Music for Kids and Grown-Ups

Posted on May 16, 2005 by Katy K.

A while back, garrity was asking for adult music, in English, that would be fun for kids to listen to. Here I have nearly the exact opposite – fun music meant for kids that adults will have fun listening to as well. This is the kind of music that I would put on for a party, or driving, or to motivate myself to do housecleaning, whether or not there are kids around. It is not your stereotypical mellow and sugary sweet kids’ music. And because I like world music, some of these have songs in other languages, too.

African Playground from Putumayo Kids
Latin American Playground from Putumayo Kids
OK, I don’t think I’ve heard a bad album from Putumayo yet, but these are really faboo. The songs are all outstanding, from acclaimed artists from all over the regions. They’re sung in whatever appropriate native language. The liner notes include a pronunciation guide for the artist and song title, background notes on the country, artist, and song, and complete lyrics in both the original language and English. I think there’s a Carribean Playground that I haven’t listened to yet, too. Everything you need to get down and jam with your global kids.

Kids at Heart by Golden Bough This one is Celtic music for kids, and it is sizzlin’ hot and jiggy.

All for Freedom by Sweet Honey in the Rock If you don’t know Sweet Honey in the Rock, you should. This all women, all-black a capella group defines soul in my book. They’ve done two kids’ albums, both of which I’ve really enjoyed. This album features a lot of traditional spirituals, together with some reflections on freedom and what it means. Like most of their work, it is both amazing to listen to and thought-provoking.

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Diaper Shops

Posted on May 7, 2005 by Katy K.

The diapering world is nearly all on-line. Really, I haven’t seen anything in a regular store worth using except as a burp rag. On-line, there are zillions of players, from the relatively big small businesses, to tiny places where mothers make diapers as they have time and then sell them. Here are the places I’ve shopped:

Places I regularly go to:
http://www.naturalbabies.com – The navigation and site design here are pitiful. But Colleen carries all the most popular brands, including our favorite FuzziBunz and SugarPeas. Her prices are standard to cheap, and she ships things right away. Usually that day if you place an order before noon, and the next day on orders placed at night. She’s in Northville, just a couple towns over from us, so the combo means I get my stuff super fast.

http://www.zensicallife.com – This site was brand-new when I first visited in December. She has bulk discounts on Sugar Peas (carries other brands as well), and loyalty discounts after you spend set amounts of money.

http://www.babybunz.com – This is the only site I’ve seen that sells the ultra-cheap Snugglebottoms diapers. Not our favorites, but like I said, cheap. This company is big enough to do a print catalog, too.

Places I’ve been once:
So I didn’t anticipate going to lots and lots of stores, but sometimes places have sales that I hear about, and I try them. I’ve also bought some fun novelty diapers, both for Mr. Froggy Pants and for baby showers.

http://www.nurturedfamily.com – They had the Baby Bits that we use for our wipes water in stock, and gave me nice coupons for other stuff. OK, I guess I’ve been there twice.

http://www.starbunz.com/ – I didn’t actually buy from here – but check out the list of retailers of these ultra-cute animal diapers. I bought from one of them, but they’ve changed their name since, and anyway, it was just the cute, cute, diaper.

http://www.kellyscloset.com/ – This is another bigger place with a Print Catalog, and (very unusual) they sent everything individually shrink-wrapped. But, they have lots of stuff, regular specials, and always offer free shipping.

http://www.fernandfaerie.com – This is the home of the ultra-cute Recycle Diaper, made from thrift store jeans or t-shirts. They’re a bit pricey for everyday wear, but you know you want at least one.

http://tushiecoverz.com/ – OK, I bought one of her items in a charity auction at http://www.wahmchicks.com/ It was a very cool fleece diaper embroidered with a Japanese dragon. Again, too expensive for every day, and she doesn’t make that many of them, but very cool.

I haven’t been here, but they sound cool:
http://www.treecitydiapers.com – Molly lives in Ann Arbor, and, if you live in the area, will deliver to your door, or let you come to her house and look at the goods in person. [Update 2007: Now our natural parenting store of choice, especially since she has a real store. We don’t need more diaper supplies, but she has lots of really cool toys and a large selection of baby wearing products.]

http://www.cottonbabies.com – They will trade in used diapers for the next size up, and you can also buy second-hand diapers here. They also include free inserts with their FuzziBunz. Not the hemp inserts, but still a good deal. This is one of the best-known diaper sites.

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More diaper stuff

Posted on May 4, 2005 by Katy K.

Yes, I was asked, so I wrote up how we wash diapers. But to spare you non cloth-diapering types, I investigated the lj cut feature.

How to wash diapers my way

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One Classic and Three Sequels

Posted on May 3, 2005 by Katy K.

All right. So for this outing, we have one Classic Graphic Novel, for the education of sapphireone, and three sequels, solely for her reading pleasure on recovering from surgery. I’ll be getting back to new adult and more mainstream books soon – but books like these are hot bubble baths for sapphireones.

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons This is a hard book to review, and hard to read. Watchmen is one of the classics of the graphic novel genre, one of the ones that people point to when wishing to demonstrate that comics can be serious and geared towards adults. The Watchmen refers to former superheroes, now forbidden from acting as superheroes, and dealing with both the murder of one of their least likeable members and impending nuclear war. Although it involves superheroes, right and wrong are hard to tell apart. It is compelling, violent, difficult, and the most interesting characters are the least likeable. Read it at your own peril.

Enna Burning by Shannon Hale In this sequel to Goose Girl, which I previously reviewed, we return to the land of Bayern, now following the best friend of the princess. It’s a good book, but sadly, not quite as fabulous as the first one.

Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War by Clive Barker This sequel, on the other hand, is just as fabulous and fantastic as the first book, Abarat. Our heroine, Candy Quackenbush, is still exploring the many islands of the Abarat, each a different hour of the day and filled with its own particular wonders. She makes some new friends and pursues old ones, all the while pursued by the evil Christopher Carrion and his mother Mater Motley. The book, like the first one, is printed on heavy glossy paper, with full color paintings by the author illustrating the events and strange creatures described. You’ll want to start with the first one if you haven’t read it yet, but this is fantasy of the most blissful sort, full of great beauty, great evil, memorable characters and a marvelous adventure.

The Usurper’s Crown by Sarah Zettel I read a lot of Sarah, and will be reading more, as we have two more new books of hers just waiting to be read. She writes what I consider to be superlative fantasy – detailed worlds that are not too confusing to remember, intricate plots, and well-rounded, larger-than-life but still very human characters, none of whom is truly evil. This last is particularly rare in the world of fantasy, where the good guys are usually out against a Big Bad. This particular book is the second in the Isavalta series, switching between Lake Superior and a fantasy world resembling Russia and surrounding countries. It’s actually set earlier in time that the first book, explaining many of the characters we met there. Ingrid Loftfield was living an ordinary life on Lake Superior when she fell in love with the man who saved her sister. He thought he was in permanent exile from Isavalta and his position as the empress’s sorcerer – but when she calls him back, they both go.

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motor skills

Posted on April 29, 2005 by Katy K.

Why Motor Skills Matter by Tara Losquando-Little
The answer to the question in the title is easy – motor skills matter because later skills depend on the earlier ones having been mastered. Good motor skills can be helpful in supporting a healthy social life, as all of us who were picked last for the ball team can attest. The tricky part is whether or not to recommend this book. On the one hand, it has really valuable information that I haven’t seen other places – what skills develop when, the smaller intermediary steps that are necessary for the bigger things to develop, things that you can do to help or hinder your child’s development. On the other hand, the organization is somewhat confusing and the writing not exactly scintillating. The books covers motor development in children from birth to five years. This is split into three big sections: the first year, 1 to 3 years and 3 to 5 years. So far, so good. But then each section is split into multiple smaller sections, on different topics and then smaller age ranges, so that it gets difficult to figure out exactly what age of child she is referring to, and, even more confusing, if she says “older child”, whether she means older in the same time frame or the next step up. Yikes! Also, she uses a lot of technical language which she defines once and then keeps using, even when ordinary language would work. For instance, why does she insist that crawling be called creeping and creeping be called commando crawling? Another good thing, kind of – she includes lists of recommended toys for different ages, but doesn’t include pictures of them. If you find the topic, see if your library has it before you buy it, and then I’d consider this one a prime candidate for skimming and looking at the boxes, rather than trying to read cover to cover as I did.

For those who don’t have patience even for that, here’s my list of interesting or important ideas from the book:

Things to do:
– Turn your baby over onto the side before picking up – this helps develop stronger head muscles, rather than overextending them backwards.
– Start working with a real cup at six months.
– Do tummy time lots for short periods, rather than one long period.
– Let your baby explore on the floor as much as possible.
– Use bouncy seats for small babies, and swings are also good.
– Go barefoot as much as possible

Things not to do:
– Don’t use, or strictly limit, time in an exersaucer or bouncer – this encourages bad posture, skipping important developmental steps, and stifles curiosity.
– Don’t use only sippy cups – regular cups are better for learning to drink.
– Don’t scrape the contents of the spoon off onto the upper lip – let baby learn to close his or her mouth around the spoon.
– Don’t use shoes with soles that baby can’t bend – proper walking involves bending the feet.

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Classics

Posted on April 19, 2005 by Katy K.

Well, I was supposed to have this talk for the teens on classics and award winners. I didn’t, because I ended up having my appendix out the day before and didn’t feel like toddling in to the library in my hospital gown dragging my IV pole along. But I still have this nice list of a dozen classics-and-award-winners that I think would be interesting to 7th and 8th graders. If you’re interested, I can give you the whole list. But for now, here are the classics that I read just for this assignment.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley I’m not much into horror. OK, really, I’m not into horror at all. But the teens seem to be, so I thought I’d try something to appeal to them. Frankenstein was written in the early 19th century by the wife of the poet Shelley, who was inspired when she eloped with him (leaving his pregnant wife at home) and spent some time with Shelley and Byron reading ghost stories in Switzerland. Fascinating, no? The story, as Naked pointed out, has one of the most complicated narrative structures ever: a captain writing letters to his sister, in which he narrates the story told to him by a man he finds at sea, who at times switches to first-person narration told to him. This is the original horror novel, and the genre has changed quite a bit since then. Rather than reveling in suspense and gore, we are plunged into the depths of despair and urged to feel pity and revulsion for Frankenstein, the creator of the monster he realizes he should never have unleashed upon the world – as well as for the monster, who feels driven to atrocities when he realizes that he is doomed to be despised.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury This one wasn’t on my parent’s science fiction shelf, but after watching Fahrenheit 9/11, I thought it would be interesting to read the original. Yep, you guessed, it’s about censorship. It feels increasingly timely in this climate where Pixie’s library won’t subscribe to databases that reference gay books, and schools here cancelled an author visit from an acclaimed teen author on hearing that her books contained one or two dirty words. The story itself, while clearly a product of the 50s is still riveting. Guy Montag is a fireman whose job is to burn books and the houses that contain them. His wife stays home socializing with her TV family. He thinks life is fine, until he meets a 17-year-old girl so vivid that he realizes how gray his life has been. She tells him that firemen used to put out fires, and that people used to think, before the books were banned. This one encounter sets Guy off on the Path of Doom.

The Children’s Homer translated and adapted by Padraic Colum The Odyssey is the original adventure story, and modern translations can rescue it from the obscurity of language that makes English classics so difficult to read. That was the idea, anyway. This particular translation, recommended by the teen librarian, was written in 1911 or so and uses beautiful poetic language, replete with “thees” and “thous”. The stories are lovely and heroic, and probably more suited for my 7th and 8th graders than the younger children the title would imply, though the title might put them off. My only two quibbles with the translation are as follows: first, it is actually a retelling, not a translation. Maybe someday I’ll get around to reading a direct translation. Secondly, I get the distinct impression that Odysseus is more a salty than a poetical character. Not having read the original, I can’t say what it sounds like, but this beautiful translation seems to pretty up the guy more than he probably deserves. It’s still a rolicking fun read.

Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy Ok, I didn’t actually finish this book. I started it, and got far enough to realize that it was going to be really, really depressing and decided I just didn’t need to deal with that post-surgery. It’s back at the library now.

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One High Fantasy

Posted on March 26, 2005 by Katy K.

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon My good friend first loaned me this trilogy to keep me company while recovering from surgery five years ago. It’s still one of my favorites. It’s really high fantasy, but the reader is drawn gently into both the world and the depth of the plot. In the beginning of the first book, Sheepfarmer’s Daughter, our heroine runs away from home to join a mercenary company with a good reputation. The action is absorbing and feels like a realistic portrayal of life with a mercenary company. It’s only gradually that we find out – with the naïve Paks – that this world has magic, and the standard elves, dwarves and orcs. In the second, and most difficult book, Divided Allegiance Paks leaves the Duke’s company for training with the religious Knights of Gird, a powerful saint, eventually falling afoul of some evil minor gods. In the final volume, Oath of Gold, Paks comes triumphantly into her own as a major force for good both spiritually and politically. OK, I admit that her final political triumph seems a little tacked on, but the threads of her growth are for the most part woven in securely from the very beginning. You can read this either as three separate books or bound together. But, if you like fantasy, this is a fine one. And if you’re willing to make the commitment to the 900 pages, it’s a good place to start with fantasy, with a compelling major character, detailed but not too fussy world, and a more gender-balanced world than Lord of the Rings (though I love that, too.) For me, I wondered how it is that I, a mostly-pacifist mama, can identify so strongly with a single, career soldier like Paksenarrion, as I was absorbed in her story while nursing my baby. Ah, the incongruities of life.

And a question for my readers: I’m going to do another set of booktalks for the teens. This time the topic is Classics and Award Winners, an area in which I’ve read considerably less than fantasy and sci-fi. So, do you have any suggestions of classics not more than about 200 pages in length and interesting to young teens?

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Cloth Diapering Resources

Posted on March 18, 2005 by Katy K.

Cloth diapering resources

I really love cloth diapering. And while I could write pages about why I love it, so many other people have already done so that it would be reinventing the wheel. Here’s my short list:

– I’m convinced it’s more comfortable for baby – would you choose plastic underwear?
– Yes, I am a card-carrying tree-hugger
– I also think it’s healthier
– I’ll take doing laundry over taking out the trash and extra shopping trips any day
– Money saving – at least a little
– Cloth diapers are so darn cute!

Information Articles:
Just about every diaper shop has its own series of articles on why cloth diapering is better. Here are some of my favorites:

The Diaper Shop Q&A Lots of the standards on the health benefits, but also a priceless article on “The Princess Method” of cleaning dirty diapers, and (for those of you worried about stink), an article about the author camping with her baby using cloth next to a baby using disposables.

The Diaper Dollar from PunkinButt – This article nicely breaks down the cost of using cloth diapers including the cost of washing them.

Diaper Cost Comparison from Katie’s Kisses – This article gives you two cost figures for cloth, one using the cheap prefolds, one using premium diapers. ( Most places just give the figure for prefolds.)

I know somewhere, once upon a time, I found a really great article explaining the different kinds of diapers out there, but can I find it now? Of course not!

In the meantime, if you’re wavering between different types of diapers, try reading the reviews on
Diaper Pin If you’re trying to find something to start with, I wouldn’t recommend this – there are just too many options out there, and you’ll get all confused.

If I have time, coming next… more fun places to go for diapers.

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Books I was meaning to read…

Posted on March 18, 2005 by Katy K.

…and finally did. You know, those books you keep hearing about, or reading about, and you say to yourself, “I really ought to read that book.” Here’s two I can now cross off my must-read list.

The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley If you have a baby and are having or want to forestall sleep problems, this is The Book being read in my circles. So, I had to read it to find out what the fuss was all about. The author of the book, a mother of four, was looking for a way to help her wakeful fourth child sleep through the night. She found two answers: either let the child cry until he falls asleep, or live with it. She wrote this book as a third option, a way to help a baby fall and stay asleep without the pain of cry-it-out methods. The book starts with the basics of safety and how sleep works in infants. Then, she starts the program: First, catalogue how your baby sleeps now – for naps and nighttime, where, how long, and how the baby fell asleep. Next, read through her suggestions and formulate a plan that you think will work. Try it for ten days, do the cataloguing thing again, and adjust any elements that you think need changing. She’s big on routines and teaching a child to fall asleep without a nipple in the mouth, and includes advice for crib-sleeping and co-sleeping babies, as well as tips for weaning a baby from co-sleeping to the crib. So, does it work? Well, happily my Mr. FP has never had the sleep problems she describes – waking every hour and not wanting to go back to sleep. On the plus side, she tested her methods with I think 70 or 80 mothers and had about a 95% success rate (I say about as I already returned the book.) She states is that this kind of method will take longer to work than cry-it-out methods, but that the once accomplished, the sleep patterns will be more firmly established than with cry-it-out methods. Using the full method requires a whole lot more record keeping and commitment than I’m willing to put into it at this point, particularly since we’re not having huge problems. This seems to be the case with most of the mothers I’ve talked about it with, as well. If you’re really desperate, they probably will work. If you’re looking for only minor improvements, there’s a smorgasbord of ideas to choose from, as well as suggestions for establishing good sleep habits before problems develop.

Ida B: – and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster and (Possibly) Save the World by Katherine Hannigan This is a beautiful, wonderful book. I left it out where my Mommy could read it while she was watching Mr. Froggy Pants, and she read it in one sitting. (OK, part of that was Mr. Froggy Pants wanting to cuddle with his grandma, but still.) Eleven-year-old Ida B, after a traumatizing experience with public school in kindergarten, has been home-schooled ever since. Life with her parents on the farm, talking with the apple trees, is “just about righter than right.” Then her mother gets sick, and her parents decide that she must go to the public school. Her heart shrivels up into a hard black rock that will hurt anyone that tries to get in. Ida B, even with a shriveled-up heart, is full of life and eloquent, memorable phrases. I say, reluctantly, being aimed at children, this book probably isn’t for everyone. But if you like children’s books at all, or if you have a child in the 8-12 range in your life, do read this book.

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More Fantasy

Posted on March 15, 2005 by Katy K.

What can I say? I like fantasy. Here’s three new books and an old favorite. All but the old favorite are intended for adults, though I think the last one has universal appeal.

The Famous Flower of Serving Men by Deborah Grabien Did I enjoy this book? I stayed up past midnight – with Mr. Froggy Pants asleep on my lap – which is certainly a measure of enjoyment of sorts. The novel is the second of a series which turns traditional English ballads into mysteries/ghost stories. As in, the characters of the original ballad are now uneasy ghosts, and the main characters need to solve the mystery and find out who the people were to lay the ghosts to rest. This one was based on The Famous Flower of Serving Men, a ballad I’ve always enjoyed, where a woman is treated badly, but starts a new, successful life for herself and gets revenge in the end. I must not have been thinking too clearly past that – a scaredy-cat like myself has no business checking out ghost stories. And even less, as a new mother, when the trauma involves a new mother’s husband and baby being murdered in front of her. Also different – if you know the ballad, the source of the haunting is clear from quite early on, so the mystery revolves around how to appease the ghost, not in who or what the ghost is. The resolution of the story was also dissatisfying: after the ghost was established as being horrible and scary, resolving it as basically just a good person who’d gone a little crazy didn’t work for me. She’s supposed to be evil and I’d prefer that she stay that way. In spite of these flaws, the main characters, the director of a small theater troupe and her musician/restoration expert boyfriend, were quite likeable and the story compelling.

The Singer of All Songs by Kate Constable OK, this is another teen fantasy, though I read it before the teen fantasy project at work. Calwyn is a novice in a small matriarchal kingdom ruled by nuns, learning the chantments of ice. One day she finds a fugitive who made it over the wall of ice that protects the nuns, and she joins him in trying to stop the man who would become master of all nine Chantments. It’s the first of a trilogy (I’m not surprised, as fantasy books seem nearly always to come in trilogies.) I liked the world, obviously pagan and easy to slip into, and the sweet teen heroine. If you’re in to this kind of fantasy, you’ll enjoy it; if you’re not, this probably isn’t the book to convert you.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susannah Clarke This book got starred reviews in every journal I read, even for the audio version, though I was not about to attempt to listen to a 900 page book in a three-week loan period. It has a fascinating conceit: it’s Napoleonic England in a world where magic exists – maybe. Most of the people who call themselves magicians are only theoretical magicians, studying the deeds of the great magicians of the past. Only two men claim to be practical magicians, and they aim to restore the reputation of English magic by aiding in the war against Napoleon. The whole book sounds as if it were written by Jane Austen, if Austen had written fantasy. The first hundred pages or so were hard to get through – Mr. Norrell is not a sympathetic character, and Jonathan Strange is not introduced until later in the book. The language, while delightful, makes for slow going – it took me a full three weeks to get through the book, approximately three times as long as usual. But the story is compelling, the concept novel, and the descriptions of the fairy gentleman and his kingdom downright creepy.

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away, a girl named Sophie lives with her not-so-wicked stepmother and her two younger sisters. She’s resigned herself to a dull existence, because everyone knows that youngest sisters are the ones with the adventures. Then the Wicked Witch of the Waste comes into her hat shop and turns her into an old, old woman. Sophie decides that being nice is for the young, moves into the evil Wizard Howl’s castle and starts terrorizing him. It’s not a new book, but it is terribly funny and well worth reading.

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