Hi there. I've had blogging constipation. This happens every time there has been a big event, and I know that I need to post about said event, not forget anything, and include lots of photos. Obviously, we have had a BIG event here at casa de Fox, and what with all the holiday knitting, I have not got round to that big post yet. Still. Felt like a writing a wee post this morning.
I find myself doing an odd thing. I have Toddler Taming in the bathroom, and I read bits of it each time I take a seat. A normal person would flip to the parts of the book relevant to challenging behaviour for their toddler. Foxy certainly has his share of challenging behaviours. But that's not what I do. Instead, I look through the sections on sleep problems and feeding problems. He doesn't have these. It makes me feel SO GOOD!
I have also stumbled on a blog that I am LOVING. Crazy Aunt Purl, the true-life diary of a thirty-something, newly divorced, displaced Southern obsessive-compulsive knitter who has four cats. (Because nothing is sexier than a divorced woman with four cats.) Fabulous. And I love her descriptions of life in LA. Enjoy.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Monday, 18 August 2008
Life Goals blog
So recently I have been perusing yet another trashy self-help book:
It inspired me to list my life goals. I shared these with my captive family in Oxford a few weeks back. A few seemed interested in self-improvement, and I said that I would create a mac group for the purpose. It turns out this is not possible, so I have set up a new blog for the purpose.
It is private, but I will happily invite anyone who wants to PARTICIPATE. That's right, you will need to actually post your goals as well as your progress in order to gain access into everyone else's nitty-gritty details. Comment or e-mail me if you would like to play. Perhaps it will only be JF and I who are interested, and that's just fine.
BTW, this book really isn't all that good. Much of it is about enhancing self-esteem, and I verge on arrogant even when clinically depressed.
It inspired me to list my life goals. I shared these with my captive family in Oxford a few weeks back. A few seemed interested in self-improvement, and I said that I would create a mac group for the purpose. It turns out this is not possible, so I have set up a new blog for the purpose.
It is private, but I will happily invite anyone who wants to PARTICIPATE. That's right, you will need to actually post your goals as well as your progress in order to gain access into everyone else's nitty-gritty details. Comment or e-mail me if you would like to play. Perhaps it will only be JF and I who are interested, and that's just fine.
BTW, this book really isn't all that good. Much of it is about enhancing self-esteem, and I verge on arrogant even when clinically depressed.
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Getting Yourself a Gina Baby
So, my sister (JF) has a friend who has had a baby, and JF is giving her Gina's book:
It is CERTAINLY not for everyone, but it did help me a lot. That said, I think it needs commentary. I thought why not just do it here?
I think this book is good if you like order and routine, and it was good for me because aside from having a healthy baby, it was/is REALLY important to me that my baby sleep well through the night as soon as possible. I think by sheer force of will a mother can get their baby to do one or two things, but not everything. What I mean is, if the most important thing to me had been breastfeeding my baby exclusively until 6 months, and continuing to bf for the entire first year, I don't think I would have been able to get Foxy to sleep as well as he does. So different strokes for different folks.
Back to Gina. It's common sense really -- she is all about getting maximum food into your baby during sociable hours, and maximum sleep at night. This means that she recommends waking them up during the day for regular feeding; apparently a lot of people have trouble doing this. This made perfect sense to me, and I was happy to not only wake up Foxy to feed at appointed times, but also to strip him off so he was COLD and would stay awake.
The annoying thing about the book is the tone; Gina is very dictatorial, and also refers to "my babies" which really pisses off some of my mum chums. I found it useful that this book goes ahead and suggests a schedule, and gives you indications of what a normal amount of sleep is for babies at each stage. Most books are all about reading your baby, letting them guide you about when to feed, etc, and that sort of child-led approach does not suit me.
Another common complaint about the book is that mothers can feel like failures if they can't keep to the schedule. I think this is where the tone is unhelpful, because if you really actually read the entire book and not just the schedules, Gina does have advice about tailoring for different types of babies, what to do when things go wrong, etc. Also, I thought of it as the ideal that I did my best to approximate each day, nothing more and nothing less.
I pretty much tried to stick to the schedule until Foxy was about 3 months old, although I ditched the 10:30 pm feed at 5 weeks. (My evenings are even more precious to me than an uninterrupted night's sleep!) He is still on a schedule, but I have tweaked it a bit now. If I had it all to do again, I would do things pretty much the same, but not entirely. I would definitely stick to the principles of doing ones best to approximate the same routine day in, day out. But looking back, I can see that Foxy probably could have done with an extra feed in the day. I think that would have helped him to settle for naps much earlier than he did.
I am also really glad that I took the advice about how to put them to bed, and how to behave at night. Again, I know that this simply wont work for a lot of people, as they find it too cold/harsh. Gina advises always putting them down to sleep when they are still awake. Our first night of doing this (at 3 weeks) it took Foxy an hour to fall asleep, and we went in to stroke him (did not pick him up) every 10 mins. It was hard, but we only had to do this for a few days and have never looked back. For night feeds I was REALLY diligent about not giving Foxy any attention, just the food. I never looked at him or spoke to him.
Previous posts have talked about the most difficult part for me, which was getting Foxy to nap properly. Sometimes it felt like we weren't getting anywhere with it, but I can now say that somewhere along the line it did fall into place. Every day I did my best to approximate the schedule, and I now have a baby that I can simply put in his cot to nap, and I get at least 2.5 hours during the day to call my own.
As I said at the beginning, it is all about what is most important for the Mum. When I get asked what is most important for kids/babies (coz of my job), I say to first take care of yourself, then your marriage, then your baby. For me, this was the best way to achieve those things. For many people, it would not be.
It is CERTAINLY not for everyone, but it did help me a lot. That said, I think it needs commentary. I thought why not just do it here?
I think this book is good if you like order and routine, and it was good for me because aside from having a healthy baby, it was/is REALLY important to me that my baby sleep well through the night as soon as possible. I think by sheer force of will a mother can get their baby to do one or two things, but not everything. What I mean is, if the most important thing to me had been breastfeeding my baby exclusively until 6 months, and continuing to bf for the entire first year, I don't think I would have been able to get Foxy to sleep as well as he does. So different strokes for different folks.
Back to Gina. It's common sense really -- she is all about getting maximum food into your baby during sociable hours, and maximum sleep at night. This means that she recommends waking them up during the day for regular feeding; apparently a lot of people have trouble doing this. This made perfect sense to me, and I was happy to not only wake up Foxy to feed at appointed times, but also to strip him off so he was COLD and would stay awake.
The annoying thing about the book is the tone; Gina is very dictatorial, and also refers to "my babies" which really pisses off some of my mum chums. I found it useful that this book goes ahead and suggests a schedule, and gives you indications of what a normal amount of sleep is for babies at each stage. Most books are all about reading your baby, letting them guide you about when to feed, etc, and that sort of child-led approach does not suit me.
Another common complaint about the book is that mothers can feel like failures if they can't keep to the schedule. I think this is where the tone is unhelpful, because if you really actually read the entire book and not just the schedules, Gina does have advice about tailoring for different types of babies, what to do when things go wrong, etc. Also, I thought of it as the ideal that I did my best to approximate each day, nothing more and nothing less.
I pretty much tried to stick to the schedule until Foxy was about 3 months old, although I ditched the 10:30 pm feed at 5 weeks. (My evenings are even more precious to me than an uninterrupted night's sleep!) He is still on a schedule, but I have tweaked it a bit now. If I had it all to do again, I would do things pretty much the same, but not entirely. I would definitely stick to the principles of doing ones best to approximate the same routine day in, day out. But looking back, I can see that Foxy probably could have done with an extra feed in the day. I think that would have helped him to settle for naps much earlier than he did.
I am also really glad that I took the advice about how to put them to bed, and how to behave at night. Again, I know that this simply wont work for a lot of people, as they find it too cold/harsh. Gina advises always putting them down to sleep when they are still awake. Our first night of doing this (at 3 weeks) it took Foxy an hour to fall asleep, and we went in to stroke him (did not pick him up) every 10 mins. It was hard, but we only had to do this for a few days and have never looked back. For night feeds I was REALLY diligent about not giving Foxy any attention, just the food. I never looked at him or spoke to him.
Previous posts have talked about the most difficult part for me, which was getting Foxy to nap properly. Sometimes it felt like we weren't getting anywhere with it, but I can now say that somewhere along the line it did fall into place. Every day I did my best to approximate the schedule, and I now have a baby that I can simply put in his cot to nap, and I get at least 2.5 hours during the day to call my own.
As I said at the beginning, it is all about what is most important for the Mum. When I get asked what is most important for kids/babies (coz of my job), I say to first take care of yourself, then your marriage, then your baby. For me, this was the best way to achieve those things. For many people, it would not be.
Sunday, 22 June 2008
Odd Weekend
Hi there. I'm having an odd weekend. Nearest & Dearest and her Mum are at Earnley doing a digital photography course. Well, Nearest & Dearest is doing the course, and her Mum is relaxing. I like her style. So the plan was for my Mum to come to Brighton and help me empty the kitchen in preparation for tomorrow when work begins. This has still happened, sort of. Foxy is STILL having major blow-outs (bottom end) several times a day which is getting very wearing. And my Mum is here, but she is not well. So I've done about half the kitchen, and I'm afraid I am done. When Nearest & Dearest returns, I plan on taking myself off to listen to Cast On whilst knitting. Doesn't that sound heavenly?
Anyway, Foxy is having a very long nap, as a boy will do who woke up at 5:40. So I thought I would continue my review of self-help books. Though I think JF's post really sums up the true utility of these books! Anyway, when I am feeling like the clutter is out of control, I reach for this tome:
The thing that really sticks in my mind about this book is that it encourages the reader to organize one's home like a kindergarten classroom. With activity zones, and everything (as far as possible) in a labelled location. I even bought a label maker once upon a time to help with this task. Only trouble is, I can't find it amongst all my junk.
Anyway, Foxy is having a very long nap, as a boy will do who woke up at 5:40. So I thought I would continue my review of self-help books. Though I think JF's post really sums up the true utility of these books! Anyway, when I am feeling like the clutter is out of control, I reach for this tome:
The thing that really sticks in my mind about this book is that it encourages the reader to organize one's home like a kindergarten classroom. With activity zones, and everything (as far as possible) in a labelled location. I even bought a label maker once upon a time to help with this task. Only trouble is, I can't find it amongst all my junk.
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
Eat that Frog
I have a rather embarrassing self-help book habit. The ones I favour are designed for business people, or are all about organization. I am NOT drawn to the relationship genre. Anyway, over the next month or so I thought I would select my favourites from the category.
This first one I bought at an airport. I can't remember which one, or where I was going, but I remember allowing myself to buy it because buying stuff at airports doesn't count. Like eating standing up. Here it is:
I figure a book is good if one (helpful) thing from it sticks with you. In this case, that one thing is the title of the book -- Eat that Frog! Basically the idea is that you should figure out what the one big task is that you should do each day. The one you are dreading, and that will make a big impact. Do that one thing FIRST. Mum and I talk about our frogs all that time. Today my frog is contacting someone to replace our boiler. I seem to be blogging first instead. Oops.
There's other stuff in the book too, all very concise, common-sense helpful hints about getting your shit done. Love it.
This first one I bought at an airport. I can't remember which one, or where I was going, but I remember allowing myself to buy it because buying stuff at airports doesn't count. Like eating standing up. Here it is:
I figure a book is good if one (helpful) thing from it sticks with you. In this case, that one thing is the title of the book -- Eat that Frog! Basically the idea is that you should figure out what the one big task is that you should do each day. The one you are dreading, and that will make a big impact. Do that one thing FIRST. Mum and I talk about our frogs all that time. Today my frog is contacting someone to replace our boiler. I seem to be blogging first instead. Oops.
There's other stuff in the book too, all very concise, common-sense helpful hints about getting your shit done. Love it.
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