i found the best sitter!

one of my mom friends offered to watch royce in our house.

after the trauma we all experienced from his visits to the latina daycare lady with six kids (why did i think that was a good idea?) i decided this was a much better option.

it went great! like better than i could possibly imagine great.

she had them for the whole day. they napped together (that's them in the photo). she layed down with both of them for naptime. the boy was happy and even when he wasn't it was not any kind of major crisis like in his earlier babysitting situations.

i am so happy to find something good for me, royce, the sitter, and her baby all at once. it is good for the sitter because she just lost her place, is having a miserable time keeping a job b/c she wants to stay with her baby, and is now living at her mom's in a house full of fragile glass curios that she is constantly keeping her son away from. so how perfect, right. don't you love that feeling of finally getting a good fit after a struggle?

what's the best for you?

good to see that mr. nice guy is in a similar (but 100000 times more dramatic) situation when it comes to childcare.

i swear, if you aren't looking for M-F help, but are looking for a dependable schedule, it is freakin' hard to set something up. doubly hard if you want it to be a good match for your kid.

what i've been up to

i discovered the idea of panoramic photos of babies online, and have been experimenting with making them myself
note: i actually did make these. thanks to sb reader, awesome journalist and blogger rebecca eckler for getting me to clarify.

nap weaning?

can i just say, these crazy alphabet cards bring me back, and i have been amused by them for almost a day now. thanks to daddytypes for turning me on to them.

in other sweetest boy news: i have been trying to get the boy to sleep better during the day now. he has gotten used to sleeping with my boob in his mouth. (sound familiar?) it doesn't sound bad, but it gets really hard to just lay there for hours on end so that your kid can sleep. the worst part is, because that is what he is used to, he gets especially upset when i am not there for his naptimes. i am tackling this battle once again, wish me luck!

getting paid to blog?

one of the major downsides to being a SAHM, ive decided, is that you don't get to blog on the company dime. i post on my own time. working stiffs get paid while doing it. until now, bwa ha ha...

i am sitting in the imaging office of the local/regional newspaper and makig a few (well, very few, let's be honest) bucks right now. bwa ha ha HA!

for the next few weeks i am doing work for them from 6-11 at night. perfect hours for an attachment parenting mama. i only miss two hours in the evening with the B and it is totally novel.

i have come to terms with the fact that i really love doing what i do (being a photographer and working in the visual media) and am unwilling to give it up entirely. Maybe tomorrow night i will tell more about my experience finding a sitter for the B

baby sign language

yum.
Originally uploaded by gisarah.

...she has some encouraging success stories, like the one about the mother who went into her crying 13-month-old at night and the child signed that she was scared. A car alarm was blaring outside and when the window was closed the child went back to sleep....

says the reuters article today.

Almost enough anecdotal motivation to get me to take a sign language class with the B

via regular sb reader kristal

snarky parent/writers

gay-love
Originally uploaded by arthur156_nl Amsterdam.

mr. nice guy had it out with a columnist writing generalities aboutthe kiddie playground in his hometown of Park Slope, Brooklyn. (hey, isn't that every parent's hometown who works within 100 miles of there? but i digress.) The following is an excerpt of Sohn's texxt and Mr. Nice Guy's reply.

amy sohn (snarky columnist): I suspect it is the husbands who discourage them from working. Because it's the social equivalent of taking Viagra. "What does your wife do for a living?" asks Jeff, the squash partner at the Racquet Club. "Oh, she's at home with our son," says Michael, and then boasts.

mr. nice guy (snarky blogger): dude. the next time i talk to my squash partner Jeff at the Racquet Club i am totally going to try this line because it's like Viagra ... and ... i really want ... to fuck him.

say my name, B

happy mama's day...
Originally uploaded by less like math.

"ma ma" was the word of the day yesterday. all day. during lunch, the aquarium, the long car rides to and from, dinner, bedtime, in his sleep (just kidding). it was great! and its over now. today the B is all about "ba ba" which the manny is pretending is his name (papa), i am thinking is his name (baby), and know is not for bottle b/c he hasn't taken one of those in months.

pampers bait and switch

has anyone else had the misfortune of buying a pack of papers cruisers with the crappy mesh lining? seems there's a lot of talk about the swaddlers having two versions. For the record, if you buy cruisers, you run the risk of getting a meshy, leaky, poorly constructed substitue. (mine came in the jumbo $26 box from target)

I have already written and complained to pampers, we'll see if they offer any explanation or comps.

DTBBC: over

coh vintage childrens books
Originally uploaded by jek in the box.

have i told you how happy i am that the daddytype's bizarre book contest has come to an end? i mean, learning about new books is great, publishing seemingly every entry on your blog gets a little tiresome...(coincidence that this ended when boy's sleep troubles ended? i don't think so)