A Bedtime Book with the F-Bomb in the Title

OK, so Holden can have his "Goodnight Moon," but I think I want this book to read at my bedtime: "Go the F**k to Sleep," by author Adam Mansbach. According to initial reviews, Mansback's book (which has gone viral even before it's release next month) perfectly captures the familiar--and unspoken--tribulations of putting your little angel down for the night.

I just needed to post this, but I encourage you to read more from DaddyTypes as well as the LATimes. I think parents need to have a sense of humor (even if brutally honest) ... 'cause if we don't laugh about it, we'll end up crying our eyes out. Mansbach is a bit gruff, but it's funny because it's true.

If you manage to get a copy, let us know what you think. Awesome? Too much?

Take a look, It's in a book...

Even though the classic show "Reading Rainbow" has been off the air now for more than 4 years, Holden has found inspiration outside of LeVar Burton to begin a love of reading at an early age. Over the past few weeks, he's been gaining more of an independent interest in books and reading. In fact, a couple times this past week, after I get home from picking Holden up from daycare, he'd immediately head over to the cabinet where we keep his stash of books, grab a favorite book, and then walk up to me and want to be read to. This is an exciting development, since it confirms that Holden actually likes books (his current favorites are "Maisy Drives" and "Busy Bear Cubs").


To further support early reading with Holden, we added some reading time to his bedtime routine--and Holden seems to enjoy that, too. He gets to pick between "Goodnight Moon" and "The Going to Bed Book" each night (who wouldn't love that?). And even though this bedtime reading can get Holden slightly revved-up before he goes to sleep (esp. as he points at the two little kittens and a pair of mittens), he never has any trouble going to sleep after the book is done.

While it can sometimes be difficult or seemingly silly to read to Holden at age 1 (because sometimes he'll have no interest, or grab the book and throw it on the ground, or he'll start chewing on the pages), I know that it is so important to get him in the habit of reading and enjoying books. He's learning the basics of how to read a book, and doing a lot of "pretend reading" these days--when he'll sit down with a book and just flip through the pages in no particular order.

Not to go on a rant here, but I recently saw a government study which reported that less than 50% of parents read to their toddlers on a daily basis (and it starts to drop off after the age of 2, which is such a crucial time for a child's cognitive development). I would wager a bet that the main culprit is television, but I'm sure computers are not far behind. Anyway, I'm super excited that Holden's starting to choose reading as an activity ... and Bryna and I are anxious for the day when we can read Harry Potter to him ; )

waning power of parental consumerism

Call me a Marxist, but one of the interests of mine as we enter parenthood is how much the capitalist/consumerist "powers that be" can have sweeping control over how much junk new parents can be pressured into buying -- unnecessary junk that costs a lot.
BUT THEY LOOK SO HAPPY??

While one could certainly argue that buying a ton of baby stuff these days is patriotic and helping America recover from its recession/depression (although Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity would totally disagree -- they don't want anyone to spend anything so that there is a greater likelihood for Obama to fail) . . . sorry bout that. Anyway, where was I. Oh yeah, while we could buy a bunch of newborn bling, I'm interested in how to break the consumerist cycle.

Turns out we might we arriving as new parents at the PERFECT TIME, as a recent NY Times article suggests (brought to my attention by our friend and hiking guru Becca). One silver lining on the cloud of the recession could be the rapid decrease in expectations that all new parents have the latest gadgets and high-end products. I mean, if you can now buy your car on eBay (GM that is), you should also be able to buy your stroller on eBay, as well, right? And maybe not the most recent stroller model with GPS satellite and special womb sounds emitted from the seat (I just made that up, but I challenge someone to find something like this that actually exists... I wouldn't be surprised if it does. It would probably be found here.)

On that note, check out No Wonder Our Kids Are So Messed Up: 20 Strange Baby Products.

I have placed an order at LeftBank Books for Pamela Paul's recent book "Parenting Inc.," which I also heard about from a story on NPR. Once I get started on reading this, I'll let y'all know if I learn any secrets to preventing baby gear, gadgets, and toys from filling every nook and cranny of our house.

the big read...

so, we've decided to start reading to our future baby while he's still in the womb. Research clearly indicates that babies can hear sounds from inside the womb by 20 weeks or earlier, and they can begin to recognize their parents voices. What better way to connect (or "bond") with our 'babe' than by reading to it each night before we go to bed. We're starting with some classics, and we'll see if we get any kicks of approval.

Maybe by the time Short Stranger is born, reading these same books will have a calming effect -- some research does suggest that newborn babies can sometimes recognize an actual story read to it repeatedly while in the womb. I figured that reading a book would be more calming for all involved than listening repeatedly to Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" (certainly to have a shorter shelf-life than MJ's greatest hits).