notes on...

• Hack Mommy helpfully pointed me to a blog she reads (Ask Moxie) and from there I jumped to another one I like, (Finslippy). Thanks a lot, Melissa! Now I can waste even more time! And I can't complain about not actually reading blogs!
  
• I managed to teach Lucy how to high-five. It's so cool! It's like the best skill ever! And so useful! Oh, and we also taught her how to get down off ledges safetly. (Booooring.) No, actually, I didn't actually think Lucy would ever learn anything (despite all my fancy talk about homeschool). I thought she was more like a cat.
• Speaking of Ask Moxie, I like that woman. I have been working on an article about my journey away from China and India, and I realized in the process what ridiculously high standards I'd held myself to. And Those Experts had a lot to do with it--being a book reader, I tended to get really wrapped around what They Said. And Moxie debunks a lot of it. Plus her thoughts on sleep made me smack my head and go, oooooooh. Like she says a lot of kids take 2 naps with 2-3-4 hour intervals in between (the naps go where the dashes are). I was like you mean my kid's not the only one? You mean, I might have been able to dispense with the month of trial and error?
  
• Today is Dyami's and my five-year anniversary. Yippee!
• Speaking of sleep, we're going to Ojai and the chicken coop this weekend. We still don't have a really great sleeping solution. We tried a pack and play night before last and it wasn't a rousing success. My dear mother-in-law was trying to brainstorm solutions with me and we came up with one that involves the closet, a couch cushion, and some prayer. I realized I feel really bad that Lucy's not more transferrable. Like it's my fault, because I missed the golden window of transferrability in week X and because I wasn't on top of things it's now a big pain in ze butt to go anywhere but our house, sleep-wise. Everyone keeps suggesting the Pack-n-Play. "Oh, you should use a Pack-N-Play!" Except she wakes up after max a half-hour when we put her in there, unless I crawl in and nurse her inside of the packnplay. I hate the pack-n-frickin-play. Am I the only one with a baby that Does Not Transfer? I mean, if I put her in the sling and go for a walk and she falls asleep, she wakes up as soon as I stop moving. Actually, even if I attempt to bounce with the same cadence I was walking in she still wakes up. So forget taking her out of the sling and putting her someplace else. Sorry, I just had to get that off of my chest.
• I started reading Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety and found myself agreeing iwth Melissa's assessment (Surprise! First time that's happened!) that Idon't really identify with it. She's describing these moms who go to Girl Scout cookie meetings at 8 pm. And their angst about it. I say: well, stop with Girl Scouts. In the book, I just kept wishing the moms would take some Xantax and chill. And develop their own interests. And have confidence that their children would be Okay. However: I was spending all my time holding my baby over the sink in hopes she would pee, so maybe I shouldn't be judging. Hmmmm.
  
• Have I mentioned how wonderful my daughter is? What with all my griping, all of you might lose sight of that. I have been thinking about how lucky I feel right now. She sleeps okay (not one of those fabled through the nighters, but she's definitely livable), and she's just happy. She is learning and discovering and laughing. She looks at me with such innocent joy. I have never seen anyone look at me like that, and Dyami has nice eyes. It does one's heart good to walk into a room and see someone's face light up to see you every time, even if you just saw them 15 seconds before that, and 15 seconds before that. It's pretty cool.

That's all for now. If I forgot anything, let me know.