mommy monday
sciencewoman | January 26, 2009Dearest Minnow,
Happy Birthday!
I am so proud of my "big girl" who knows her colors, can count to three, has seven word sentences, loves books to the point of memorization, solves puzzles repeatedly, pees on the potty regularly, cares for and cuddles her "baby" and stuffed puppy, sings songs spontaneously, worries about how "Nanna has a big owie," pedals her tricycle, and has words associated with most of the letters in the alphabet ("apple, baby, cat, daddy..."). I'm amazed by how much you've grown so much in just the past few months, and I look forward to being amazed by your…
sciencewoman | May 19, 2008With all the hullabaloo over the Intel ISEF, I haven't managed to tell you about my homecoming from my trip without Minnow. When I left the subject last, I was about to go to bed on my night alone in a hotel room. I hadn't freaked out since the airport. In the morning, I gave Fish a quick call after he'd dropped Minnow off at daycare. He said that they'd done pretty well, Minnow had slept solidly from 1-5 am (and some before that), but hadn't slept much because he was so worried about sleeping through her cries. I felt relieved that at least someone had gotten some sleep, and I headed off to…
sciencewoman | May 12, 2008I have to remember to lower my expectations for holidays. When my expectations are low and things go wrong, the expectations are met, and I am satisfied. When things go right, I am surprised and happy. High expectations of things beyond my control breed dissatisfaction.
Part of the problem with Mother's Day this year was that I couldn't really decide what I wanted from the day. For the weeks leading up to the day, I dreamed of several hours to myself - to go out hiking with the dog or at least to the fabric store to get fabric for a new quilt. I wanted recognition for my hard work and long…
sciencewoman | May 5, 2008I'm still processing Thursday's events, and I'm busy writing finals, grading papers, and hosting a prospective student...but that doesn't mean that other people aren't writing about things totally perfect for Mommy Monday.
Here are some of my recent* favorites:
Jenny F. Scientist discovers that biological clocks have a way of dinging when they want to.
Am I a Woman Scientist flew transatlantic for a job interview with a newborn...and got the job. (Hmm...sounds familiar.) Huge congratulations to Am I a Woman Scientist!
Janus Professor reminds us that while some of us may be able to stop the…
sciencewoman | April 28, 2008I see so much in Minnow that reminds me of myself as a child. She's enthralled by books and loves to put things into containers in a very particular (mysterious) order often stopping to take things out and then put them back in until things are just right. I loved to read and organize things (still do) and spent hours playing librarian as a child. So I could argue for nature, in that she's following in my footsteps. Or I could argue for nurture in that she (like childhood me) is surrounded by books and a mom who loves to keep things organized.
But then there's the whole issue of the mac n'…
sciencewoman | April 21, 2008The weekend weather finally cooperated and allowed us to introduce Minnow to the animals she had previously only seen in books. In the past few weeks, her vocabulary has improved immensely, especially in the department of animal sounds.
Her favorite animal to vocalize is the lion's roar, so we headed to the lion habitat first thing.
The lions were just settling in for a mid-day siesta and we got to watch the "mommy lion" cuddle up with the "daddy lion." Minnow was entranced.
Soon we ran into a carousel of carved animals. I was a bit unsure whether she would be into it, but she was…
sciencewoman | April 14, 2008Hmm...I have a nice mommy monday post all planned out in my head but I don't have tomorrow's lecture started or the discussion paper read or...
So I guess we'll all just have to wait. Maybe I'll get it posted later in the week.
sciencewoman | April 7, 2008I have some trepidation about raising a girl in today's culture. How do I navigate the over-princessing and over-sexualization of the preschool years without becoming a militant mom and always saying "no"? So far I've tried to strike a good compromise. Minnow has plenty of pink in her wardrobe, but no princess themed outfits. She has flowery dresses but more blue jeans. She has a slide, blocks, lots of cars, and now a kitchen, a doll, and a purse.
I don't want Minnow to feel forced into gender-stereotyped roles and it raises my hackles when people comment "Oh, she's such a girl..." Whatever…
sciencewoman | March 31, 2008As I head into each weekend, I start to think about possible topics for Mommy Monday. What will inspire me? What will my readers be interested in? What do I feel comfortable writing about? I debated a couple of topics this weekend, but I think I've settled on an update on breast-feeding a toddler. This post is inspired by ScienceMama's bittersweet post as she approaches the one year mark of breast-feeding Bean.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breast-feeding for at least one year in healthy infants where there is no contra-indication. ("Breastfeeding should be continued for at…
sciencewoman | March 24, 2008Minnow discovers sand and explores gravitational versus turbulent effects upon releasing a handful into the wind. When we got home, we read Bagnold's "The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes." No, not really...we saved it for bedtime! :)
Below the fold, Minnow demonstrates some classical mechanics principles at the playground.
Maybe this could be a late entry to the Accretionary Wedge carnival....
sciencewoman | March 10, 2008I always feel acutely ignorant when I begin to talk about racial prejudice, diversity or discrimination. I grew up in a blindingly white hometown. In elementary school, my best friend was Indian - but she was part of one of two Indian families in town - both there because a parent was on the university faculty. I'm pretty sure that the first time I ever saw a person of African descent, it was the child of another faculty member. I didn't hear much explicitly racist talk from friends or family, but minorities were so rare that maybe it just didn't come up as a topic of conversation.
My…
sciencewoman | March 3, 2008Part 1: The Toddler and the Shopping Trips
I remember when Minnow was tiny and I felt awful dragging her along on errands. It didn't seem fair to her and it was just *so much work.* I had to pull her carseat out of the car, set it on the cart (ignoring the warnings), bring a diaper bag along everywhere in case of catastrophe, keep one hand on the carseat at all times (so I'd feel less bad about ignoring the warnings), and anxiously worry about a meltdown in the checkout aisle.
Huh. Maybe time fades memories to rosy, but shopping with an infant hasn't got anything on shopping with a toddler.…
sciencewoman | February 25, 2008ScienceGrandma is in Mystery City for a visit this week, so we've got three generations of strong, scientifically-inclined women enjoying some time together. ScienceGrandma is a retired science professor, so it's interesting to hear her commentary on my day-to-day. Some things have changed since she started teaching (overt discrimination) and others haven't. Minnow is already starting to warm up to her (they hadn't seen each other since Christmas) and I'm sure that when they go for a walk and touch the tree bark and look at leaves together, they'll both be perfectly happy.
For my part, I'm…
sciencewoman | February 18, 2008Minnow is really fun these days. She loves to "help" me unload the dishwasher, fold the laundry, carry things, and close doors. She is also starting to really enjoy reading books. She's not just cuddling with me while I read, and she's not just trying to eat them anymore. She's starting to point at pictures and want to turn pages, and occasionally even laugh at the funny animal sounds I make while reading them.*
So I thought I'd share some of Minnow's current favorite books.
An early and continued favorite of ours is Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton. I've actually had the words to this…
sciencewoman | February 11, 2008Minnow and I are really good at the breast-feeding thing. It makes her happy and gives her nutrition. It makes me happy and gives me cuddle time. We like breast-feeding and don't intend to wean anytime soon.
BUT...
Minnow has now transitioned to the toddler room at daycare. And in the toddler room at daycare, they don't serve bottles on demand. They serve milk from a cup at meals.
It was a rough week for both of us.
We've been trying to introduce cow's milk from a cup for the past two weeks. Our goal is to get Minnow drinking cow's milk by day and mommy's milk by night. But each time the…
sciencewoman | February 3, 2008The pregame show: Minnow decides to forgo her usual 2-3 hours of naptime in favor of 2 <30-minute power naps. Bets are taken as to what time Minnow will crash (i.e, irretrievably collapse into a sobbing heap).
10 minutes before kick-off: We're racing to finish dinner because the crash seems imminent.
Kickoff: Minnow is making laps around the living room, pulling CDs off the shelf, climbing in and out of my lap, laughing hilariously for no particular reason. Behavior is increasingly manic.
5:01 remaining in first quarter (~6:50 pm). Giants score a field goal. We decide to get Minnow into…
sciencewoman | January 28, 2008On Saturday, my dearest Minnow turned one. It's hard to believe that it was already a year ago that she was born after an mostly uneventful pregnancy and a natural, and manageable, labor and delivery. She was so tiny, and so fragile, and it seemed like all I could do was hold her and watch her and marvel in her.
And now, just 52 weeks later, she's a little person who walks and babbles and has distinct likes (peaches, her stuffed polar bear, and falling asleep in Mommy's arms) and dislikes (changing into jammies, getting her head rinsed off). She can happily play for 20 minutes or so without…
sciencewoman | January 14, 2008Since arriving in Mystery City, Minnow has been in a daycare room with 7 other infants. As each child has past their first birthday, they have been "transitioned" into a toddler room. Now, Minnow at 11.5 months, is approaching her own transition point, scheduled for early February. Minnow's mommy is feeling a bit of trepidation about the upcoming move.
There are a lot of things that will be great for Minnow once she moves into the "big kid" room. She needs some older children to play with, and she'll get a lot more outdoor time. She'll get to do more art projects, and eventually she'll work…
sciencewoman | January 7, 2008
There. Now I've contributed to the clogging of the internet with another pointless youtube video. Don't I feel special.
But I thought that readers of this blog might enjoy seeing Minnow's newfound ability to walk. She was starting to take tentative steps in mid-December, but the fluid in her ears really set her back for a while. Nonetheless, the urge to walk is strong, and by New Year's day she was able to walk from one side of a room to another.
sciencewoman | December 17, 2007Mommy Monday is on holiday until January 7th.
Note that this is very different than Mommy being on vacation until January 7th. I don't think that Mommies actually get vacations. We will however be taking about 10 days to visit our parents.
Other posting will continue pretty much as usual at least until we leave for our trip.