Speaking of Jerome Bruner
Oct 11, 2007 The Story of My Life
And speaking of not embarrassing myself at the conference, is it short U or long U?
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We got lucky this way
Oct 11, 2007 Adoption
Since the beginning of time mothers have been encouraging their offspring to eat. We all want our kids to be well nourished. We are more likely to serve our children food we like. But what if genetically the kid just isn’t wired to love sweet potatoes in the same way you or your spouse are ? How do you know if this is just a normal picky kid, or a lifetime preference?
Jessica is studying to be a chef and Madison loves to eat just about anything. (She also likes to make concoctions out of her food, our food, the dog’s food, etc. I believe she inherited both of these traits!)
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Tags: Madison
Oh and my haircut
Oct 11, 2007 The Story of My Life
I’m not going to have time to take a picture, upload it, scrutinize it, delete it, take another picture, etc. etc. so I went looking for a picture like it. I know there are pictures like it because I see this haircut numerous places and when I said to the hairdresser, “You know, like I want the length in front but kinda stacked in back and messy because I don’t blow dry my hair and want to take advantage of my natural curl” she knew exactly what haircut I was talking about. It’s a ubiquitous haircut.
So it has the front and swept aside bangs like this.
And it’s kinda like “I’m too cool to comb my hair” messy and sticky out on the sides like this. (Which is true — I am too cool to comb my hair if by cool you mean busy and besides which my hair looks better when I don’t mess with the natural wave of it and just do that thing the stylists call “scrunching” while it dries.)
And it sorta has ridiculously long bangs almost but not quite as ridiculously long as this, which concerns me because I’m cheap and don’t want to have to worry about getting trims too often but I also enjoy being able to see.
More celebrity haircuts that are something like my hair only on tall, thin women with great cheekbones: here and here and here.
You catch my drift. My hipper than thou stylist also told me not to do a straight part because (and I quote), “Straight parts are NOT very 2007!” That’s because I said, “I’ve had this bob for ten years and all the hairdressers keep cutting it this way, which means it must work for me [I tend to give my stylists free reign because what do I know] but, you know, it’s 2007 and I’m tired of it.”
So my stylists gave me a crazy zig-zag part and then she made my bangs perfectly straight and kinda plastered to my forehead with the rest of it all wavy around it and THAT, my friends, may have looked 2007 but it also looked ridiculous so as soon as I left the salon I did that time-honored thing women do when leaving the salon — I shook my head hard and combed out all the styling paste she put into it. (Back in my day we had gel! And we liked it! You kids and your namby-pamby styling paste!) Now it looks nice. And I rolled out of bed this morning and still looked nice because this haircut is SUPPOSED to look like I rolled out of bed only a really stylish bed like a really expensive one that looks just like the ones from Ikea but cost tons more and was situated in a loft that gets a lot of eastern light and has giant windows covered in sheers that puddle down like I don’t even care that my curtains are too long and the dog will step on them and the kids will wind themselves up in them and say, “Look, mommy! The curtains are eating me!” It looks like that. Yeah. Totally.
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One cup of coffee is not enough
You know, one of the things that the hot shots in blog marketing will tell you is that you need to make sure your Title accurately conveys the contents of your post. I just can’t get with that.
I dropped Madison off at preschool and she strolled in with her arms open wide saying, “Here I am!” Because you know the world doesn’t start to spin until Madison enters the room! (It’s true — I did a study.)
Last week I was feeling very discouraged about her preschool because it’s too academic-y for me. It’s that damn trickle down No Child Left Behind. Ohio says preschools have to teach stuff that (I feel) isn’t necessary or developmentally appropriate. Preschool should be about play and about relationships and emotional development. I’m working on an article actually covering this curriculum about helping kids develop empathy and the ability to manage their feelings and you know what? Hey, Mr. Bush! Kids who are emotionally aware score HIGHER on test scores! You want early learning? Meet the kids’ emotional needs early on! You want higher math scores? Teach kids how to get along in the world and skip the flashcards! (The program I’m writing about is here and it’s nifty. I keep saying it to Brett when he’s grouchy at the kids. I say, “Stop! Now say to yourself, ‘Calm Down!’ Take a deep breath! Count! Think of a calm place! Now think of something else to do!” You kinda chant it and it drives him crazy but it’s working.)
I don’t think Madison is being harmed by this stuff — it’s only five hours a week after all and there’s no desk learnin’ — no worksheets and that kind of inappropriate junk for kids still learning how to hold a crayon properly — it’s just not what I dream of when I dream of preschool. (And I mean this literally because I loved teaching three year olds and sometimes when I’m watching her class I get itchy to hop in there and start singing “Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree.” And I did actually have a dream about Madison’s preschool where it was all I loved about Noah’s old preschool and all I love about hers only squished up and perfected.)
Fortunately there are three things that make me really happy about the preschool (besides their NAEYC-accreditation, their affordability and close location, their strong sense of community spirit and the plethora of supplies):
- One particular teacher who is loving, kind, nurturing, home-y and all about feelings (a woman after my own heart) who seems to get Madison;
- The fact that this teacher happens to be black, which makes Madison very happy and makes me happy and who knows about our transracial adoption and is aware of our happiness and also appreciates that Madison might need some more attention;
- The diversity of the classroom (of eleven children there are three kids of African descent, one child of Asian descent, one child of Hispanic descent and three different languages — not counting English — spoken by kids in the class).
Madison said that last week the girls (and maybe the boys but she only mentioned two of the girls) were putting dolls up their shirts to pretend to be pregnant. This might have contributed to the “mommy” discussion, I think. Because if you’re playing at being pregnant yourself, you’re probably starting to realize that pregnancy is when mommy-hood starts. That’s another thing re., diversity — in this classroom MOST of the dolls have various shades of brown skin and there is one pink skinned doll whereas in Noah’s preschool it was evenly split although the class was uniformly white. Most quality childcare centers are huge into the multicultural thing (we had trainings galore about it at the NAEYC conventions and lots of articles in the Young Children magazine they put out) but at Madison’s preschool, given the make-up of the population they serve, it’s not just a theory.
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Haircut
Oct 10, 2007 The Story of My Life
Brett bought me a new, more glamorous haircut in honor of getting ready to give that presentation. The (decade younger than I am) stylist was pleased that I wanted to jettison my traditional bob, saying, “No offense, but this style is making you matronly and I’m going to take years off of you with this new cut!” So she cut it and I went to buy a beer and they carded me and it was like a miracle! Kidding. I don’t drink beer and I’ve never been carded, not even when I really was too young to buy it.
I’ve got an old soul and come to think of it, an old everything else and no haircut is ever going to change that, alas.
Brett likes it and Noah said, “I wondered what looked prettier on you and now I know it’s your haircut!” Honestly, I know I now look fabulous and all but I think the kid was just angling for a cinnamon roll.
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Tags: Noah
