kosiah

I am feeling too lazy to change names, but I will delete the email addresses of this recent lovefest on the local parenting boards. Sadly, I removed myself from the largest parenting message board because it was boring and they started charging money. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but hell, I don't even live in Park Slope. Also, for some reason the parenting discussions there never reach this level of amazing wtf-ness. Probably due the mods.

And that's okay. (Cough, mopar  )

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Today I pulled L's accepted application from the fancy preschool. I think we're going to send her to a less fancy and cheaper place. I thought the fancy place was great -- really loved the place -- but at the end of the day, it was also $8500 for 2.75 hours a day, 5 days a week. And they wanted half the money before school even started.

<i>The book that has had the greatest positive impact on our baby and our
family has been "Continuum Concept" by Jean Liedloff. Some parents
have said the book made them cry because they waited to read it after
their children had grown too old to gain the benefits of the ideas in
there. The author believes some of today's baby-rearing advice, like
"cry-it-out" and other forms of infant denial, cause psychological
problems and social problems. She instead presents a path to baby
rearing that bypasses some traumatic stages and helps build a very
deep and loving relationship. This includes co-sleeping and in-arms
care. The author's web site introduced us to infant potty training,
practiced in 80% of the world, which has been a great experience for
our family. We've never read "Happiest Baby on the Block", but because
of Continuum Concept, we feel like we do have the Happiest Baby on the
Block.</i>

Okay. Wait. 80% of the world practices infant toilet training? I love this guy's assurance that he's saved his child from trauma.

Also, I kind of want to kick his ass.

hi ,
we just purchased the TV special offer of 'your baby can read' and
have been doing it for a week with our bub. Of course our 10 mnth old
Victor can not read yet and we do not expect miracles any time soon. But
he sits for 15 minutes and cant take his eyes off the starter
video.....I sit with him and it is very interactive....then we do the
appropriate flash cards and act out the words a couple of times a
day.....I dont think its BS at all. He seems to pay way more attention
to these cards that the 20 or so books we read to him. It is a great
way to play with Victor, for us to have some fun together and who knows,
he may even learn a little along the way....
Perhaps I will post a little about his progress.
The package I purchased came with 5 dvds, 4 books, 6 packets of
sliding flash cards with pictures and an instruction booklet, all for
about 200 bucks. I think, at this stage of the program, it was well
worth it.

Actually, I think I saw this woman a few months ago showing flashcards to her baby in the mom's cafe. (Name changed, obv.)

Poll #1299109 Kosiah's Personality
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Am I a Jingoistic Xenophobe or Just a Mean Person?

This woman lost me at "potty training seminar..."

Okay, I think my rant might get me banned at KFM so here it is, in brief:

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I've got a huge collection of abandoned books right now. I keep looking for something that I will really enjoy reading and not finding it. Actually, okay, I need to find the sequel to Locke Lamora again, which I misplaced during the move... because I was enjoying that, and I just went through this strange Doris Lessing thing, but --

In rear window. Except I don't have a cool wheelchair, only crutches and my house is much less tidy.

In fact its decent into entropic chaos around my ears is driving me slowly insane.

Damnit, I just saw eps 14 and 15... when are there more???

"Pretty clouds."

"Yeah, fluffy."

And where? I was just looking back on Pris's lj and couldn't find it there, although there are some amazing rants.

It also made me somewhat nostalgic for the fandom of yore.

By another week. After spending all afternoon with their customer service, I was still no closer to finding out why, or if my computer would actually ship on March 31 or not, so I canceled the order. Although this is sort of satisfying, in terms of taking business away from people who have inconvenienced me greatly, it is not so satisfying in terms of the fact that no one else has the same kind of computer at that price point and even if I do find something comparable, it's not going to ship anytime soon anyways.

Argh.

Now that the computer is starting again, (some of the time) it seems to have forgotten how to connect to the internet. The lights are on where the cable goes into the back of the computer, the router shows a connection, but the computer gives me a "repair IP address" or something option and doesn't actually repair itself. There's a guy coming over this weekend to look at it, but he charges $100/hour and if he can't fix it in an hour, I think I am going to give up. His suggestions to me -- buy more expensive RAM (to replace the cheap RAM I already bought to replace the RAM already in the computer), reset all the cables on the motherboard, do a complete wipe and install of XP (which I've done already once and didn't work) -- are not inspiring me with confidence that the comp will ever be working right. From what he and I went through on the phone, there is no one clear issue. There are lots of vague things that aren't working right that will require days or running tests to troubleshoot and may still not work. And again, there's that -- if I have a nervous breakdown trying to fix my computer and break it more factor... am I not just better off not going through that? Is not our family better off? The last time I tried fixing it, when I did the full re-install I started smoking again. For like a few days. Yes, I still feel bad about it, but there you go.

First off, never get the stomach flu as a family. It brings togetherness too far.

Secondly, as a reaction to so much illness, do not deep condition your hair and then start trimming random bits off of it. Furthermore, do not compound the issue by dying it bright orange. Seriously. This is motherhood wisdom speaking, people! Don't say I never warned you!

And I am so tired. But I just found this link I thought some of you might be interested in...

KOTOR2 walkthrough

 not understand coffee. But it is very green.

They weren't ever something I thought about, until August when my friend was visiting us from Scotland and pointed out that half of the men in my trendy neighborhood were wearing them.

Wearing them in August, when the demand for a wool or felt-based head-covering would seem rather low -- one would think? But maybe I am fashion-impaired these days, since I can't fit into anything fashionable and dress entirely in black, stretchy fabrics from target and old navy.

My friend's ex has a pet blog. And he is having a contest...

And the prize looks good, but I think they're a little low on entries. So, since most, if not all, of my flist has pets, I ask you to please enter...

Yesterday, L imitated the noise my computer makes when I have mail. Here she is with a friend learning how to program a television.

Sometimes I feel like this is a strange time.

L and I went to the library this morning, where my daughter completely ignored all of the books and toys and headed straight for the toddler-sized computer, keyboard and mouse. And they say children are hard to teach! Hah!

Anyways, when we came out, there was a trailer parked next to the library, with a big banner, some people wearing blue shirts carrying clipboards, and a bunch of locals standing around gawking at them. I admit I gawked too, for they were FEMA!

For a second, I wondered the nuclear waste storage facility on N 1st had blown up, or if they were doing work with lead paint now, or if I had just completely missed some natural disaster/ act of terrorism that had taken place today in New York. For a second, I sort of worried.

So I asked them. They said they were here for the flooding. "What flooding?" I asked.

The man laughed. "People keep asking us that! Haven't you noticed any flooding?" Then he handed me a flyer.

I tried to think of the last time it rained. There had been that big -- tornado-thing in the southern half of Brooklyn, but here we were on the northern side and anyways wasn't that like a month ago ---