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Reading Round-Up: January 2013

Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby.  I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book.  Here are my reads for January, 2013…

The Olive Farm: A Memoir of Life, Love and Olive Oil in the South of France, by Carol Drinkwater – This one popped up in my Goodreads recommendations because I’ve read three Peter Mayle books, and an account of a couple who buy a ramshackle, falling-down old olive farm in Provence and turn it into a haven (which happens to produce olive oil) sounded great.  I love stories of people who escape the rat race and find a way to do something they’re passionate about and while Carol and Michel made this more of a vacation venture, it was still a story along those lines, so that was good.  My problem was that I just didn’t really invest, and I didn’t find Carol quite as charming of a narrator as I find Peter Mayle.  I still liked the book, but I didn’t love it and I didn’t find myself on Kayak looking at plane tickets the way I do after reading one of Mayle’s books.  So, good, but not great.

Blue Shoes and Happiness (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency #7), by Alexander McCall Smith – Mma Ramotswe has some personnel issues on her hands in this installment.  As she tries to investigate an insidious fear spreading around a game preserve and an allegation that a doctor is falsifying blood pressure readings, she also has to worry about reining in her over-eager new part-time employee, Mr. Polopetsi.  And then there’s Mma Makutsi, who may have driven her fiance away by disclosing that she is a feminist.  But Mma Ramotswe can surely find solutions to these problems, and impart some life lessons and traditionally built wisdom along the way.  Like, for instance, the fact that you can buy blue shoes but you can’t buy happiness.

The Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings #1), by J.R.R. Tolkein – I’ve been meaning to read this trilogy for ages (even set it as a goal to reach before my 32nd birthday) so it was time to get a move on.  I found the tale of the ring and the beginning part of the journey to be captivating, as I knew I would.   Still, I think I missed a lot.  I had a vague sense of the events of this book, since I’ve wandered through the family room on occasion while hubby has been watching the movie, but it was still complicated!  Everything had confusing names, sometimes more than one name, and I found myself constantly looking back at the map trying to figure out where the Shire was relative to everything else (and didn’t quite get it).  I’ll probably have to re-read this a few times to really get a hook in it.  But for a first read-through, this was wonderful.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce – Amal recommended this to me and I’m so glad that she did.  I waited a LONG time on the library queue, but it was worth the wait and then some.  Harold Fry is a recently retired, unhappily married man who receives a letter from an old acquaintence, Queenie Hennessey, telling him that she’s dying of cancer in a hospice some 600 miles away.  Harold scribbles a quick reply and walks to the box to post it.  Then he walks past the box, and keeps right on walking – because he has unfinished business with Queenie and he is convinced that all she needs to make a recovery is someone to believe in her, and that if he keeps walking, Queenie will survive.  Along the way he meets a cast of broken characters, each of whom teaches him about himself.  Meanwhile, Harold’s wife Maureen, left at home to ponder why Harold went out to post a letter and never came back, begins to wonder if Harold was really such a bad husband after all.  Moving and beautifully written.  I cried.  Full review to come.

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency #8), by Alexander McCall Smith – Well, it’s finally happened.  Mma Makutsi, who has been growing an attitude in proportion to her shoe collection, has resigned from the detective agency.  It’s a sore blow for Mma Ramotswe.  And Charlie, one of Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni’s useless apprentices, has quit too (a case of addition by subtraction, if you ask me).  Meanwhile, Mma Ramotswe has some particularly serious allegations to look into by a pair of whistleblowers, and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni has expressed an interest in becoming a detective.  But Mma Ramotswe isn’t the top (and only) lady detective in Botswana for nothing.  She’s more than capable of handling things.  Fun as always.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories, by Ernest Hemingway – I’ve been a Hemingway detractor since high school (The Old Man and the Sea did nothing for me, NOTHING) but I decided to give him another shot, since I’d heard The Snows of Kilimanjaro was good.  Well, in some ways I’ve revised my opinion about Hemingway, and in other ways, not.  I still think he’s a misogynist – there was not a single interesting, multi-dimensional or sympathetic female character in the book, making me wonder if Hemingway respected women at all, or even liked them.  I’m sure I’m missing all kinds of points here, but I just didn’t enjoy his portrayal of women.  So I’m still not a fan.  But I did like his writing style much better than I did in high school.  The crisp prose struck me as elegant instead of choppy.  And, unlikeable female character or not, the title story was fantastic.

Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures, by Emma Straub – Meh.  I probably put too much pressure on this one, but the golden age of Hollywood is such a rich topic and Emma Straub’s previously published short story collection was so acclaimed that I expected more out of this book.  The story of Laura Lamont, a fictional movie star in the studio era, was good but not great.  Not enough time was spent on Laura’s rise to fame, and wayyyyyyy too much on her tumble from the heavens.  I wanted glitz and glamor and a glimpse into Old Hollywood, and there was some but not enough.  The writing was good, but not good enough to make up for the lack of glitter, so.  It was okay.

Well, that’s January.  Kind of spotty on the enjoyment front – I was cool on a few of the books I picked up this month, although The Fellowship of the Ring and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry made up for the others.  But to be honest I’m kind of impressed with myself for reading as much as I did.  I spent the first two weeks of the month gazing at my baby and trying to maximize every last moment of maternity leave, and the last two weeks back to the office grind (and finding WAY less time to read).  I’ve been squeezing in a few pages here and a few pages there, mostly during commutes, at lunchtime, and after Peanut goes to bed (in between bottom-patting and shushing sessions during our nightly I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU SAY MOM I AIN’T SLEEPING dance).  I’ll be happy with any month this year as long as I keep up my reading, consistently, when and where I can.

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Scholastic’s 2012 Kids and Family Reading Report is Here!

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Last week, Scholastic released its 2012 Kids and Family Reading Report, and it’s chock-a-block full of interesting information.  This is the fourth time Scholastic has prepared the report, which comes out every two years, and it’s the first time that it was at all on my radar screen.  I immediately downloaded the report and read the entire thing (not hard to do; it’s a lot of graphics).  As a new mom myself, I was very interested to read what Scholastic (a company I remember fondly from my school years) had to say about today’s kids and their reading behaviors.  Much of the report focuses on e-books, which promise to become more prevalent each year, and most of the findings were not particularly earth-shattering, at least not to me.  My thoughts:

On Parenting a Reader

Even before Peanut was born, I was thinking about how I’d go about bringing her up to be (I hope) an avid reader.  I posted here about my plans to be a Reading Mom, and later told you about Growing a Reader from Birth, a fascinating book I read back in November.  I was not at all surprised to find that a large part of Scholastic’s study focused on how parents can help to bring up little readers.

Unsurprisingly, of the parents that Scholastic polled, almost half (49%) believed that their children did not spend enough time reading books for fun.  Meanwhile, many parents believed their children spend too much time in front of screens – watching TV, playing video games, surfing the internet and Facebook – and texting on their smartphones.  As kids become more technologically adept, and have more choices for their screen time, I expect to see the numbers rise – more and more parents will be of the opinion that their kids spend too much time in front of screens, and not enough time reading.  (One of my few criticisms of the report was that while it looked at kids’ time spent reading and doing sedentary activities in front of screens, it didn’t address kids’ time spent playing outdoors or participating in sports.  I understand the report can’t address everything, but I’d like to have seen physical activity included, since I think that it’s very important for kids to be active outside.  I would have loved to see what parents thought about their kids’ time spent being active; it didn’t surprise me at all that most parents felt their kids spent too much time in front of screens and not enough time reading, but what were parents’ views on, say, soccer?  If the study wanted to look at reading time in comparison to time spent doing other activities, I felt that omitting outdoor activity left a big hole.)

That said, there are things that parents can do to encourage reading, and they start very early – from birth, in fact.  The study found that the three most effective things that a parent can do to encourage kids to read are to (1) set a good example by reading frequently yourself; (2) provide a home environment with an abundance of books; and (3) spend lots of time reading to your children.  I thought Scholastic’s finding here was fascinating, because it proves that you don’t need lots of money to grow a reader.  Any parent, regardless of how much money the family makes, can encourage their child to read: time spent reading with your child is more effective than money laid out.  Books purchased on the cheap from library sales (or even borrowed from the library – FREE!), thrift shops or bargain sales won’t set you back much, but they’re worth their weight in gold when it comes to encouraging kids to read.  And time spent cuddling with your kids and reading stories together costs nada, but will pay out huge dividends when it comes to growing a reader – and can you think of a more precious memory?  Along with this encouraging news goes the – frankly, kind of surprising – finding that there’s absolutely no correlation between household income and frequency of reading among kids.  Scholastic collected information about family income of frequent readers and infrequent readers and there was almost no difference at all – the median was $71,000 for frequent readers and $70,000 for infrequent readers, a negligible difference.  It debunks the conventional wisdom that kids from high-income families read more than kids from low-income or middle-income families.  (And I think, by extension, it shows that kids from low-income families aren’t doomed to struggle academically.  Caring teachers and parents who make the time to read with their kids and use the resources at their disposal to encourage reading mean far more than paychecks.  Isn’t that awesome?)

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On E-Books

Jonathan Franzen, deal with this: e-books are here to stay.  Much of Scholastic’s study was devoted to questions about kids and e-books, and that makes perfect sense, since they’re the new wave of reading.  I know there are plenty of paper devotees and book purists, and that’s great and all, but the fact remains that kids are attracted to e-books, now more than ever.  Scholastic found that the numbers of kids reading e-books on various devices (including dedicated e-readers like Kindles or Nooks, desktop computers, tablets such as the iPad, or smartphones) has increased across the spectrum since 2010.  The percentage of kids who have read an e-book has almost doubled in the last two years, and among kids who read e-books, 20% say they now read more for fun (especially boys).  Most e-book reading happens at home, but more schools are offering the opportunity to their students, and half of kids ages 9-17, who have read at least one e-book, say they would read more for fun if they had more access to e-books.

There are plenty of reasons for this, according to Scholastic.  For one, e-readers help kids who lack self-confidence, perhaps because they’re slower readers than their peers, who might not want to tote around a below-grade level book that their friends can see (and mock).  Many kids said that part of the lure of e-readers is that their friends can’t see what they’re reading.  (This holds true for moms, too.  I know there are plenty of ladies out there who claim to be reading Anna Karenina but are really reading Fifty Shades of Grey.  C’mon ladies, Count Vronsky isn’t making you blush like that.)  I think there’s another reason too, one that Scholastic didn’t explore much (other than vague allusions) – kids like technology, they like the new hot thing, and e-readers and devices are cool and of-the-moment.  My kid is five months old, so her interest in my Nook doesn’t extend beyond wanting to put it in her mouth, as she wants to put everything in her mouth.  But when she is old enough to read to herself, I’ll let her read in any format she wants, and I might even get her an e-reader of her very own when she’s reading longer books.

Still, print books aren’t going anywhere.  Although kids are fascinated by e-readers, they still love to turn pages.  80% of frequent readers (who have read an e-book) say they still primarily read print books for fun.  And parents of younger children prefer print to e-books by a large margin.  Makes sense to me; Peanut’s books wouldn’t look nearly as good on my Nook as they do in print.

I think there are several lessons here.  First, we all need to make peace with e-books (if we haven’t already; I personally love my Nook for its convenience, especially when traveling, and wouldn’t dream of getting rid of it, although I still primarily read print books too).  They’re here and they’re not going away.  Second, if e-books will encourage kids to read, we should get them e-books.  You don’t have to have boatloads of disposable income to make e-books available to your children.  Many classics are in the public domain and available to download for free, and you can read them on a desktop computer, which many families own even if they can’t afford a fleet of other devices.  Again, I think Scholastic’s report is wonderfully encouraging in that it proves, over and over again, that there are plenty of low-cost ways to encourage reading, and you don’t have to be rich to raise a reader.

On Boys and Girls and Books, Oh My!

It’s been the conventional wisdom since time immemorial that girls read for fun more than boys do.  I have lots of thoughts about why this might be.  For one thing, I think that as a society, collectively, we haven’t done the best job of encouraging boys to be avid readers.  There are more good choices for girls’ reading material, and many of the children’s classics – like The Secret Garden, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Anne of Green Gables, Betsy-Tacy, and A Little Princess to name just a few – seem to be geared towards girls.  (That’s not to say boys can’t read those books too, and maybe there are boys that do, but I don’t believe as many boys are attracted to them.)  Of course, there are classics that appeal to boys, too – like The Wind in the Willows, Frog and Toad, The Hardy Boys, but I think the difference is that those books appeal to both boys and girls, where the girls’ classics really appeal only to girls, with few exceptions.  And then there’s the fact that little boys have, for generations, been encouraged to be rough-and-tumble, and reading has been considered somewhat less than manly, and as a result I believe that society has missed many opportunities to instill a love of reading in both sexes.  (It’s not impossible – as I mentioned in my post Are readers born or made?, my brother was not an avid reader – although he always loved to be read to – until my mom found him a series of young adult books set in the “Star Wars” universe, which he loved, and now today he reads more than any other guy I know.)

However, according to Scholastic, boys are catching up to girls in the love-of-reading department.  The number of boys reporting that they consider it important to read for fun, and that they enjoy and spend a lot of time reading for fun, has increased slightly since 2010.  Yay!  But… there’s bad news too.  The number of girls reporting they consider it important to read for fun, and that they enjoy and spend a lot of time reading for fun, has decreased slightly since 2010.  No!  It’s true.  Girls are leveling or dropping off in their enjoyment and pursuit of reading (although they still read for fun at higher numbers, and more frequently, than boys).  What this finding says to me, as a mom of a girl, is that we can’t afford to neglect girls’ reading and assume that they’ll come to reading naturally; girls need to be encouraged too.  Parents and educators often focus on the question “how do we get the boys to read?” because girls, as a group, often seem to have their reading habits ingrained without much effort from the adults.  But we can’t ignore the girls!  I think it’s a mistake to assume that girls will love reading just because they’re girls, and I will put just as much effort into encouraging Peanut to read as I would have if she happened to be a boy.

The good news for adolescents is that many of most popular the young adult books on the market seem to appeal to boys and girls equally.  (Twilight is the exception.)  Scholastic polled kids on the last book they read for fun, and the most popular responses were books that appealed to both boys and girls.  The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series won the 9-11 set (and came in a close second to Junie B. Jones among 6-8s), and the Harry Potter series and the Hunger Games trilogy had the 12-17 market cornered.  I don’t know if there are more choices now that both boys and girls can enjoy equally, or if they are just getting more press, but either way, I like it.

These are just my random thoughts from the 2012 Kids and Family Reading Report.  There’s a lot more food for thought in there!  Download it and see for yourself – and if you do, I’d love to hear your impressions.

Have you read the 2012 KFRR?  What did you think?  Parents, do you agree or disagree with the report’s conclusions?

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Happy 200th Birthday, Lizzy Bennet!

Emily and Jane

Today is the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice – that’s right!  Two hundred years of Lizzy, Jane, Darcy, Bingley, Lydia, Wickham and the rest of the crew.  Peanut is celebrating by reading her BabyLit Pride and Prejudice counting primer.  One English village, two rich gentlemen…

Every so often, a book comes along that changes everything.  Pride and Prejudice was one of those books.  It has been popular for two hundred years, and for good reason.  It’s biting social commentary and satire, wrapped up together in a neat blanket of comedy-of-manners and love story.  Pride and Prejudice has captured the imaginations and the hearts of people all across the world.  It’s more complex than it gets credit for most of the time, but more than anything else, it’s just good reading.  I for one am so glad it exists, and I hope that Peanut loves it as much as I do.

Happy birthday, Pride and Prejudice – and thanks for all the good page turns.  Here’s to another two hundred years of popularity.

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Zero to Hero: Short-Term Goal Revisions

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This is a hard post to write.  I’m a driven, ambitious, Type-A person and always have been.  I like setting goals, and more important, I like achieving them.  I don’t like revising them.  But I think, in this case, I have to.

In November I told you about my “Zero to Hero” goals for postpartum fitness.  Later, I shared with you my plans for getting there.  I was really excited about all three goals: to run the GW Parkway Classic 10-Miler in the short term; lose the baby weight (which I fondly refer to as Peanut cushioning) in the medium term; and be a healthy mom in the long term.  I’m still totally committed to the medium and long-term goals, but I think I need to rethink the short-term goal.

Upon first blush, it didn’t seem all that crazy.  The race was months out, and ten miles is not unheard-of for me.  I’ve run the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler and the Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon, so I know that I am (or at least, have been in the past) capable of completing the distance.  The Parkway was a race I’d always wanted to run, so I had that motivating me.  And I have a training buddy: my sister-in-law, who said she’d like to prepare for and run the race with me.

But here’s what I don’t have: time.  When I was training for my 10-miler and my half, I put a lot of time into it.  I worked out or ran almost every day, and I did long runs of up to 11 miles on the weekends.  That was hours and hours of time that I dedicated to getting ready for those races (and I was still slow – but hey, I finished and that’s what I wanted).  Those races were great, and I felt so proud of myself after I finished.  (Especially the half marathon – I was going through some tough times during my training, and crossing the finish line was a big vote of confidence in myself.)

These days, I just don’t have the hours and hours it takes to get ready for a big race like that.  (It might not be a big race to some, but it would be to me – especially after not really running for a year due to a foot injury, then pregnancy and C-section recovery.)  I have to build up a baseline of cardio fitness again, and I have to do it while working full time and caring for a newborn.  If I started training for a 10-miler, that would eat up more free time than I have – and worse, it would take away from time I could be spending with Peanut.  I want to be a fit and healthy mom for her, but I don’t want to spend hours away from her while she’s so tiny – I want to enjoy this special time with her and think about running later.  So I am admitting, as painful as it is, that I’m just not in a place right now where I can devote that much attention to race training.  When it comes to workouts, I need to get in, get out, and get on with my day.

Still, you can’t set short, medium and long-term goals and then jettison the short-term goal completely.  Once I decided to forego training for the Parkway, I knew I needed another short-term goal.  It’s not that I want a neat and tidy blog post; it’s more that I like having some short-term success and I think it helps me stick to those medium and long-term goals better.  So I said to myself: Self, what were you really looking to get out of your short-term goal to run the Parkway?  I thought about it and concluded that what was behind my choice of that goal was a desire to get back into the road racing scene, because it’s fun and because it gives me achievements to help me along in my journey.  I don’t have to target the Parkway as a goal race; I can target any race that I want to do.

So I checked out some other races in my area, and I picked a new goal race: the Healthy Strides Community 10K, in April 2013, at Burke Lake Park.  (There’s also a 5K option if I decide I need to drop down.)  It’s a more manageable distance and – bonus – it’s at one of my favorite northern Virginia parks.  I know the race course very well, since hubby and I have hiked it quite a few times – most recently when I was 11 weeks pregnant.  (That was a long day.  I slept in the car on the way home.)

I’ll do the Parkway someday.  Maybe in 2014 – who knows?  Maybe when Peanut is a toddler, she’ll drive me so crazy that ten-miler or half marathon training will sound like a vacation.  In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy shorter workouts, get back into the racing scene with some more reasonable distances, and snuggle my baby as much as possible.

Have you ever revised a goal?

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The Essential Healthy Kitchen, Part III: Freezer

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(Since we’re all on the healthy eating bandwagon… for awhile, anyway… I’m doing a series on my favorite kitchen essentials for healthy cooking.  Catch up on Part I – pantry – and Part II – fridge – if you’d like to!)

The freezer is another contraption that no kitchen is complete without, and when used well it can be a fantastic arsenal for the healthy cook.  I love to stock mine with plenty of raw materials and – like with the pantry – there’s almost nothing that feels better than knowing I have a full freezer at my fingertips.  Here are my freezer essentials for healthy cooking:

Frozen Seafood.  We eat fish a couple of nights per week, because I love it, and I always have a few varieties on hand in the freezer.  I’ve usually got a big bag of shrimp (shelled, if I can get them) and a couple of bags of salmon fillets and tilapia fillets.  We buy our frozen fish from Costco, so we get them in huge quantities that last us several weeks and the quality is great too.  My favorite thing about the Costco fillets is that they are generally evenly cut and the same size, which means they all finish cooking at the same time, and there are no thin bits that are overcooked while the center remains raw (a pet peeve of mine).  I start to panic when we get low!

Frozen edamame.  With the shells, these make for a fun appetizer.  But shelled, they’re an incredibly versatile protein source!  I toss them in soups, defrost them and add them to salads, or saute them up for stir-fries and goddess bowls.  If I have a night where I don’t know what else to make, odds are I’m going to reach for edamame.

Frozen greens.  They’ve come a long way from the disgusting frozen spinach of your youth.  Whole Foods stocks frozen kale, frozen collards, and frozen green mixes and I always have a bit on hand.  My favorite is the frozen kale.  I’m always throwing it into soups and stews, or heating it up to toss with pasta and chicken or veggie sausage.  It’s great to have on hand for those days when you’re out of the fresh stuff.

Frozen berries.  Another Costco purchase, I have a gigantic bag of these in my freezer and it has seen me through many a breakfast smoothie.  I love to make my smoothies without ice, using just frozen berries – they cool the smoothie down without watering it down like ice cubes do.  And they’re a fun dessert too, just slightly defrosted in a bowl with a drizzle of milk.

Parmesan cheese rinds.  Whenever I finish a wedge of Parm, I stick the rind in a plastic baggie that I keep in the freezer for use later.  I make a big pot of vegetable soup many weeks, just to get rid of any aging vegetables from my crisper, and the Parmesan rind takes it from hum-drum to hum-dinger!  (Sorry.)  Just remember to fish it out before you eat…

Orange and Lemon Peels.  This is my favorite tip.  Whenever I’m using a lemon or orange for a dish or a snack, but not zesting it, I take a minute to peel the zest off in big strips, using a vegetable peeler (and carefully avoiding the bitter pith).  Since I use a lemon or orange almost every day, but don’t always zest it for a recipe, I’ve amassed a huge collection of strips of zest in baggies in my freezer.  They’re on hand for whenever I want to chop them up for adding to a side or dessert and they make me feel so gourmet.  I love looking at my little baggies of zest, ready and waiting for anytime I want to fancy up a recipe!

What ingredients do you keep in your freezer for healthy cooking?  Spill!  (Your secrets, that is, not the ingredients themselves please.)

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Peanut: Five Months

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Oh, yes, I’m a perfect angel.

This month has been huge. So much growth, so much change. If there’s one phrase I’ve uttered to Peanut more than anything else this month, it’s “You’re such a big girl!” This was the month that I felt Peanut went from being a newborn to being an honest-to-goodness baby.  She smiles spontaneously.  She giggles.  She babbles.  She plays with toys – and her hands.  It’s like she’s growing up right before my eyes.  Too weird.

zebra

Give me your secrets, zebra, or I will take your rings.

I have mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand, I’m so proud that my little girl is making such huge developmental strides.  Every time she does something new, I cheer (outwardly and inwardly).  I congratulate her and tell her how great she is.  Every milestone is extra special to me, after the drudgery of days spent in the NICU.  But they’re also a little bit bittersweet, because… well… like I said, she’s growing up before my eyes.  When she was under three pounds, I didn’t know what the next day would look like – and that was awful.  But now I can picture her as a toddler, a preschooler, a kindergartener.  The days are going by so fast and I just want time to sloooooooooow down.  (Seriously, where was this light-speed time when we were sitting in the NICU?  I’ve never seen a seconds hand crawl so slowly as it did in there; now the days race by.)  I’m just trying to enjoy every moment I have with my cuddly baby before she’s yanking all the pots and pans out of my cupboards.

oohlala

Bonjour, Maman! Je t’aime!

Speaking of enjoying the time we have together, now I really have to make it count, because – another big change this month – as of a week ago now, I’m back at work.  I have to say… I knew it would be difficult, but I didn’t know it would be this difficult.  The first thing I did when I got to my office last Monday was to set up about half a dozen pictures of Peanut on my desk, but it’s not the same thing as having the real, live, cooing and smiling Peanut right in my arms.  I got plenty of good advice from my mom friends about how to make the transition easier, and I’m trying to take it, but it’s going to take awhile before I get used to leaving Peanut at home – if I ever do.  And I have it easy, when you think about it.  Peanut is at home with her aunt all day (an experienced nanny in the family = jackpot) and I have an interesting job that I actually like, where I get to work with a great group of kind, caring people.  And still I’m a wreck.  I can’t imagine what it would be like if Peanut didn’t have a caregiver who loves her almost as much as I do, or if I hated my job or worked with mean people.  I’m lucky, and I’m still a weepy mess.  For a couple of days I really enjoyed wearing dangly earrings all day (Peanut is grabby) but the novelty’s worn off and now I just want my baby.  Ah, well, I’ll get used to it.

Peanut at 5 Months

Adjusted Age: 3 months

Weight: 10 lbs, 7 oz

Clothing Size: 3 months – yay!  It was sad to pack away so many of Peanut’s cute clothes, but she got TONS of outfits in her new size from Santa and her grandparents this Christmas, and the silver lining is that I get to play with them all.  We’ve been having fashion shoots on the Boppy lounger.

Sleep: Still challenging.  On the advice of Peanut’s pediatrician, we’ve instituted a 7:00 p.m. bottle-and-bedtime.  (Before, we were feeding Peanut on a more round-the-clock, NICU-style schedule.)  The bedtime is mandatory, but Peanut views it as a negotiation.  We’ve had many, many nights of cuddle… put down… cry… paci… cry harder… cuddle… put down… cry… paci… cry harder – and the cycle can go on for hours.  Seriously, there have been nights on which I’ve “put Peanut down” at 7:30 and not fallen into bed myself until after 10:30.  Three hours of “negotiating” with a baby who is determined not to sleep in her crib is nothing short of exhausting.  Especially when it happens multiple nights in a row.  I think part of the problem may be that Peanut has experienced a lot of changes in a short period of time – her feeding schedule changed, she was unswaddled, Mom went back to work, Auntie Em started taking care of her, and she was hit with a new bedtime, all pretty much at once.  So we’ve gone back to swaddling for awhile, just until she gets used to some of the other changes.  I do think the bedtime will eventually click if we’re patient, but it’s the process of trying to establish it that is just wiping me out.  I’m bone tired, and so is hubby.

Likes: Her hands.  They are the coolest.  THE.  COOLEST.  Also likes playing with her soccer ball and her zebra; Lady GaGa (big smiles whenever Mommy sings the opening bars of “Bad Romance,” which I agree are pretty funny); the pendant lights in the kitchen (I hate them, but now I’m so glad I was too lazy to replace them when we moved in).

Dislikes: Bedtime.  Bedtime.  Bedtime.  Socks.  Bedtime.

Favorite Toys: Aside from her own hands, which are the most fascinating toys around these days, Peanut is in L-O-V-E with her Fisher Price Ocean Wonders rattle – it was the first toy she intentionally reached for – and she can’t get enough time playing with her Taggies soccer ball or her Bright Starts zebra.

Milestones: Reaches for and grasps toys; has discovered hands and spends hours looking at them, bringing them together and putting them in her mouth; smiles spontaneously; giggles!

Quirks: We’ll have to wait to see if I’m right about this, but I think Peanut might be left-handed like her dad.  I don’t know if it’s a trait that can be observed this young, so I could be totally wrong.  But I’ve had this suspicion for awhile – even back in the NICU, she had more success getting her left thumb in her mouth than her right thumb.  I didn’t think much about it (had other things on my mind) but a friend with a baby boy about a month older than Peanut told me at the time that her little guy had been going after his left thumb too, and she thought he might be a lefty.  I forgot about it until recently, when Peanut started playing with her toys and I noticed she reached and grasped more, and showed more dexterity and strength, with her left hand than with her right.  At first I thought it might be because I am right-handed, so when I sit facing her and hold her toys for her with my right hand, they’re on the left side of her body and of course she reaches for them with her left hand.  But I tried switching my hand and I noticed she wasn’t as good at reaching and grabbing toys with her right hand, and that she would sometimes even reach across her body to get at a toy with her left hand.  And I also took note of the fact that she still has more success getting her left hand to her mouth than her right (although by now, she can get the right hand in her mouth quite readily too, and she really has no preference – she’ll suck on any hand that comes within licking range).  So I am now becoming very curious to see which hand will be her dominant hand.  I really hope it’s her left, because I think it would be so cool to have spotted it when she was five months old.  But only time will tell if I’m right!

gosbares

They skate around chasing after a plastic hamburger? Makes sense to me.

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The Essential Healthy Kitchen, Part II: Fridge

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(Psst – missed Part I, where I talked about my favorite healthy pantry ingredients?  Check it out here.)

Ahhhh, the fridge.  Command Central for healthy eating.  Home to fresh ingredients – produce, dairy, the works.  No kitchen is complete without one, and I like to strategically stock mine with the raw materials for all kinds of healthy meals.

Veggies.  This one’s a given, right?  I keep most veggies in my fridge.  (Winter squash and potatoes go in the pantry, but everything else is fridge-bound.)  I’ve always, always, got salad greens, carrots, onions, cucumbers and broccoli on hand – those are the most basic of basics in my casa.  Other frequent visitors include kale, baby spinach, brussels sprouts, cabbage, red and green bell peppers.  When I’m feeling particularly fancy, I’ll also pick up some fresh mint or cilantro, my two favorite fresh herbs.

Fruits.  Another given.  I am a huge fan of fruit – it’s my favorite food group – and I always need at least a little bit in the fridge.  I try to eat in season, both because that’s when produce has the most nutrients and it’s the cheapest.  So I favor apples and Asian pears in the fall, citrus in the winter, stone fruits and berries in the spring and summer.  At the moment my fruit drawer is stocked with avocados (I always have those on hand for salads, Mexican food night, sandwiches, smoothies and snacks), oranges (I’m trying to eat lots of cold-preventing foods), lemons (another fridge constant) and a few apples (Honeycrisp are my favorites).

Eggs.  They’re a quick, easy protein – I whip up scrambles for “brinner” (breakfast for dinner) many nights when I just can’t face anything more complicated.  If I have any eggs left from a carton after a week in the fridge (I usually do), I hard-boil them and eat them for snacks or lunch.  I know eggs get a bad rap sometimes, but I think they’re great.  I buy Omega-3 fortified eggs and we eat them in moderation for a kick of protein that feels more indulgent than it really is.

Yogurt and Skim Milk.  These were two of my biggest cravings during pregnancy.  In fact, one of the first hints I had that something was “different” with me was when hubby and I were grocery shopping and I suddenly felt a massive urge to drink skim milk, which I rarely bought before getting pregnant.  And my Greek yogurt “like” turned to full-on “love” when Peanut took up residence.  Even now that she’s out of the oven, I’m still enjoying skim milk, although not in the quanties I did while pregs.  (I pounded that first half-gallon in one day.)  And I love Greek yogurt for being a low-cal, fat-free source of protein and calcium.

Nuts.  I keep nuts in the fridge since they go rancid too quickly in the pantry.  They’re high-cal, high-fat nuggets, so I practice careful portion control, but they make for a wonderful hit of protein and healthy fats.  My favorites are pecans and almonds, so I always have at least one or the other kicking around my fridge.  I use them for snacks occasionally, but more often for sprinkling over salads or my morning yogurt or oatmeal.

Hummus.  This one is for hubby, since he can’t get enough of the stuff (although I like it too).  Hummus makes a wonderful sandwich spread instead of mayo, but hubby especially likes it for dipping pretzels or veggie crudites.  I love to put it out when we want a snack – it’s far better than a high-fat dip (although it does have some fat from the olive oil and tahini, so mind yourself).  I will occasionally make my own hummus or bean spreads, but I don’t always have time, so many weeks we buy a tub of our favorite grocery store brand and that stands in for us until I have a few minutes to whip up a homemade batch.

Dates.  They’re nature’s candy!  I love to grab a date or two for a sweet treat at the end of a meal (unless I’m having a square of dark chocolate) or for fuel before long runs when I’m training for a race.  I buy a big tub from Costco, and it lasts me forever.

What do you keep in your healthy fridge?

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Peanut’s Picks: DEAR ZOO

Peanut here, back with another book recommendation for the toddling-and-under set.  Today I want to talk about a book that is very close to my little baby heart, Dear Zoo.

Dear Zoo: A Lift-the-Flap Book by Rod…Dear Zoo, by Rod Campbell, is a very wonderful book because it supports the notion that all children should have puppies.  Oh, darn, I just gave away the ending.  Anyway, the story goes like this: this super intelligent, smart and resourceful child writes to the zoo to ask for a pet.  Zoo sends an elephant, but elephant is obviously too big, so kid sends him back.  Kid is clearly very discerning and smart and knows not to take the first offer.  (My mommy says you should never take the first offer.  I don’t know what that means because I’m only 9 1/2 pounds, but it sounds good.)  Zoo then sends a giraffe, then lion, snake, monkey… kid sends them all back for one reason or another.  Until zoo sends a puppy.  Kid keeps the puppy.

I think the protagonist of this book is well worth admiring and emulating.  I mean, she (this has to be a girl, right?) wants a pet.  I’m sure her parents were super mean and said no.  She has my sympathies here.  I don’t have any pets.  Mommy says she already has a little animal in the house who eats constantly and poops everywhere.  Who do you think she could be talking about?  My money’s on Daddy.  Anyway, I really liked this book because I learned that if my parents won’t let me have a pet, the zoo will.  HA HA MOMMY YOU LOSE.

Lesson for parents: Give me a puppy, because if you don’t, I will write to the zoo and they will send me something bigger.

Mommy says I should tell you to buy the book here.  This isn’t an affiliate link because Mommy is too sleep-deprived to join any programs.

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The Essential Healthy Kitchen, Part I: Pantry

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As we all continue trying to live our best, healthiest lives in January (before February arrives and everyone falls off the wagon at the first sight of Valentine’s chocolates), I thought I’d do a mini-series of posts talking about the ingredients I’ve found to be key in my healthy kitchen.  Now, I’m not claiming to be any kind of an expert here.  But I try to put healthy meals on the table for my family every night most weeks (although I’ve succumbed to takeout a bit more than usual with an infant in the house) and over my years of cooking I’ve developed some preferences.  So I’m going to share my favorites over a series of four posts.  Part I will focus on my pantry essentials, in Part II we’ll talk fridge, Part III will be devoted to the freezer, and in Part IV I’ll share some of my favorite kitchen tools for healthy eating.

I think the pantry might be the most important part of my kitchen.  I love the feeling of well-being that comes with a full (and organized!) pantry.  I love knowing that I have everything I need at my fingertips, whether I’m pulling together an entire dinner from pantry ingredients because I’m due for a trip to the grocery store, or whether I’m just flavoring up something fresh from the fridge.  And there are a few pantry ingredients I can’t live without.

Herbs de Provence, Thyme and Oregano.  Dried herbs are one of the best ways to bring flavor to a dish without blowing your calorie budget, but they can be tricky.  I’m not a fan of most dried herbs – I think fresh is usually best.  Mint, for instance, is an herb that I’ve bought dried in the past and you know what it tastes like?  Nothing.  At least, nothing like fresh mint.  I love fresh mint so much that I’ll always, always spring for the real thing.  But there are a few herbs that I must have dried in my kitchen – namely thyme, which I like both fresh and dried, oregano, which really benefits from being dried (fresh is way too strong), and Herbs de Provence, my favorite blend.  I sprinkle them over pasta dishes, in egg scrambles, soups, stews and anything else I can think of.

Spices.  Here’s one area where I’ll probably never pare down.  I love spices, and they’re another great way to add flavor without fat or calories.  I buy plenty of spices, but my favorites are cinnamon, curry powder, ancho chili powder, and Northwoods seasoning mix (a Penzey’s blend).  Although I use plenty of different spices, those are my top must-haves for flavoring foods.

Fancy Salts.  Sure, excess sodium is pretty bad for you.  I try to avoid processed foods because of the sodium, but there is definitely a place for salt in a healthy pantry.  As with things like chocolate, I firmly believe that buying the good stuff means you can use less to better effect.  I always have Maldon sea salt on hand for finishing dishes, and I usually have a couple of other salts as well.  Right now I’m working my way through a little pot of French Grey sea salt that I acquired from R, and I also have a jar of lavender salt for when I’m feeling particularly fancy.  The better the flavor, the further you can go on just a little pinch.

Beans (canned and dried).  I love making heirloom dried beans from scratch, and I keep several bags in my pantry for long winter days when I don’t have anywhere to be and I can devote plenty of time to soaking and cooking beans.  (There’s not much active labor involved, but you do need to be around to babysit once they go on the stove.)   But for quick weeknight meals, I keep plenty of canned beans around.  Hubby loves chickpeas, while I favor cannelini beans or black beans – so we keep copious amounts of all three handy.  They’re great for soups, stews and chilis, salads, goddess bowls, Mexican food night – you name it.  (Just remember, if you buy canned, look for a brand that doesn’t use BPA in the can linings – yech – and rinse the beans well before adding them to your dish!)  On those nights when I’ve gone awhile since making a grocery run and I’m scrounging dinner from the pantry, beans are almost always involved.

Quinoa.  I’ve already told you that quinoa is one of my favorite healthy swaps.  I’ll use it in place of rice in almost every dish (except for risotto or rice pudding), because it’s healthier and quicker than most rices.  I keep other whole grains on hand too – I do have rice, for when I’ve got lots of time on my hands, and I always stock barley, millet, rolled oats, and often a grain mix.  But when I want a grain to go with dinner (well, it’s really a seed, but who’s counting?) I almost always reach for quinoa.

Olive oil.  While I don’t follow any particular diet or eating plan, my eating style tends to be similar to the “Mediterranean Diet” and that means I eat my share of olive oil.  I have several different extra-virgin olive oils (and other oils, too, but olive is my favorite).  They are great for adding flavor and healthy fats to dishes.  (They are still oils, though, so don’t go crazy.)  I always have the following: a less expensive, generic EVOO to use for cooking; a nice EVOO for finishing or drizzling over salads (I love Olave brand); and at least one infused oil (I keep white truffle-infused oil on hand because I love it, even though hubby’s not a huge fan, and I often have a basil-infused oil from Olave kicking around the pantry too; right now I’m also loving the blood orange-infused oil from Olio Tasting Room).  And for very special treats, I have a little bottle of EVOO that my parents picked up in Tuscany.

Dark Chocolate.  Sometimes I want a little something sweet to finish off a meal, and a square of dark chocolate is just the ticket.  Just a wee nibble is enough, since it’s a strong flavor, and you’ll feel as though you had a special treat without breaking the calorie bank.  I keep bars on hand and break off a square or two a few times each week – not too often, but enough so that I don’t feel deprived (because feeling deprived is NOT healthy).  My favorite bars are Chocolove – almonds and sea salt in dark chocolate, or candied ginger in dark chocolate.  Again, a little goes a long way!

Tea.  I saved the best for last!  Plenty of research shows that drinking tea is all kinds of healthy.  Black tea packs potent antioxidants.  Green tea helps with weight loss, and brings antioxidants of its own.  And there’s an herbal for whatever ails you.  Plus, if you don’t pour sugar or honey in, tea is calorie-free!  (I rarely sweeten my tea, since I like to taste the tea itself.  I’ll do a bit of milk and sugar in an English afternoon tea, once in a blue moon, but the vast majority of the cups I brew are unsweetened.)  I always have black tea on hand, and lots of it in many different flavors, because it’s my favorite.  I keep a bit of green tea knocking about the pantry too, and a tin of coconut oolong from the Spice and Tea Exchange in Alexandria, which I love.  For herbals I favor chamomile (especially Celestial Seasonings honey vanilla or Traditional Medicinals chamomile with lavender), but I always have Celestial Seasonings “Mint Magic” around because it was my favorite tea as a child.  I go through several cups each day, so my healthy pantry would be woefully incomplete without a wide selection.

What’s in your healthy pantry?  What good-for-you ingredients can’t you live without?

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My Favorite Healthy Swaps

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Since it’s January, I expect many of us are embarking on healthy eating challenges and setting new goals to be more active, consume more veggies, etc.  I love January, because I love challenges and turning over a new leaf.  I know, I know, you don’t need to wait for the New Year to commit to making healthy changes in your life.  But for those of you who are on the New Year’s Resolution train right now… raises hand… here are some of my favorite healthy swaps so you can keep the delicious coming out of your kitchen, but maybe without all those cals.

Greek Yogurt instead of Sour Cream.  This one gets prime billing because it is my all-time favorite healthy swap.  I’m not gonna lie.  I love sour cream.  My grandmother used to make a cucumber salad with sour cream at the holidays, and man I could do some damage to that thing.  But I’m going to let you in on a little secret (actually it’s not much of a secret) – nonfat Greek yogurt tastes almost exactly the same as sour cream.  Like, seriously, almost exactly the same.  And it has fewer calories and more protein, plus it packs a wallop of calcium.  I love the taste of Greek yogurt and I’ll eat it plain by the bucket (especially when pregnant – it was one of my biggest cravings and I ate it pretty much every day).  But it works incredibly well as a sub for sour cream in things like potato salad, chicken salad, cucumber salad or chilled cucumber soup, and Mexican food.  (I always have it on hand for dolloping during chili, taco or enchilada night.)  And it’s great swirled into soups or mashed potatoes for a creamy accent.

Quinoa instead of Rice.  I am a huge fan of quinoa.  I buy it in bulk from Costco and go through the stuff like water.  I love it for stirring into soups and stews, sprinkling over salads and even baking into muffins, but I’ll also use quinoa in place of rice in pretty much every dish that calls for rice – stir-fries, pilafs, etc.  Partially, this is to save time: unless you buy par-boiled, rice takes about an hour to cook, and who has that kind of time?  Quinoa is twenty minutes, tops, wham, bam, thank you ma’am.  Oh, and it’s mad nutritious.  Quinoa is a complete protein and much lower in carbs than rice (even brown or wild rice, which I favor for the nutrition when I do take the time to make rice, which is almost never).  It’s light and fluffy like rice, but without the starch coma.

Applesauce instead of Butter or Oil.  This is for the bakers out there.  Most people have heard of the trick of subbing in applesauce for some of the butter and oil to lighten up a recipe.  I think most bakers probably sub in applesauce for about half of the butter and oil, but I’m here to tell you that you can go further.  One day, I decided to try cutting the oil completely out of a muffin recipe and using all applesauce and you know what?  I couldn’t taste the difference at all.  If you’re sensitive to sweet tastes you might want to cut the sugar down a bit in the recipe, but I don’t think that’s even necessary if you use unsweetened applesauce.  It’s my favorite way to lighten up the calories and fat in baked goods.  I haven’t made a muffin or a quickbread with butter or oil in years and no one is ever the wiser.

White Whole Wheat instead of All-Purpose Flour.  Healthy bakers love-love-LOVE to swap whole wheat for all-purpose flour in their baked goods.  The general rule is to use half whole wheat flour, half all-purpose for more protein and nutrition.  But what if you don’t want your baked goods to taste… dare I say it… healthy?  Because let’s face it, most of the time whole wheat muffins taste like something your hippie aunt scraped off her floor.  But what if I told you there was another way?  Enter white whole wheat flour.  Made from a different kind of wheat, it’s still a whole grain flour, but without that characteristic whole wheat taste (you know, the one that screams “I’M GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!”).  It tastes a bit more distinctive than all-purpose, but like with applesauce, I’ve found that very few people can tell that I’m using a healthy ingredient instead of the traditional.  Most bakers will still sub one-third to half white whole wheat, and use all-purpose for the other half, but again, I usually go whole hog and use all white whole wheat in my baked goods, and people rarely notice.

Maple Syrup instead of White Sugar.  Because white sugar is the devil, right?  Okay, okay, I don’t really think that.  I think there’s a place for everything in a sensible diet, as long as you don’t go overboard.  But in general I like to pick the less-processed item, and I often sub in a “natural sweetener” in place of white sugar in baking recipes.  You can choose your favorite “natural sweetener” – mine happens to be maple syrup because I love the flavor, but you might prefer honey (like my hubby does) or agave nectar, or even Stevia.  Here you’ll want to do your own experimenting to determine the appropriate ratios if you’re swapping.  I usually reduce the sweetness by about 2/3 in my baked goods and use maple syrup instead of sugar (so, for instance, if a recipe called for 1 cup of sugar, I might use 2/3 cup of maple syrup instead).  It’s all about what works for your palate and the sweetener you choose.  For instance, I find honey to be a very strong flavor, so if I’m using it in a recipe I’m going to cut the sweetness WAY down, where I might have used more sweetener if I was going with maple syrup or agave nectar.  These “natural sweeteners” are generally more nutritious than white sugar – they have vitamins and minerals, and they’re less processed – but remember, they’re still sweeteners, so you can’t go crazy!  Everything in moderation, right?

Those are my favorite ways to bring a bit more nutrition into my kitchen.  What healthy swaps do you like to make?