Another Medieval Book/First Chunkster

I've (finally) finished reading A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman. Here's my review from Goodreads:

Tuchman disabused me of several misconceptions about the Middle Ages--most learned people thought the earth was round, noblewomen were more educated than noblemen, and chivalry was not all it was cracked up to be. In fact, she demonstrates how chivalry ultimately cost France autonomy and allowed the Turks to remain in Europe, leading to the fall of Constantinople. Also very interesting read for all the details of everyday life, though quite dismal at times.

She Plays What She Knows or Imitation is the Finest Form of Flattery

So for a while now, E. has been imitating me in her play. First it was using the sponge to make the cabinets clean or rinsing her hands while I washed dishes. Then she moved on to "sorting" and "folding" socks and washcloths. Now, she loves to play sleep by lying down and saying "shhh." She also loves to push a doll stroller around the playground and spends several seconds moving the safety harness around before she says "oush" or "out." Oh and I almost forgot--her first imaginative play was pretend eating. But that's hardly a surprise, as it's one of her favorite activities. Most recently, she's started offering her sippy cup to her toys and to the cat. No one's taken her up on it yet, but I'm waiting for the day when she offers it to a real baby.

A Glimpse of Summer

E. and I just returned from a lovely trip to visit R's family in New Orleans. The sun was bright every single day and I spent every naptime soaking in the sun and reading books. And here are just a few of the things E. enjoyed:

February Book Reviews

Here are the books I've read in February, with brief reviews. I've skipped a few that I reviewed earlier in the month for the Tournament of Reading.

6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Once again, a very satisfying, fun read, though sad, of course.

7. Little Lady, Big Apple by Hester Browne: This one was still fun but not quite as fun, for whatever reason. Plus it seemed way too name-droppy--all the tv shows and stores in NYC (Duane Reade, for crying out loud!). Maybe the other one was like that too and I didn't realize since I've never lived in London. And also, could there be just a little less talk about shopping?

8. The Cross by Sigrid Undset

9. Benny & Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti: It was funny and insightful at times but not that exciting/memorable. It does make me wonder what's up with my Scandinavian bent recently. I didn't even know it was Swedish until I got it home from the library.

10. The Discarded Image by C. S. Lewis

11. Nothing is Quite Forgotten in Brooklyn by Alice Mattison: Pretty interesting--about mothers and daughters and friendship. I mostly liked that it switched back and forth between two different years but sometimes the clues that we were in a different time felt a little forced. A little too much of dropping in the newspaper headlines, etc. But it was an interesting piecing together of family history.

12. Washington Square by Henry James: eptively simple and brief, this novel about an heiress and a fortune-hunter surpassed my expectations. James conveyed with feeling how difficult it was emotionally for Catherine to disobey her father and how much her father had underestimated her as a person.

13. An Offer You Can't Refuse by Jill Mansell: Fun, a quick read. Seems to fit into whatever mold there is for British chicklit--mentions TV shows, check. mentions movie stars, check. mentions shopping, check. funny and filled with Britishisms, check. Not that I won't read more by the same author when I'm next in the mood.

14. Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl: Great fun and it made me hungry! It was a nice peek into the restaurant world again, though I'm sure so much has changed. The Windows on the World chapter felt a little creepy. I'm sure she had to make a decision about whether or not to address 9/11 and since her memoir took place prior to 2001, it makes sense that she didn't say anything about it but it was one of the ghosts, like in the last chapter.

Toddler Lexicon

Can you match E's animal sounds to the correct animal? Answers will be at the bottom of the lexicon entries.

1. baa 2. riis riis 3. mehh 4. ruff ruff 5. rarrrr 6. cheep cheep

7. nee 8. ssss 9. boo

animals: snake, frog, sheep, goat, cow, chick, lion, dog, horse

Commonly used words, with her pronunciation if different in parantheses.

ball (baa)

bowl (bow)

box (bah)

bye

call (caw)-refers to phone

car (caw)

clean (key)

cold (cole)

comb (coe)

da daa

dog (not sure but she says something close)

dressed (dess--as in let's get dressed)

eat (ee + baby sign--fingers to her mouth)

eye

ear (EEuh)

go (emphatic g sound)

hi

juice (deuce with lots of excitement & sometimes a dance)

kitty (key)

maa maa

Max (mask with deliberateness in the sounds) *from Max & Ruby but it was also supposed to be her name if she was a boy

mouth (meh)

neck (neh)

night night (nigh nigh)

nose (d'oh or doo)

shoe (doo)

teeth (tee)

that (dah with pointing)

tickle tickle tickle (ticka ticka ticka)

train (tai)

tree (tee)

yum (eyuh)

Other:

ashes ashes (more or less- means she wants Ring a Round a Rosy)

ee ha

ei ei (Old McDonald request)

gock ee

gud-eh-gud-eh-gud

Animal answers: 1. sheep 2. frog 3. goat 4. dog 5. lion 6. chick 7. horse 8. snake 9. cow

I'm sure there are more words that I'm missing or that she's just now working on. So fun!

Walking Outside

E. did a little more walking in the last big snow. This time she was more interested at looking at things in the snow, including her mitten!
She's actually standing in a snowdrift in the street.
This was E's first trip to the playground after she started walking, in January. She spent most of the time walking in big circles.

And yet one more reading challenge

I was just clicking through some things online and I found one more that I have to join. It's called the Chunkster Challenge--450 pages or more counts as a chunkster. And, since I'm already reading one (Plutarch) and have at least 2 more on my to be read shelves, I figured I'd join up. And I'll restrain myself a little bit and only sign up at the middle level: Do These Books Make My Butt Look Big? which signs me up for four chunksters this year. Unfortunately it started this month so Kristin Lavransdatter won't count. Oh well.

Now I'm a Peasant

I've finally read three medieval books (in any category--history, historical fiction, medieval writing) for the Tournament of Reading Book Challenge.

Here's my review of C. S. Lewis' The Discarded Image:

This is based on a lecture series that Lewis gave several times while a don at Oxford. It's a great introduction both to Medieval Literature and to the medieval worldview or "model" as he names it. There were so many interesting parts to this book--it's hard to summarize. He presents a different interpretation of the Great Chain of Being and the Ptolemaic view of the universe. The sun and the spheres revolved around the earth not because the earth was so important but because the earth was so humble and small--at the bottom and on the outside of this great dance. Throughout he looks at language and how writers of the time were tremendously influenced by all that they read, even when they misread things. He goes through the seven scholarly disciplines, the various types of souls, and the complexions of people. Complexions in this case meant more like characteristics or humours. One idea that I found particularly interesting was that because medieval artists lacked perspective, this was an issue in writing as well. For example, a giant might not be consistently the same size in relationship to a man, a barn, or a field. I'm excited to read more medieval literature now and then maybe I'll come back and reread this again--I'm sure there's so much that I've missed on the first go round.

The Young Artist at Work

Strange Interests

Recently E. has developed two very strange interests, combined with a new word, "doo." No, it has nothing to do with dogs or any other animals. She loves to touch my elbow or my feet and say "doo" very happily. Sometimes she'll even rub her nose back and forth against my elbow. And the feet fascination gets even weirder--she'll grab onto them in the shower and squeal or if she sees them on the floor, she'll get down to their level and squish her face on them. My sister would not understand, but it looks like I've finally found someone who appreciates my (large) feet.

Almost a Peasant

Review of Kristen Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

Overall this was an enjoyable, though long read. I guess a trilogy in one volume sort of guarantees that. Anyway, I preferred the first and third books (The Wreath and The Cross) to the second one (The Wife), probably because the second book seemed to zoom out a bit--years passed between chapters, etc. Also, there was more political detail in the second book that I didn't have a good handle on and I didn't feel like researching beyond the end notes.

Undset did a good job of setting the historical scene and keeping her characters within it while at the same time not making them inaccessible. For example, there was a great scene in the cloister dining hall in which Kristin was trying to daintily serve herself with three fingers and cut meat with her knife but ended up cutting her finger and shooting her portion onto the floor. I also loved the details about the clothes, dwelling places, and mystical creatures. The author managed to make this all seem real, not like a reenactment of any kind.

The central relationship between Kristin and her husband was also quite compelling. It seemed true to married life that because she'd had to forgive him for big things, she had trouble forgiving him for the smaller, daily sins.

I would highly recommend this book. It gave me an unprecedented view into family life in medieval Norway.

January Book Reviews/First Medieval Book Finished

1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: ** spoiler alert ** I think this was a 2nd or third reading for me. I've been gradually collecting the series in paperback and while I like a lot about this story, I still get annoyed with how whiny Harry is in this book. Especially since he doesn't seem so whiny/upset in the next one even though Sirius has died. But there are some really hilarious moments--especially Harry & Ron's conversation about Divination class--"Even if the tea leaves say 'Die, Ron, die' I'll still chuck them in the bin."

2. The Little Lady Agency: This was fun, page-turning, and just what I needed on a cold winter's day. It did feel a bit dated (when did men wear red jeans??) but it was nice to have a somewhat wholesome chicklit main character for once.

3. The Wreath by Sigrid Undset: I'll review this when I finish the trilogy

4. The Wife by Sigrid Undset: see above

5. The Book of Margery Kempe: At times Margery reminded me of pentecostals that I've known--very convinced that she has a true revelation from God and that everyone else should hear it. This was especially evident when she mentioned a few times that priests and other clergy responded "meekly" to her sobbing and screaming during church.

I also ended up feeling rather sorry for her husband and children (14, though maybe not all alive). She convinced him to agree to a "chaste" marriage and they lived apart until he was in his sixties and suffered a serious head injury at which point she returned to care for him. I'm sure that's not what he signed up for when he said his wedding vows!

I found some of her reflections helpful but overall I wondered if Christ would not have been better served in her daily, real life and loving of others than in her constant pilgrimages and "roaring" during worship services.

Baby in a box

Here's a little video of E. having fun in the box my new winter coat came in. At one point she had a ball, a small car, a toy dog, and a toy tiger in there with her. She'd pick one up, look at it, and then put it back in the same spot.

One more reading challenge

Ok, I couldn't resist: 100 books in a year. And hey, I've already finished two, though both a little more on the fluffy side. I can't count Plutarch because I started him before January. I'm pretty sure I can do it, I just need to keep track. So, this and Goodreads will help me. . .

1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

2. The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne

3. The Wreath by Sigrid Undset (I'm reading the trilogy for my medieval book challenge and I'll count it here as three separate books as originally published even though my version has all three under the title Kristn Lavransdatter).

4. The Wife by Sigrid Undset

5. The Book of Margery Kempe

6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

7. Little Lady, Big Apple by Hester Browne

8. The Cross by Sigrid Undset

9. Benny & Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti

10. The Discarded Image by C. S. Lewis

11. Nothing is Quite Forgotten in Brooklyn by Alice Mattison

12. Washington Square by Henry James

13. An Offer You Can't Refuse by Jill Mansell

Resolutions

Ok, so I think I've figured out why I always start major projects in January (such as getting back on track with my blog, reading all of Calvin's Institutes, cleaning my wooden furniture etc). It must be some latent New Year's resolutions in me that I don't write down. Anyway, I do want to write more--let's try for at least once a month, minimum.

I also just found out about these online reading challenges--how have I not known about them to this point?? Anyway, I'm signing up for a Medieval Reading Challenge and of course I'm going to jump in all the way at the King level. I think I'll start with some Chaucer that I got for Christmas last year. And I may even blog about it.

PS I know I need to post some E. Christmas pics and I will.

New word

So, we have "ball" on record as the first one, though it doesn't come into play very often. And a very clear, if very long, Dada (dadadadadaaa). And the occasional Mama (when she needs something). And she usually gestures and say something resembling "that." Which I take to mean either she wants "that" or she's wondering what it's called. Of course, she understands much more than she says.

Well, anyway, yesterday, E. was peering at me across the coffee table, where she was holding on, when she saw a container of Cheerios I'd removed from the diaper bag. Enunciating very clearly, she pointed at them and said, "Good." I'd heard this sound from her before but wasn't sure it was a word until that moment. And what a word--good, meaning yummy, I want some, please give it to me and so forth. R's comment was, "Very biblical of her."

Future Psycho on the Swings?

I've never taken it as a good sign when a child consistently has no expression on her face. For example, today at the playground, two girls around 8 or 9, definitely sisters and probably twins, were hogging the two baby swings. There was at least one of three regular swings available. I asked them to let me have one for E. They complied but then started twisting their baby swing and hanging on it. I requested that they stop so they didn't hit her. They did and one climbed into the swing and demanded that her sister push her. Then she made her twist the swing and let go and the whole time her face was expressionless. No sense of "whee, this is fun," nothing. And no recognition that she was doing what I'd asked her not to.

Her sister asked for a turn and she refused, said her turn wasn't long enough, the regular kid stuff. Clearly she was the dominant twin or sister because the other girl said nothing, just kept doing what she was told.

Later, when we were leaving the playground, I saw the same (dominant) sister stalking pigeons. It was creepy enough that I stood there for a few minutes, ignoring E's complaints. She had a stick or a thick piece of bark in her hand and she was slowly walking up behind the birds and throwing her missile at them. I couldn't tell if she hit any of them--they kept flying away--but she continued to follow them around the playground, again with no expression on her face. I looked around to see if her parent or anyone else was watching but I didn't see anyone. And I didn't see her sister either. She came close enough that I was able to ask, "Is your mom here? Does she know that you're throwing things at birds?"

She responded, "I like to chase them."

I said, "But you're not chasing them, are you? You're throwing things at them." She didn't say anything.

Now I am not a lover of pigeons. And I know they are disgusting birds. I saw a little kid running around, actually chasing pigeons and being delighted to see them fly away. But this girl was creepy and old enough to know better. If it had just been her annoying behavior on the swing, I would probably not have thought about her for another second. But add the pigeon stuff and I have to wonder--is she a future criminal psychopath?

The Year in Pictures

While looking through pictures to make this slideshow I realized that I don't remember what it was like holding E. before she could hold her head up. I saw pictures of R. holding her on his forearm and it seemed so strange. I'll post some birthday pictures later but for now, here's her first year, month by month.

Recent Developments

Since my last post, E. has started crawling! Not very fast but she does get on all fours and go places, rather than scooting around on her bum. She also has spent at least one nap time sitting up and playing in her crib instead of sleeping. I thought these new skills were supposed to make her more tired!

She's also become a bit more persnickety about her food. I made some delicious pear zucchini soup the other day (sounds strange, maybe but it's delicious). We had it for lunch and she liked the first few bites but then refused to eat it from the spoon. Refused to the point of flinging the full spoon off the high chair. So, I put some pieces of bread in the soup and she happily ate those herself, very messily. I then got the bright idea to clean up her mess while she was eating and she leaned over and grabbed my hair with her soupy fingers!

I think I'm learning from all of this that I can't get too comfortable with any one way of doing things because soon enough she'll change on me. The reverse is also true--if I don't like how things are going, I just need to wait a bit and they'll change by necessity. For example, when E. was first born, I had trouble cooking because she always needed to eat or be held or changed or something. Later, she was happy to be in the swing while I cooked. But then that didn't work so I had to have her on the kitchen floor. Next, she would only stay in her high chair while I cooked. Now, she's liable to wreck havoc wherever I put her in the kitchen so I'm not sure how to cook. But I guess that will change too at some point.

Bits of Summer

I've been meaning to upload some summer photos but I realized I don't have that many! Note to self--must take more pictures!

Anyway, here's one of Emalyn early in the summer in my old wagon in Stockbridge. She seemed to enjoy being pulled around the driveway, though she kept trying to grab for the wheels.

In other news, she's getting three top teeth at once. She got her first two on the bottom at 5 months and it seems like it's taken 5 more months for these ones to appear. Strangely enough, only one of them is a front tooth--the other two are the incisors next to the front teeth. Snaggletooth!

Also, we've been doing some more swimming. We joined an informal Mommy/Baby swim class at our local pool. She liked it after a while but her first reaction was tears. I think the water was too cold.

We also went to the young children's story hour at the library. Emalyn stared at all the other kids/toddlers and waved her crayons around, tasting them surreptitiously.

Right now she's in bed, hopefully lying down. While she's still not officially crawling, she does like to get into the position. In her crib she especially likes to roll onto her tummy and push herself up so she's sitting. I'm a little afraid that this will be detrimental to nap times but she does seem to get tired and lie back down. Must resist temptation to go check!