The Business of Being Born Review

Since my husband is away on a business trip, I've been watching all sorts of movies I would not normally be willing to inflict on him.  Romantic comedies and historical costume dramas are my usual fodder, but sometimes I throw in documentaries that I think might not be his taste.  Last night I happened upon one called The Business of Being Born about labor and delivery in the United States.  I'd seen a snippet of the movie on TV, and I thought it might be interesting.  It certainly is a subject that is close to my heart.

What a shock!  This was a piece that claimed to want educate people about the different choices available for women delivering babies.  However, all I found was a bunch of scare tactics designed to frighten, guilt, or just confuse women into one way of thinking.  One of the worst parts was the discussion of how women don't get the "real" bonding hormones if they don't have a "natural" delivery.  I guess I've just been fooling myself about my crazy love for my daughter.  I am not a fan of this movie, and I certainly don't entertain their perspective AT ALL as a result of watching. 

Art with Kids

When summer first arrives in the Pacific NW, all I want to do is be outside.  We walk, we play in the backyard, and we visit parks and playgrounds with our friends.  We generally just worship the sun since we don't see it so much around here.  However, as summer wears on, and it gets hotter, I start to want those occasional afternoons "off" from the heat and the glare.  This is why we found ourselves heading to the Bellevue Arts Museum on a recent Friday. 

The Seattle Art Museum has its free visitor day on the first Thursday of every month, but Bellevue prefers to offer Free Fridays.  Either one is fine with me.  Now you might think that an art mueum with a toddler is a crazy idea, and you could certainly tell, from the looks in the elevator, that's exactly what some other patrons thought.  Perhaps our baby is unusual, but she really seems to enjoy museums.  Think about it, there are many things to look at and lots of them are huge and/or colorful.  What's not to like?  I think she was a bigger fan of all that modern art than I actually. 

We all like the Michael Cooper sculptures in wood and metal that made us think of bicycles meet Da Vinci machines.  Only the little one enjoyed the modern jewelry, and I think that was only because of the life-size banana necklace.  The baby was also the biggest fan of Midway by Cathy McClure because she liked the elephants.  The big people found the strobe to be nauseating within about three seconds.  All through the museum we saw sculptures by Wanxin Zheng.  These were declared "interesting" by the grown-ups and "fascinating" by the small fry. 

On the whole, we enjoyed our trip to the art museum.  I would go back depending on what the new exhibits might arrive.  Don't worry about taking kids to places like this.  They are people who are capable of enjoying culture too.  Museums should not be hallowed places where only snooty, silent people are allowed to go and say things like "ah yes, I enjoy how he frames the negative space with that blob of engine oil!"

BIG Teeth

Quick update: molars! Well one anyway. It was not exactly an easy time cutting this tooth, and she had a lump the size of a pea for several days, but finally it is through at last. Now perhaps the drool will let up, and cheerfulness will return.  What they say abou the first tooth and the molars being the hardest seems to be entirely true. We're up to nine teeth with the addition of that one, and one day soon the baby will have grinding skills. Nuts, raw food, and other tough things here we come!

Keeping Cool

While the Pacific Northwest is finally enjoying it's first sustained blast of summer warmth, much of the country has been enduring a heat-wave for some time now.  Temperatures well over 100 f. have appeared all over parts of the SW, SE, and all along the Eastern Seaboard.  While air-conditioners are great in this sort of heat, not everybody has them, and not everyone can afford to run them constantly.  When I was first working after college, I lived in an old house with no air-conditioning at all.  My room was at the top, right under the eaves, and you can just imagine how it sweltered on sticky summer nights.  Here are a few tips, then, on the art of keeping cool:

1.  Keep hot air out during the day by closing windows and getting heavy, dark, or even thermal curtains
2. As soon as the outside temp drops below the inside, draw curtains, open windows, and set up a fan
3. If you only have one fan, point it out, so it will suck the hot air away
4. If you have two windows and two fans, create a cross-breeze with one pointing in and one out
5. Turn off all heat sources such as electronics, appliances, and adjust pilot lights (if possible) to low
6. Speaking of appliances DO NOT COOK!  Use the microwave if you really must
7. Dry laundry on a line if you can as the dryer is a huge source of heat
8. Hand wash and dry dishes too
9. Strip!  If you're in the shade or indoors wear as little as possible (ooo the possibilities!)
10 If you're outdoors keep covered with light-colored, natural fiber clothes
11.Pretent you're in a spa and put cucumber slices over your eyes.  The astringent really helps
12. Go down in the basement (or lowest level) and lay on the slab
13 Fill a glass with ice, and blow down into it.  The air the comes back up will be deliciously chilled
14. Draw a lukewarm bath, get in, wait five minutes, drain the bath, and then run cold water
15. Ask the kids to move over, and get in their pool too!
16. Stick to water for refreshment, studies show that sugary drinks just make you thirstier in the end
17. Speaking of water: drink lots! A little lemon and/or some fresh herbs make it more appealing
18. Some people say the back of your neck is your body's thermostat.  Try an icecube or wet towel
19. Set up a plastic lawn chair under the sprinkler and enjoy the blast
20.  When all else fails, go to the movies!

How Clean is Your Local Playplace?

My daughter is a little young to enjoy indoor play areas in restaurants, but millions of kids visit them every day.  I'd heard that they were a place where children often pick up colds, but I didn't think they were any worse than a playground.  How wrong I was.  This article is all about the truly horrible things lurking in these play yards, how rarely most of them get cleaned, and they are actually dirtier than other public places.  I do not think our girl will be allowed to visit any time soon!

Even Awesome Teachers Need Help

I have to thank my friend, C., for sending me a link to this article.  It's all about how the current "magic bullet" in education is the idea that there are superstar teachers who will fix everything.  Everything she writes about her experience with that was true for me as well.  The only part I would disagree on is the idea that wealthier schools somehow escape the problem of over-crowding. 

I would also like to mention the one part of the education equation that is simply never mentioned in the discussion:  parenting.  You would not believe some of the parenting failures I've seen over the years, but nothing is done or said about it becuase that is a difficult and painful topic.  Therefore we just leave it alone entirely.  News flash politicians!  If a child's life is falling apart at home, they do not care how stellar I am in the classroom each day.  At that point all I can do is damage control. 

Discovery of Witches Book Review

I'm guessing this is what happened: the author of Discovery read the Twilight books, looked at how popular they are, and said to herself "I can do this better and for grown-ups."  And that's just what she did.  Well, maybe not the "better" part.  This book is a romance featuring a vampire and a mortal girl who also happens to be a powerful, if latent, witch.  This author used her personal expertise in history, mythology, yoga, and wine appreciation (nope I'm not kidding) to flesh out the story.  The results are lush and interesting half the time, then forced and even embarrassing at other turns. 

I loved the idea that a vampire would have seen so much history and have connections in so many places.  I did not love the lame romantic moments (just skip those pages unless you have strong appreciation of cheese) or the parts where she goes rowing or to yoga again and again.  I'm not sure if this was a good book in need of a better editor, or a bad book in need of a re-write.  No, no, calling it bad is not fair.  I did like the book, and I am not sorry I read it.  I just think it shows that this is her first work of fiction.  Perhaps the follow up will be stronger, and perhaps they will find her a very experienced and opinionated editor.