13 months

Rooster is walking, talking and pointing all the time now. It's just an amazing sight.

He's also mostly sleeping through the night without me needing to help him back to sleep. Last night he fell asleep at 6:45 pm and he awoke this morning at 6:15 am! What a journey this has been! A wonderful, sometimes tiring journey that, I am pleased to say, did not require any sleep training. If you are a mother who nurses to sleep and/or co-sleeps with your infant rest assured that a time will come when your baby is ready to do it on his/her own. It may take baby steps (we've had so many!). Be patient - your baby will let you know when he/she is ready to move on to the next step. It will happen!

This and that in November

I have looked at my saved drafts list and there are around twenty posts that I have begun and not posted. I am a slacker. That is OK, though. It just shows that I have so many interests and so little time - the essence of this blog.

Rooster is getting all my attention recently (OK, for 20 months now). What can I say, I love watching him walk, talk, read (sorta), figure out how to open jars, try to dismantle the fireplace for the 14th time today...sigh...

Here he is with one of his favorite household items. He actually loves it when I use this thing.

My other blog

I've briefly mentioned my other blog, Real Food Mamas, once here and would like to invite you back over there. I will be posting about Thanksgiving, new foods we are eating as a family, recipes, and various other food topics.

Please let me know what you think!

Those lying eyes

Interesting.

I have to think that perhaps kids are better liars because often they do not know what they are doing is wrong or incorrect. An adult has (or should have) the reasoning and maturity to know that when they are lying they are acting incorrectly. They will give off visual or verbal signals from this incongruity (eye shifting, pitch changes, etc.). A child fails to give off these signals because there is no disparity in what they are saying and thinking.

These are teaching moments for parents. I agree with the article on how to minimise lying:

• Set a good example. Every time you duck out of a boring social event with a fake headache, your child takes notes.
  
• Stay calm. Accusing in a loud, threatening manner is not the way to get the truth out of a child. ‘Usually children do not lie when it is safe to tell the truth,’ advises Parent24 parenting expert Anne Cawood.
  
• Explain the consequences of lying in a calm, rational way, and offer the child the opportunity to tell the whole truth. Don’t start screaming and shouting again the minute he admits to having done the deed.
  
• Avoid labelling your child a liar. Labels can become self-fulfilling prophesies. Give positive reinforcement to the truth. ‘I am glad you were honest. Now please clean up the mess.’
  

I look to the first as the most important. I realize even now how much Rooster mimics me and his father. Our example has to fall in line with how we want him to behave.

Obviously we are not having issues with Rooster - he's only 1. But we do have this to look forward to and we need a plan of action as to how we will approach lying. Not tolerating it is one thing - teaching our child why it's wrong is another.

Home Grown Terrorism

Dr. Laura perfectly sums up the terror at Fort Hood.

Happy Birthday, Rooster!

Our little guy is now a toddler. Wow, the year has just screamed by - so many milestones and so much

development! To go from a tiny 7 pound baby who can't even hold his own head up to a walking, talking, exploring, excitable toddler in one year is just an amazing ride to experience.

He took his first steps last weekend, on Halloween night, and has since been able to walk about 8 steps max. Such a cute sight.

Happy Birthday - we love you, Rooster!

I'm an adult

ha, so funny...

Happiness and sunshine

My next move will be suing Al Gore, The One, and all other loony leftists for the lumps and bruises on my head from beating it against the wall every time they open their mouths or decide on a new policy. Well, why not?

1918 Flu Pandemic

I read The Great Influenza by John M. Barry at the beginning of the year. Wow, did it scare me. But it was very, very interesting and has convinced me of the importance of vaccines.

There is new light on why so many people may have died so quickly and so violently. Aspirin overdose.

The Journal of the American Medical Association suggested a dose of 1,000 milligrams every three hours, the equivalent of almost 25 standard 325-milligram aspirin tablets in 24 hours. This is about twice the daily dosage generally considered safe today.

The pharmacology of aspirin is complex and was not fully understood until the 1960s, but dosage is crucial. Doubling the dose given at six-hour intervals can cause a 400 percent increase in the amount of the medicine that remains in the body. Even quite low daily doses — six to nine standard aspirin pills a day for several days — can lead to dangerously high blood levels of the drug in some people.

Hmm. Quite an interesting lead. It's very possible that some people took 2, 3, even 4 times the recommendation to avoid death from the flu. As they say in the article, it's probably not the reason for most deaths but can explain some, particularly deaths of the young and very healthy.

Beef

Recently Whole Foods had a great sale on their organic, grass-fed beef. I stocked up and froze about 7 pounds. While purchasing it I did wonder where it came from. My husband answered my question by sending me this article. Yay for local foods!

I began incorporating grass-fed beef into our diet a few months ago. It is an phenomenol source of iron, protein, b12, choline, and saturated fats. Yes, saturated fats are good for you despite what you have been told.

This is one of the best recipes I have made with our beef yet. So simple, so good.