Numbered Updates

Warm weather zoo celebration... "What's up, monkey?? Aren't you glad it's warmer?"

Howie and the lemurs



Bear pacing back and forth... I'd probably pace too if I were him

Crazy kid with Mom's sunglasses

1. We've had some lovely weather over the past week, which has been wonderful! Howie has thoroughly enjoyed getting out, but I'm afraid that this weather is a horrible tease and we'll be plunged back into endless weeks of winter and staying inside. I'm not cut out for this winter thing anymore... yes, I grew up in Illinois and scoffed at people who didn't like the cold, but now I'm one of them. I'd like nothing more right this second than to be sitting outside with Howie in his sandbox, sweating like crazy and frantically licking a popsicle before it melts. I CAN'T WAIT FOR SUMMER!!!!!!! PLLLLEASEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It will be so glorious when my hands aren't always freezing, I'm not always wearing 25 layers in the house, I can sleep with the windows open even if we're hot, Howie and I can go outside whenever we please, etc. I never thought I'd say it, but I think I've become somewhat of a snowbird. On a walk today I thought my hands were about to crack into a million pieces with the cold piercing my eczema... must I list another reason that winter needs to END NOW?? I'm about to go crazy, people.

Howie's first snowball

Venturing out into the snowy world

The Little Red Hen, take 10,000

2. Because we've been trapped inside so much as of late, Howie has decided that he wants to hear the same books over and over. In the past week I have read The Little Red Hen more times than I can count. "Who will help me reap the wheat?" "Not I, not I, not I..." Yeesh. Howie knows the word chicken and so he asks for this book by name, although it sounds more like "hicken." I took to hiding it for a while, but then he just moves on to other books on repeat so that's ineffective. He's also currently obsessed with Clifford's Busy Week, The Poky Little Puppy, The Saggy Baggy Elephant, and some other board books. Last night when we were putting him to bed I think he literally had Josh read him a Curious George book at least 4 times in a row, maybe 5. I took him to the library the other day to get some other Clifford book, but so far that strategy has had limited success. Oh, well. One day he won't want us to read to him anymore, so I guess I better enjoy it, even if it's the same one over and over again.

3. Over the past year I have read some really good books, which I wanted to list below. Here goes on the highlight reel that comes to mind right now:

1. So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids (Levin & Kilbourne). This was a sobering but very eye-opening book- a really important topic for any parent or anyone who likes kids.
2. Grace-Based Parenting (Kimmel). I read this for a class that Josh and I took in the fall, and it was really, really good. It gave basic but very helpful principles to follow in raising your children in a communicative, loving, gracious way.
3. Under the Banner of Heaven (Krakauer). This was a really fascinating book about the history of Mormonism.
4. My Year Inside Radical Islam: A Memoir (Gartenstein-Ross). I learned a lot about different sects within Islam and their beliefs.
5. Praying Backwards (Chapell). This was such a good book about praying with God's priorities in your heart and mind.
6. Affluenza: the All-Consuming Epidemic (de Graaf etc.). This book was about our culture of consumption and how infectious it is to want to get more and more and more. I didn't finish this book, not because I didn't want to, but because I have a serious library fine problem and this one was due... I think I actually turned it in on time and couldn't renew it for some reason. I definitely plan to finish it.
7. The Road of Lost Innocence: the True Story of a Cambodian Heroine (Mam). This is a MUST-READ, but very difficult. It is one of the most horrific and tragic books that I have ever read. It's the story of a girl who was sold into sex slavery at a young age, her eventual escape, and now her project to help other women out of sex trafficking. This is such a huge issue throughout the world but I know that I had little awareness of it before reading this book. I actually heard Tom Ashbrook (my favorite talk show on NPR) interview a woman who had been rescued by the author of this book, Somaly Mam. Her story of suffering and brutality was truly horrifying and something that we need to be aware of as citizens of the world. We need to be active in pushing against this indescribably evil crime.
8. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Beah). This was the horrible story of a young boy who was forced to fight in the civil war in Sierra Leone. This is another one of those issues that is easy to ignore from the comfort and relative ease of our lives in America, so I really recommend reading this book. It was absolutely horrific to imagine a childhood like the author experienced.

I guess that's the end of this somewhat random post for now. Here's to a quick end to winter!!