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Responding to the Needs of Houseplants
Ever since I read Harmonious Environment and How to Grow Fresh Air, I’ve been committed to bringing more plants into our home. There’s only one gigantic glitch: I’m terrible at taking care of them.… Read MoreSeriously, I unintentionally (yet systematically) kill plant after plant that I invite into our house, even when they are supposedly the easiest plants to take care of. It sucks.
However, I am slowly getting better and better. I’ve started to approach my houseplant tasks more like a scientist. I pay more attention to the plants and try to be more responsive to what it is that they seem to need. I’ve realized that I can’t
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Holiday Preparations
Our new holiday countdown calendar is completely ready to go. I drew up some shapes (a tree, candy cane, holly, and something else that isn’t coming to mind), wrote a festive activity on each one, laminated them (yes, I have a home laminator–I can’t help it; I’m an elementary school teacher!), and cut them out. Our plan is to start our festivities the Sunday after Thanksgiving.… Read MoreMy goal is to have all of our supplies ready in advance, so we don’t have to waste any time gathering things for our various projects. For one of the activities, we’re going to make baked goods for our colleagues. I got Matt
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DVD Review: Happiest Baby on the Block
A friend of mine recommended that I watch The Happiest Baby on the Block. She said the DVD was way better than the book, so Matt and I netflixed it.… Read MoreAlthough I found aspects of the movie disconcerting, I still recommend that parents of newborns watch it. I feel like I have some strategies in my toolkit to pull out when Matt and I are trying to cope with fussiness.
The main ideas presented by the movie are listed below. I’m not sure how I feel about swaddling, and shhh-ing really loudly in a baby’s ear seems alarming. Then there’s the whole “jiggle your baby’s head like it’s a
