friday march 27
In March 2008 I posted a blog about the Edgar Awards, named for Edgar Allan Poe and bestowed annually by the Mystery Writers of America. The winner of last year's prize for best mystery novel was Down River by John Hart.
This year's list of finalists has been announced: following are the finalists for 'Best Mystery Novel of 2008', all of which are available at the Library. Mystery buffs may want to read them all and choose their favorite before the awards are handed out on April 30!
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wednesday march 25
It’s become a silly tag line at our house of late, but eerily accurate. The twins adore listening to CD’s and doing wiggly moves that must be the baby equivalent of dancing. I know I’m biased and all, but it’s seriously cute.
Researchers tell us the auditory system forms extremely early and the ear is actually the first sensory organ to develop brain connections. And from those first weeks in the womb an infant's ability to process sound and music only grows stronger. Researchers think the complexity of classical music is what primes the brain to solve spatial problems more quickly.
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If you don't mind standing in line a bit, here's a book worth standing in line for, Gin Phillips' debut novel The Well and the Mine.
This lovely short novel takes place during the Depression in the mountains of Alabama. Tess, the younger daughter of a coal miner, is sitting on the back porch of her family’s cabin, where she often goes to be alone. A woman she does not know walks up to the porch, takes the lid off the well, and drops her baby in. Then she disappears into the night.
The family at first doesn’t believe Tess’s story, but it turns out tragically to be true. Tess starts to suffer from nightmares. For the whole family, this act seems to undercut the solidity of what had seemed to be a good life.
The novel, which is told by turn from each family member's point of view, quietly takes them through this period of frightening uncertainty.
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wednesday march 18
If you’ve ever found yourself in the grocery store staring vacantly at the rows of baby foods, confused, mumbling words like "strained" and "pureed," then you've probably seen me there too, doing the exact same thing.
I had mastered diapers, bedtime and bottles; I thought my baby abilities were- well both fabulous and complete. Then the pediatrician told me I could start the twins on solid foods.
Solid foods? Oh my…
If you read my recent post on raising a green baby, you might have an idea where this is headed. My lovely, wonderful husband most definitely did- as soon as we were all safely strapped into the car he turned to me and said, “Promise me you won’t go crazy with this.”
Um, ok…
Eagerly, I reserved every book the library owns of feeding babies and making baby food. I used our wonderful databases to read articles on organic, processed and homemade baby food. I learned about preservatives, CSA’s, nitrates, and baby food mills.
I’ve listed my favorite resources below. And for those of you who are real gluttons for punishment- check out the photos of my first adventure in baby food preparation on the library’s facebook page!
Blender Baby Food by Nicole Young
Cooking for Baby by Lisa Barnes
Homemade Baby Food Pure & Simple by Constantina Linardakis
Top 100 baby purées by Annabel Karmel
Feeding Baby by Annabel Karmel
"My bath was too hot, I got soap in my eyes, my marble went down the drain, and I had to wear my railroad train pajamas. I hate my railroad train pajamas."--Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Poor Alexander. This sounds exactly like bath night at our house: always some sort of calamity. Just getting everyone upstairs is a struggle. Usually it goes something like this: my daughter races upstairs, takes off all her clothes and runs around the house, naked and screaming. The boys crawl up the stairs, one veers left into our bedroom (to torture the poor dog), the other veers right into his sister's bedroom (to play with the electrical outlets that he has learned to take the child safety devices out of).
Once everyone is in the tub, we commence washing. Or, I should say, soaking the room with as much water as possible. I'm not sure how much actual washing is done. Soon the calamities start: the bath is too hot. Someone gets soap in their eyes. Someone else falls out of the tub. Then, there's the inevitable questions about "private parts". My daughter: "mommy, why do boys have peanuts?" (her term for a certain part of the male anatomy). Quickly followed by: "mommy, why are the boys always messing with their peanuts?" Ack!
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There are certain authors whose works seem so exactly observant that you can imagine them as anthropologists studying these strange creatures, human beings, and making field notes.
Barbara Pym, who wrote in England in the 1950s and (after a break of being considered old-fashioned and unpublishable) in the late 1970s and 1980s, is one of them. Her astringently fond satires of a certain segment of English society make me smile with their perceptive sharpness.
Which makes it all the more appropriate that some of her characters actually are anthropologists. Rather vague, scholarly types caught up in footnotes and interdepartmental warfare, but still, anthropologists. The rest of her characters are what she would (and does) call Excellent Women, those indispensable women, spinsters or clergymen's daughters, who make the tea for church fetes and staff the charity booths in jumble sales.
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tuesday march 17
My 12-month-old daughter hasn’t learned to walk yet, but it appears we’ve entered the toddler years. Yesterday I was talking to her and she put her hands over my mouth, followed by an impish smile. This morning after I gave her a Cheerio, she offered it to me and then teasingly pulled it away.
I’ve found a great children’s picture book author for toddlers (and their parents) confronting all the issues that arise during this amazing yet challenging time. Looking at just some of the colorfully illustrated titles by Elizabeth Verdick, I realize just what I’m in for…
