Baby Book Review

Evidentally ducks have a reputation for being mischief makers. Caleb loves ducks. And it's funny to me because down here all the ducks are thess hideously ugly ducks that are largely black with enormous red bulbs erupting around their faces, like deformed turkeys. Ducka-ducka-ducka, he says. And somehow he also knows that the lovely wood ducks are also ducks, as well as the typical white ducks are ducks. (Nevermind that to him pigeons, penguins, and parakeets are also ducks). Ducka-ducka-ducka!

He has at least two fun books that are based on mischievous ducks. One is Duck on a Bike by David Shannon. Shannon's books also include a series of books about himself as a little boy (with apt titles like David Gets in Trouble). They are marvelous. He also illustrates the books and they are vibrantly colored, as is Duck on a Bike. The main character, Duck, "borrows" and learns how to ride a boy's bike. He shows off to the other farm animals and entices them to "borrow" bikes and they ride around together. Pretty basic plot, but Caleb LOVES it.


Another book Caleb has about a duck that instigates trouble is Giggle Giggle Quack, by Doreen Cronin. This book is actually a sequel about a literate duck that communicates through notes and procures contra-ban for the rest of the animals - pizza, electric blankets, movies, etc. As I said, somehow ducks seem to be the instigators of mischief - unafraid of being caught, happy to show off. Seems funny to me to charactize them this way.

Both of these books are good. The Cronin books have a little more complete story line, but Shannon's beautiful pictures and ability to make you remember being little make his books almost coffee table material...that is if you can have a coffee table in your house - we moved ours to the garage because I couldn't keep Caleb from climbing it when I washed dishes.

Back in the Saddle

Just a little blog to say that I have resumed posting meal plans on Leah's Kitchen. It's not that I'm completely past first trimester pickiness, but I'm really tired of frozen food!

You Tube Tot

It seems like everyday Caleb is doing something new that is "so cute". He's started repeating things and doesn't limit it to people. He also repeats things he hears his toys saying. He said, "Yellow" very clearly after a toy said that and sang long with Elmo on a little Sesame Street toy. Elmo says, "La la la la" and Caleb's version is "da da da da" - close enough!

Ever since Caleb was a newborn we have sung the Mahna Mahna song to him. He seemed to like it even then. I found the original Muppet version on You Tube recently. Caleb sang along with the pink puppets - "Doo doo da doo doo!" I also wanted to post his real favorite You Tube post - they have tons of "Vintage" Sesame Street clips. He loves loves loves the one with 3 striped balls and 1 spotted ball. (He loves balls.) But for some reason, each time I tried to post it, it failed.

A Kumquat and an Emerging Personality

Ten Weeks pregnant today. Baby Center sends out a helpful weekly update that tells you about your baby's growth. Each week it gives a fruit or vegetable to compare your baby's size to and usually it's things like a sesame see, a grape, a raspberry. This week, it's a kumquat. Just in case you're like me and don't include much kumquat in your diet, here's a picture:

So, it's a little over an inch. Surely there was a more popular vegetable or fruit that was a little over an inch long.

Regardless of the baby's size, my only outward indication of being pregant remains the fatigue and ickiness. I read to expect to start showing a month earlier than with Caleb. I'm not sure when I first noticed with him, but I know I started wearing some stretchy pants at 4 months, but didn't take a noticable belly picture until 5.

Well speaking of Caleb. I babysat today and when he woke up from his nap he was particularly unhappy. Nothing I did seemed to make him happy, so finally I just let him cling to my leg while I washed up the lunch dishes. There is a little mat in front of the sink and I accidentally pushed it with my foot and folded the corner up. Caleb instantly stopped crying, reached down and righted the corner, then promptly started crying again.

Is that standard for toddlers? I know that they are supposed to be extra concerned with order, but is that something other kids his age do or is this an early sign of his personality? I guess time will tell.

Back from Disney

We're back from our trip to Disney with Rob's family. I don't really have that many pictures! I am not sure what to blame. For one, our camera takes a long time to load the flash, and I realized the first day that if I took a lot of pictures, I'd spend a siginificant part of my vacation waiting for the flash to load. But probably more siginficantly, since I've been pregnant, extra details just seem to be too much for me. I have had just terrible pregnant brain. Hopefully the fog will lift in the 2nd trimester. Did I ever blog that the baby's due October 15? No? Well he/she is!

But I do have a few pictures to share! Look look!!


This is Caleb waiting to go into MGM. The first day we were really bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. We got to MGM early enough to be first in line at one of the entry-ways. We got a little later every day (didn't help that the time changed over the weekend!!!), but I don't think it made that much a difference.

I thought this play area at MGM was really nice. It was based on Honey I Shrunk the Kids. This is Caleb with his Grandma Robbins siding down a giant roll of film!

Of course there were what seemed like hundreds of characters at all the parks. MGM had several preschool target characters. This is Jo-Jo and a lion. I'm sure the lion has a name. I'm not really familiar with Jo-Jo or her lion. I do know they have a circus. Caleb liked some of the characters and others he wasn't interested in. He's meeting Jo-Jo with his cousin Kotomi.

As you can see, most of the pictures I took are from MGM - the first day! What a bum I am! We also went to the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures at Animal Kingdom. The safari ride there was really nice. We also ate lunch with Disney princesses (technically they didn't eat, but the food was really good) and went to the Hoop-de-doo Review, which was a dinner show - it was really great - probably in my top 5. I also really liked the updated Pirates of the Caribbean ride, but the new Finding Nemo ride at Epcot is not very impressive. Rob was really disappointed that the Living Seas exhibit is completely replaced with Finding Nemo. I also liked It's a Small World - not so much because I was impressed with the singing robots, but because I thought it was neat to be in a place that so many generations of Disney visitors have enjoyed. Although I couldn't ride it, being pregnant, Rob really liked the Aerosmith ride at MGM. I also really liked the Indiana Jones stunt show at MGM and the World exhibits at Epcot. Caleb just liked being with so many people, all the happy music and colors, and the continuous stream of goldfish crackers.

He also really liked the fireworks and didn't seem bothered by the booming.

I also thought it was hilarous how much he liked the big ball at Epcot - everytime we passed it he pointed and said, "Ba! ba! ba! ba!" until he couldn't see it anymore. It was a good time for all of us!

An Idea That's Time Has Come....Again

My parents have given us several magazine subscriptions - some because I like the magazine and some because they got it free somehow. I think that's how I got the subscription to Better Homes and Gardens. And although I think that of all the magazines I get, this is the one I will miss the least when the subscription runs out, I still like to look through it. I don't have to tell you that it's mostly home decor and gardening tips, but they do have a few other articles.

Anyway...

The March 2007 issue of Better Homes and Gardens has a short, but note-worthy article in the back (pg. 246 to be exact) in a section called Healthy You: Well-Being. The article is called "Making Good Adults". The article is about self-esteem and self-control.

Self-control is one of the Bible's "Fruit of the Spirit" - I can't think of anywhere in the Bible that it uses the words self-esteem. Probably because the Bible seeks to esteem God and since we are God's creation, that gives us all the worth we need.

The BHG article is, in a way, in agreement with these ideas. Self-esteem "doesn't work" according to Jack Croft, who wrote the article. He quotes an FSU psychology professor as saying, "My advice would be to forget about self-esteem and concentrate on self-control...being able to resist temptation, control your impulses, focus your thoughts, and perform up to your capacity."

The Bible's teaches against pride and selfishness because focusing on self leads to sin of all kinds. I found it interesting that this article basically came to the same conclusion as the Bible. Croft pointed out that encouraging self-esteem hasn't lessened social ills (drugs, etc.) and that it hinders children from developing empathy.

So will we dig self-control from the pages of the Bible back to the forefront of society? I doubt it. Since the fall of man, the "self" has bucked against God's soverignty. The writer of the article is right - self-control will make better adults than self-esteem, but we will still struggle with that self until Christ returns and God makes all things new.

Tornado in the Tub

Do you remember being fascinated with how the water draining out of the bathtub looked like a tiny tornado? I remember being a little kid and talking with one of my younger cousins (Michelle) about her older (but then still not a big kid, just older than me) brother and her telling me how he liked to watch the tornado. I guess I associated it with being a somehow sofisticated activity.

Anyway, our baby was officially "about the size of a raspberry" earlier this week. So far he or she has been the size of a sesame seed (5 weeks) and a lentil bean (6 weeks). Doesn't that rate of growth seem amazing! They say if we grew that fast all 9 months, we'd be the size of two adult elephants when we were born!