Rachel's 5th Birthday!

Attachment Parenting

Why is this considered out of the mainstream? *sigh* I really can't remember how I happened upon this form of parenting. I do remember a friend telling me he was never spanked as a child. I would say he had a pretty unique personality -- certainly not like anyone I had ever met. He seems to be very generous with his friend -- I don't mean materially, either. Something I had read when I was in high school put me on the AP path, I think. I read a study about altruism. In it, researchers were trying to figure why some people helped Holocaust survivors and some didn't. They looked at nationality, religion, etc. What they found is that those who risked their lives for a total stranger were not spanked as children. That was very profound to me and here I am.

I did want to subscribe the traditional tenets of attachment parenting -- really I did. I wanted to breastfeed, but both Rachel and I had issues, and I just pumped for a month. I wanted to babywear, but Rachel developed reflux and she was put on an apnea monitor. I wanted to co-sleep, but Rachel was perfectly happy in her basinett and, later, crib.

Luckily (?), she caught a cold when she was 7 months old and started to co-sleep. She is still in our room, but this is the year of the big transition. :)

While I would have loved to do all those things, to me, attachment parenting is about being 'present' for your child. We have so many things distracting us during the day. Even if you're a SAHM, you'd like to cook and clean once and awhile. But I believe AP is about balance and sometimes the balance goes towards your child and a messy house.

We've also made financial sacrifices so that one of us would be at home. No longer are we going to Hawaii every year. We didn't eve have a summer vacation this year. But if it means my DH can stay home, then everything is worth it.

My Day in Court with Marilyn Manson

Okay, so Marilyn (aka Brian Warner) did not show up, but his lawyers did. I'm sure he and every other celebrity gets sued every day of the week. In this case, two guys said that Manson's bodyguard accosted them, made one erase his videotape, and took the videotape of the other. It would have been nice if they had some evidence. You know maybe I could believe a security guard grabbed one of them and pushed them back inside the venue. But all they had was Manson's bodyguard saying his name on the audio portion of the tape -- the picture is too dark to discern anything. Doesn't mean he's the guy that did the pushing. And did they bother to bring in the police report? How hard is it to get a copy? Nope, nada. I can understand they didn't file one because they didn't know anyone's name. That is plausible, so why not tell the truth? When you start lying, it's hard to believe everything else. So the case took all of two days and we took all of two hours to decide. I think it took longer for the judge to get the paperwork to us. It was a nice change of pace from work, but, please people, if you want to sue someone, have a shred of evidence.

An exciting venture!

Ummm...we're starting a new school. Yep, with teachers and kids and curriculum and all that jazz. It's actually very exciting. We keep hearing horror stories about public schools and not everyone is comfortable with homeschooling. Sooo...we are coming up with an alternative school. It will only be for 3 days a week. We are really at the beginning stages, but it looks like we are *very* close to getting a site. I think that is probably the biggest hurdle. It would be nice to find someone who'd love to set up a curriculum, but we are okay with just signing up people to do individual classes. So, I gotta learn about private school laws, etc. Did I already say this is all very exciting? I think it's something that is severely needed in our area. It's, also, something we can participate as a family and as a community. It's wonderful to think that we may create something way bigger than ourselves. Yes, very exciting. :)

School uniforms

Ugh. My daughter is starting Kindergarten in September. Public school is more like a last resort for us, but I really didn't think much about uniforms. When the teacher at our new school said the uniform is red, white, and blue, I was imagining jeans with a red and white print shirt. Ummmm...no. We're talking stiff blue slacks or skirts with a white or red polo shirt. I don't think Rachel is gonna be thrilled. The poor girl doesn't want to go to school in the first place and now we're foisting this awful dress code on her. Yeesh! At least the private school had a cute plaid going on and the charter doesn't even have uniforms. I don't have a good feeling about this...