The Simple Pleasures

Children seem to require a lot of stuff.

Many people would disagree and certainly millions of children around the world are raised without all the North American trappings, but ask any parent who has received even 15 minutes of relief from a vibrating chair/swing/wrap/sling/playmat/pack 'n play/Bumbo/Jolly Jumper/[insert ridiculous sounding, but necessary item here] and I feel fairly certain that they'll say it was worth it.

That being said, on a recent trip to the toy store* we ignored the flashier options and managed to spend only $1.99 plus tax.

On a simple rubber ball.











She loves it! It's just the right size and weight for her to hold on to.

Is this a lesson her parents can hang on to?

*Confession! At a different toy store a few days earlier, we spent close to $30 on an awesome lion puppet, because it made her smile. We are suckers for that shark-toothed smile. Hopefully she never figures that out...

Tee hee

We got a really good laugh out of our little Viver tonight. We work SO hard to get this kid to giggle, but tonight the wee giggles turned into a throaty joyful laugh. The Husband said it actually made him tear up a bit.



She's a happy girl, so we must be doing something right.

Half-birthday

Last summer, as I was trying to rock my baby bump in record high temperatures, we started looking for daycare for our unborn child.

Seriously. For January 2012.

It was the weirdest thing, although necessary in this city, to try to choose people to look after my kid when I didn't even know who he or she was. Hell, I didn't even know how to look after him or her yet!!

But today SHE is six months old. Already. Her first half-birthday. And I think I know her pretty well:

- She rarely wakes up crying and is super happy to see us first thing in the morning. When I sit down beside her crib and look in at her, the smile she rewards me with is incredible. It makes the fact that it's 6 A.M. a teeny bit more bearable.

- She loves her change pad! Not sure if it's the poppies on the wall beside it or the black and white art pictures above it, but she's always smiley and kicky when we put her down to change her diaper.



- She's already talkative, despite the fact that she doesn't have any words yet. She enjoys talking through her stories, at the movies and if no one is paying attention to her. She'll also have babble conversations with us. Her new favourite sound involves a gurgling noise in her throat that is nearly impossible to imitate.

- If reincarnation exists, she was a serious foodie in her past life and can't wait to get past all these mushy, pureed meals. She hasn't given us any problems with any of the food we've offered her, but she shows little to no delight in the process of eating. She just wants us to keep shoveling it in while she stares longingly at every bite we put in our own mouths.



- She loves music! I can distract her from crying if I sing to her and she takes great delight if we sing and dance around like idiots for her. I'm looking forward to her joining us before too long.

- This kid needs her naps. She's cranky without them. So every two hours, almost like clockwork, she shows us the signs and we hustle to put her to bed.



- So far, she's really enjoying storytime. I'm crossing my fingers that our love of books will be passed on to her.

- Don't cuddle this kid too long! She's independent and would rather lay on her own than sit on your lap. But she still wants us to play with her and adores zerberts and airplane rides.

- A dirty diaper doesn't bother her one bit, so we need to keep checking for any... events. (Although now we can smell them much better now that solid food is involved!)



- Motion of any sort puts her right out, so car trips and walks in the stroller are a breeze.

- She's super bendy. Like, she arches her back and almost touches her head to her bum. We're thinking of selling her to the circus if she steps out of line.

- One of her many nicknames is Sock Houdini, because she will get at least one sock off within seconds of us putting it on. Thank goodness it's summer, so she can just go barefoot for a while.

- Jolly Jumper = Happy Vivi

Page turning

So, I haven't had much time to read lately.* Shocking, I know! Truth is, most of my reading in the last couple of years has taken place on public transit. And I can count the number of times I've been a guest on the TTC in the past six months on one hand.

(I also have a backlog of roughly 100 magazines to work my way through. Damn magazine obsession!)

I did, however, get a book I requested for Mother's Day — Tina Fey's Bossypants.



I'll admit. I have totally drunk the Tina Fey Kool-Aid. I can't get enough of this smart, funny woman. I want to be her friend, so she can come around for dinner and we can drink just a bit too much wine and have extra pieces of cake and laugh so hard that tea comes out of our noses.

(I also want to sneak up behind her, cut off a lock of her hair, and find some mad scientist who can use the follicles to create a potion that will make me just a tiny bit more like her. Is that so wrong?)

The book was light, amusing and just what I needed. It was also an easy-to-hold-open hardcover, had large-ish font and generous leading, which made it easy to read while nursing. (Well, easy if I didn't mind cranking my head over to one side for 20 minute intervals.) Finishing it felt satisfying, but left me wanting more.

Then, after watching a movie trailer for a new Anne Hathaway film, I was intrigued enough to look up the book the movie is based upon.

And it looked good.

So when I needed to fill out an Amazon order, so I could get free shipping (Damn those evil geniuses!), I picked it up.


It sat on my bedside table, taunting me, for about two weeks. You see, it's a trade paperback with much smaller text and tighter leading, so I could not balance breastfeeding and reading with this one.

Ah, but then we took a trip up north this past weekend. Three hours in the car where the littlest member of the family sleeps like an angel. Uninterrupted reading time! I even brought a flashlight along, so I could read when the sun went down. Then I snuck in some more reading during her naps over the weekend and read most of the way home, too. Add a few more stolen moments this week and I have completely devoured this book.

Don't you LOVE books like that!?! Books that grab you from the first page and make you have to keep reading? Books that have you very close to tears at the end, even though you're sitting in your dentist's office, waiting to get a filling. The writing was engaging and the premise was interesting and the characters weren't caricatures.

In short, I really liked it. I would totally recommend it, especially if you need to take a long plane ride and require entertainment, or something like that. I'm hoping that Hollywood doesn't fuck it up too much.

*A few exceptions: Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs!, In the Garden with Van Gogh and I Am A Bunny.