7 Quick Takes Vol. 5

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Atticus and I attended the Delaware Big Latch On.  There were 129 babies from 2 weeks to 3years old nursing at the same time.  It was pretty amazing how incredibly silent the room got at the moment they all latched on.  If we are still nursing at this time next year, I plan to attend again.

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Atticus has moved out of his cosleeper and his swaddle wrap.  He now crawls in circles in his sleep before he decides to either sprawl  out on his back or snuggle up by my side.  He now taps me on the shoulder or face to wake me up so he can nurse. I never thought I'd see the day that I actually enjoyed cosleeping, but it is here.

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Ish brought home fresh basil from the garden at his work and instead of doing the obvious and making pesto, I made basil chocolate chip ice cream.  It is so good and since the kids are weirded out by it, I will get to enjoy more of it.

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Little Ish and Lily have been on flights of the imagination all week.  The most often played game is Money Shop, but my favorite to overhear them playing is Christmas Eve.

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Atticus had his 6 month well baby  visit (a month late) this week.  He is perfectly healthy and growing well!  Can I take a pause and celebrate 7 months of exclusively breastfeeding not accompanied by a failure to thrive diagnosis?  Woohoo!  Third time is a charm.

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I signed up as a consignor for my favorite local consignment sale.  We have been needing to purge some stuff, but I've also given myself a tiny budget to help bolster my inventory as well.  I have a couple months to prepare, but I'm already getting super excited.

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I am slowly working through The Right to Write by Julia Cameron.  It's been a pleasant yet challenging experience.  I am hoping it will help me get back into the swing of writing again.  I feel wildly out of practice, and my anxiety surrounding putting my writing out into the world has been crippling for the past couple of years.  Maybe over the next few weeks I'll actually manage to post something with substantial content (not just pictures of my kids being cute).

Linking up over at Conversion Diary!

My Music Baby

Music.  It is one of those things that seems to resonate with everyone in some way.  I have had the pleasure of watching how music affects each of my children; they all have a clear love for music, but the way Atticus reacts to music is like nothing I have seen in his older siblings.

As young babies neither Little Ish nor Liliana had any strong preferences for specific songs.  I would sing to them or put on recordings for their enjoyment, and although they clearly reacted to the music they did not start to show any preference for one song over another until they were toddlers.  Atticus, on the other hand, has shown preference for specific songs and albums for months now.

The first observation of Atticus's inclinations toward a specific piece of music was several months ago.  Anytime he was fussing during a car ride he would immediately stop as soon as Blue Orchidby the White Stripes would come on.  This preference has become so clear that when Atticus starts fussing Little Ish likes to note that, "Atticus is making a request"; immediately we switch the music to Blue Orchid.   As one might imagine, listening to the same song all the time starts to grate on the nerves a little bit.  Little Ish was delighted a few weeks ago to realize that Atticus calmed almost immediately when I started singing a bit of Rag Doll by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  It isn't quite the magical cure-all for fuss as Blue Orchid but most of the time it does the trick.  Plus, it's a whole lot easier to sing.

Atticus's strongest reaction to music however is the clear joy that he gets anytime I put on the album Appalachian Mandolin and Dulcimer by Butch Baldassari and David Schnaufer.  He was having a sleepy don't-wanna-have-my diaper-changed kind of meltdown this morning; you know the kind of meltdown that makes you wonder if your ancestors were part banshee?  Well, I walked Little Ish through the steps to start the album playing, and as soon as the first track began to play Atticus stopped mid-scream and giggled. Thankfully Atticus isn't the only one who really likes this album so it may or may not be playing on repeat during not so great days.

I used to think people were crazy when they would indicate that their infant had a preference for a specific song or album, but after observing Atticus, I don't think they are crazy any more.  I also think it is justification for not introducing children to annoying children's music as babies--you might as well help them develop preferences for music that you enjoy too.

The Cousins Visit Longwood Gardens

A few weeks ago we took a trip to Longwood Gardens with about half of the kids' cousins.  This is the first time we'd gone with more than one additional friend or family member, and the kids had a blast.  Liliana insisted upon wearing her cape, which quite obviously provided amusement for other garden visitors.  It was neat to see the kids share one of their favorite places with their cousins.  The highlights were definitely the tree houses and the children's garden.

I also learned an interesting [to me] tidbit about photography on the trip; it is way easier to photograph my own children than it is to photograph other people's children.  I am fairly sure it has something to do with being able to anticipate how my children move.