.

This picture is here because I think it's cute.

And this is the last pointless picture with no justifiably relevant caption. But look at that smile!

And actually, if you look closely enough at the smile, you can see the new top tooth sticking out, so there is a point after all.

She has started crawling, at last!!

This is what we call the "army crawl" or "leopard crawl," depending on who you ask.

Some say it's just "scooting," but we pretty much ignore them. Deliberate forward motion is good enough to be crawling in my book!

And just because we were on the scooting/crawling border, she is now doing a full, up-on-all-fours crawl.

Life is full of simple joys.

Thoughts on Constant Parenting

This afternoon I had to take a little trip to the bathroom. I even took a book with me, silly me! I left the door a little ajar because I had a feeling Virginia would want to come be near me, as is often the case. As predicted, she promptly showed up, proudly pushing the door open and crawling right on in.

Scout is currently fascinated by doors. She loves to push them open and closed. So, she busied herself with the usual swinging back and forth of the bathroom door. Then she got a little excited and swung the door right into her face, whacking herself in the mouth right where her new teeth are emerging. Needless to say, drama ensued.

There was screaming, there were tears. I coached her to crawl over close enough that I could pick her up and put her on my lap for a few minutes to give her some comfort. She told me all about how awful it had been and how that mean door whacked her right in the face. I tried to be as sympathetic as possible.

Finally, she calmed down and began spinning the toilet paper on its holder. I could see that it would all be on the floor shortly if she didn't find other entertainment. So, I pulled a few soap samples from the basket on the back to the toilet, showed her how nicely they rattle, and put her and them back on the floor to play while I finished my business.

At this point, I started thinking about a friend who was recently asked whether becoming a parent isn't really a selfish decision. And I'd been philosophically pondering this question for several days. But now, with my daughter trying to pull her soap from the edge of the bathtub, I just had to laugh. Anyone who thinks parenting is selfish has no idea what parenting is all about. Whatever it started out as, it very quickly becomes a major commitment and a lifelong lesson in service unlike any other.

There are a lot of jobs that are very demanding. But most of them don't follow you into the bathroom. Even if a crisis happens while you're in there, it usually just has to wait a minute or two until your personal business is taken care of. Parenting is its own special kind of work with no bathroom breaks, no sick days and very little shift work.

How Scout Plays Peek-a-Boo

This is hiding

Notice how the corners of the cloth are pulled down?


And this is peeking

Notice that the corners are now up.

After all, if she actually covered her eyes, she might miss seeing your wonder where she's gone, and that would be no fun.

Now that we have a one-year-old

Some things are still the same (every book must come off the shelf).

Some things are messier.

And life involves a lot more posing.

Especially when she's gotten into something and spread it all over the floor.

I wonder where she gets it from?
And, my personal favorite. Her hair is long enough for some great pigtails (and a fauxhawk, but I didn't take a picture of that).

At Least I Got What I Wanted

Because nobody has a complaint department anymore...

Around 4:40 this afternoon, our modem stopped working. This came as only a mild surprise since at about 4:15 Scout was holding it in her hands, eating it like a sandwich, and then slammed it into the floor. In addition to the aforementioned interaction with our one-year-old, we knew it was a modem problem because the modem is typically alight with various flashing and steady green lights. Now, only the power light was on, and it was red. Not a good sign.

So, we called our internet service provider, who also provides the modem. And just because I know you're wondering, that provider is AT&T. We don't use them because we like them. We use them because they are the only carrier who will give us ESPN 360, and James loves College Football. But I digress....

James graciously took the first turn on the phone, spent ten minutes giving the automated system as much information as possible and finally got to speak with a real person. This person said that the red light means the modem is shot, the modem (which is only a few months old) is no longer under warranty, and we must buy a new modem. He puts James on hold for about five minutes, then comes back with a phone number to call to order a new modem. We're not thrilled about the money, but we need our internet more than our $50.

So James calls the new number and speaks with a nice woman in Texas who says that she can't help us. He must call another number, which she gives him. Bear in mind that every one of these phone calls involves the same ten minute automated system maze navigation before you can speak with anyone. He calls the new number and learns that whoever this is has closed for the day. They're only open until 6:00 Eastern and it's now 5:20 in Wisconsin (we've been at it about 35 minutes).

My turn. I call the original number again. I've been through this little maze a number of times and I know that if you just start pushing buttons at random, you get on the fast track to a customer service representative and the person you'll talk to is more likely to know what they're talking about. So, I push my random buttons and speak with a guy named Renee who concurs that the modem is shot and says I'll need to order a new one. Oh, and he's sorry for the inconvenience of having to call so many different numbers. So Renee checks his little computer (two minutes on hold), which tells him that whatever customer service place is supposed to service us will be open for another half hour. So he's going to transfer me to them. At 5:34, I start holding. At 5:57, I stop holding. Either every customer in Madison is calling them with a problem or they're not actually open anymore. And I'd rather complain to a person than be on hold anyway, right? Possibly my favorite thing about being on hold with AT&T is that they keep telling you help is available online. If I'd just long onto att.com, they could probably solve my problem faster, which would be great if my problem weren't the fact that the internet isn't working.

So, being the tenacious sort, I call in again. This time I'm more patient, go through the slower maze, answering more automated questions. Whoever I speak with this time also says that I need a new modem. And he apologizes for the inconvenience of me having been on hold so long. It seems like he might have some other direction for me, but he suddenly disappears entirely. I have been hung up on.

Not to be defeated so easily, I call one more time. It should be noted that at this point James has left and Virginia has grown bored with the books I'm trying to use to entertain her and is
now pushing random buttons on my computer. The screen display was upside down by the time she was done. Great. Anyway, on this call I once again push 0 a bunch of times and, after surrendering minimal information, I speak with a very nice woman who, of course, apologizes for the inconvenience of...well, she couldn't actually put all of what had happened to me/us in words. But she tried valiantly, and I politely tried not to laugh. This time I told her that I needed a new modem. I figured yet another diagnosis would just waste time. She still checked and concurred that, yep, the red power light means you need a new modem. Then, wonder of wonders, she said something helpful! If you want a new modem really quickly, you can just go to an AT&T store and buy one. Tonight even. She gives me the addresses and phone numbers of three such stores in Madison. And if they don't have a modem, Best Buy will. There's hope! With a little luck, we can be blissfully back online tonight! I call the store, and they don't even close until 8pm.

I start to call James to give him the good news, but Virginia has a little meltdown and needs to be put to bed for any further progress on the modem problem will be permitted. That's fine, they're open until 8. To bed she goes, and I call James to tell him where the store is. As we're finishing our conversation, I glance at the modem and notice that there are green lights now. In fact, the power light is green. The ethernet light is green. And only the DSL light is red. I do the standard fix of unplugging everything, waiting fifteen seconds, then plugging it all back in. The lights flash, they flash some more, and suddenly, they're all green! I open up my laptop, get the screen display turned right side up again, and open up Mozilla. Low and behold, the internet is fine. Everything is fine. For no apparent reason, the modem has returned from the dead.

It is now 6:35 p.m. And while I am a little chagrined that two irretrievable hours of my life have been donated to customer service calls, I am also feeling a little grateful that I never did get to speak with anyone who would take my credit card number and send me a new modem. Because it probably would have taken at least two hours to convince them they wanted to let me send it back for a refund.

For Whatever it's Worth

For some reason, even though I read a lot of books, I haven't blogged about them. I do love to read and have had time to read a lot more lately than at other periods of my life (unless you count prepping cases for class as reading). It's a lot of fun and certainly an indulgence for me. My books of choice tend to be novels, and I venture into non-fiction rather infrequently. One of the reasons for that is that I don't usually finish non-fiction books. They tend to be redundant. So, once I've gotten the gist, I often get bored and move on to something with a plot.

However, I have recently happened onto several non-fiction books that I greatly enjoyed. I enjoyed them so much, in fact, that I recommend them to you, if you are looking for something to read. They are, in my opinion, worth the time. And I guess that's a lot, coming from me, because I'm not afraid to put books down if I'm not enjoying them. I do it with some frequency (even to novels). Life is too short, and my to-read list is WAY too long. And now, thanks to me, your to-read list can be even longer.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
I was recently at the library looking for books to help me in a communication workshop I sort of fell into teaching, and there sat this book. It's the classic, right? The original book on how to be a good salesman. I checked it out on a whim, thinking it would be funny to flip through as a basic reference. Instead, however, I ended up reading almost all of the "how to win friends" part and basing my entire presentation off of this book. It's very good. It draws you right in, is very entertaining, and isn't full of tricks or slimy recommendations on how to manipulate people. In fact, if I had to sum it all up, I might say that its most important recommendation is to be sincere. And I think Carnegie's advice is excellent. Great book with great advice on dealing with people. I have to give two caveats though. First, I actually only read the "how to win friends part," so I'm not exactly certain how his advice is on influencing people. And second, I think the book would be better titled "how to win acquaintances who think you're a great person." Forming true friendships requires more sharing of yourself and just a deeper relationship than Carnegie leads you through. This book can help you gain a lot of potential friends, but I think the next step is up to you (or some other book).

The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David Kessler
On that same fateful trip to the library, I noticed this book on the "new" shelf and picked it up on even more of a whim. And, to be honest, when I picked it up and for the first half of the book, I thought it was about something a little different. It's a great book for anyone who has ever wondered why you can't eat just two or three potato chips and then move on. Or why every time you drive past Krispy Kreme, you really really really want to go in and get a doughnut, or twelve. If you've never felt that way, you might not like it so much. But it's a fascinating read. It's written by the former head of the FDA and is very insightful into our psychology as well as the food industry. It will change the way you think about food. It may also cause you to think twice about anything you eat that is prepared or processed (not because those things are bad, necessarily, but just because he explains more about them). I will say that the abundant descriptions of tantalizing food in this book succeeded in making me hungry more than once. So don't read it just before you go grocery shopping.

Freakonomics by Steven D. Leavitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Okay, in all fairness, I listened to this one on CD while driving around town. I've discovered that I spend a lot of hours driving around town. And now that I'm spending those hours listening to books, I talk to my mom on the phone quite a bit less. Oops. Anyway, I've always meant to read this, since I majored in economics and have heard it's interesting. Indeed it is, though random and somewhat pointless, well not pointless so much as lacking in overall message (kind of like this sentence). However, the chapter on the futility of being an over-worried parent came on a day when I really needed it, and the bit about incentives is extremely insightful and applicable to many situations in life. It was nice to flex a part of my brain that hasn't had as much to do for the past few years, and there are many great anecdotes, including a summary of a book I read and enjoyed last year (Gang Leader for a Day*). If you like random statistics or interesting trivia, this is a great book for you.

*I recommend this one too. Good insight into what gang life is really like and the true face of poverty. And I think it's funny to discover that these two authors are friends. I mean, look at the complete titles of their books. It's clear that either their minds or the minds of their publishers (or is that publisher?) function in pretty much the same way. And while we're on THAT subject, who decided that all book jackets should be white? I had to laugh when I put down The End of Overeating, with its white cover, and noticed a nearly identical jacket on the next book I picked up, Eat, Pray, Love (I'm only halfway through and the jury is still out on this one, but let's just say that had a good friend not recommended it very highly I would probably have put it back on the shelf by now).

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

My how quickly a year goes by. I can hardly believe the changes this past year brought.

Our tiny baby is growing in to a little girl, from a helpless bundle of joy to an almost standing, always squirming bundle of smiles. This post is full of collages, but it truly is quite a feat to distill an entire year of parenthood into just one manageable blog post (not that I won't try).


We've had a wonderful year of family time.

I know families come in all shapes and sizes, but it is fun to feel like a stereotypical family, hanging out together. And the more time we spend together, the more we seem to enjoy it.


A year of trying to capture everything cute and/or funny.

Composing this post has made me realize the ridiculous volume of photos we've taken this year. But it has also brought back a lot of fun memories, like Virginia clapping for herself the day she ripped all my magazines apart, learning to hold a spoon, and discovering that the tupperware drawer is just the right height.

A year of mutual admiration.

And self-admiration. Virginia's favorite thing in the world, next to her books, is mirrors. A book with a mirror in it is pure nirvana. Needless to say, she was pretty thrilled about both going to the bean and sitting in front of the three panel mirror at the store. That was so exciting I took a video of her bliss (I'm so dedicated to my still photography that it's actually the only time I've ever videoed anything--had to figure how to make the camera do it first).

A year of sharing our joy with family and friends.

These are pictures of Virginia's baby blessing, the day Scout and Atticus finally got together, and Scout with her great-grandmothers (including the original Virginia).

A year of sleep, sometimes more than others.

You'll notice these pictures stop when she's about four months old. She stopped sleeping wherever and through whatever, but I still miss when she would lay on my knees and just sleep there.

A year of food, in many forms and locations.

From bottles and tubes to spoons and hands, everywhere from the side of the road to the Cheesecake Factory.


A year of reading.

We've made a lot of progress here too. The pictures are in color, some of the pages are made of paper rather than cardboard, and she's even willing to read some Eric Carle books (though not all of them and not always). Our little Scout remains a discerning reader. She has favorites, and shoves everything else aside. But sometimes, when she thinks I'm not watching, she pulls out the new material to give it a look and perhaps approve it for future read-alouds.

What a wonderful year of cuddling and kissing and loving and learning. Oh how we love our baby girl!

Virginia's Birthday: A Story of Celebration

A certain member of our family recently turned one. To commemorate the occasion, in addition to a rather sappy, reminiscent post (which is on its way) we share with you an account of how she celebrated, in mostly pictures, with only a few words--just the way the birthday girl prefers her stories.

In anticipation of presents, Virginia tried out her "surprised" face for her father.

She put on a party dress, so everyone would know it was her special day.

The presents started to pile up.

So she started trying to figure out how to get them open.

That was confusing, so we moved on to the important stuff....


The food!

Yep, she was pretty excited, because at this point all she'd seen was the usual vegetables in her little orange bowl.

What? You interrupted my vegetables for this?!

Oh wait, there's fire.

Ooh, fire.


Really not sure about this part.

It feels...squishy.

Okay...I'll try it.

Nope, don't like it. Not even if you cut it in pieces.

But she did get frosting all over that hand she's running through her hair.

And now, it's all over her hair.

Mom, please stop trying to feed me this strange chocolate stuff. I just don't think I like it.

Wait!

Is that...a camera...?

Better act excited!

Notice the only place there is no cake, inside her mouth.

Yah! Cake!!!!

One bath later...a very calm, dignified birthday celebration continues.

Thoughts on Prepared Parenting

Upon becoming parents,you want to have three sheets for your baby's crib. Why, you ask? One plus a backup should be fine, right? Wrong. After two weeks without "incident," you may decide that you might as well go ahead and change the crib sheet for the sake of being sanitary. And it will inevitably be on that day that an incident will occur (sometimes within minutes of the sanitary change), necessitating another clean sheet. This is to say nothing of the days with multiple "incidents." You ALWAYS want to have a clean sheet available.

These are the days I'm glad many pairs of pajamas come with more than one set of bottoms. If you enjoy doing laundry, parenthood may be just the thing for you.

Family Outing

One lovely afternoon, we decided to take a little family outing to Olbrich Botanical Gardens, one of Madison's wonderful, affordable attractions. We had a relaxing afternoon, strolling through the gardens, though I was surprised that life didn't seem to be in bloom quite as abundantly in the gardens as elsewhere in Madison. Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves, and James and Virginia were very patient with my need to photograph everything.

The birds were out.

The plants were beautiful.

Predictably, Scout was not content with a merely visual experience.
And, of course, I had to capture more images of the Thai Pavillion