apple juice

Raising Minimalist Children in a Society of Excess:

“Don’t feel guilty. Modern parents are made to feel as if they are depriving their children of ‘the best’ if they don’t sign them up for every lesson, take them to every movie, or buy them every brain-enhancing toy. Advertising companies are paying billions of dollars to make you think this. It is not reality… it is a fictional version of reality they are selling. Let it go. Don’t ‘buy’ into it. You are not depriving your children; you are enhancing their mental and emotional development by letting the real world around them captivate and interest them. Do you think the Smiths’ kids are really better off because they spend all their free time in front of a television or playing with a DSI?”

Amen!

However, the temple for waisted male self-esteem is Old Navy, where I easily slid into a size 34 pair of the brand’s Dress Pant. Where no other 34s had been hospitable, Old Navy’s fit snugly. The final measurement? Five inches larger than the label. You can eat all the slow-churn ice cream and brats you want, and still consider yourself slender in these.

Sonja called me from the store today. I found an awesome pair of pants for you, do you fit in a 34? Maybe? I replied.

As it turns out, that wasn’t such a bad answer:

Are Your Pants Lying to You?

If you’re wondering why I haven’t been posting as much lately, let’s just say that she’s been keeping us busy:

(she’s running away from me, back towards the street. there is danger and excitement in the street!)

In the last few weeks, she’s really becoming independent. She may look innocent here, but there is trouble written all over that face.

It’s been a while since I posted a photo, but I was particularly happy with this one.

We often take a quick walk after lunch, and the honeybees have been out in force, I can only imagine that they know winter is just around the corner and that they need to kick it into overdrive.

We ate dinner over at Doug and Anne’s house the other night, and Doug pointed out that I had  not been keeping up with my photo-a-day project. I tried to retreat and explain that it was really a photo OF the day, which implied that it would not necessarily be every day.

I lost that argument.

artichoke

Yes yes yes!

It seems as though the newest wave of mothers is saying no to prenatal Beethoven appreciation classes, homework tutors in kindergarten, or moving to a town near their child’s college campus so the darling can more easily have home-cooked meals. (O.K., O.K., many were already saying no, but now they’re doing so without the feeling that a good parent would say yes.) Over coffee and out in cyberspace they are gleefully labeling themselves “bad mommies,” pouring out their doubts, their dissatisfaction and their dysfunction, celebrating their own shortcomings in contrast to their older sisters’ cloying perfection.

via Let the Kid Be – NYTimes.com.

taken on the north side of our house.