Children and Praise

I am a fan of Alfie Kohn and his work. He has written several books which I have read. I agree with his article Five Reasons to Stop Saying "Good-Job!" Recently the same topic was discussed on a blog I read as a result of an article in New York magazine. I have noticed that my son has recently begun saying, "good Job" to his siter or anyone else for that matter. It is a bit unnerving as he just says it by rote. We don't say it to him in this manner, so I am wondering where he picked it up.

So here's to you...

My sister has informed me that Anne Bancroft in The Graduate was 36. We haven't determined the age of the woman she portrays (it is said to be mid-forties). Today is my birthday - the big 3-6. Perhaps I am someone's Mrs Robinson or perhaps not since I am 37 weeks pregnant :)

No 'poo

I decided after missing a few shampoos to try no 'poo again. Essentially you don't wash your hair with commercial shampoo or use conditioner. When my hair starts to feel a bit greasy, I "wash" it with baking soda and water. For a conditioner, I rinse with diluted apple cider vinegar. It really works well on my hair. I haven't gotten greasy in almost two weeks. I just shower, rinse my hair and style as usual. Intriguing, eh?

I did use henna to color my hair during this time as well. It has a bit of a red hue to it now.

37 Weeks

At Long Last

For our seventh anniversary last year, I decided to make Dave a pair of wool socks (the gift for 7 years can be wool). I finished one sock, but ran into some difficulties. I broke a few needles, and I caught "second sock syndrome." I was able to acquire new needles, but the sock languished. Finally with our 8th anniversary on the horizon I finished the pair. The socks have been given to the recipient and are FINISHED.
The socks are made from Colinette Jitterbug in the Copperbeach colorway. It is the basic pattern that came with the yarn.

PHEW! Anybody know what the gift for 8 years is?

Miniswap

I signed us up for a miniswap through this blog. It was quite a bit of stress to send out with visitors and D gone for a week. We are finally mailing it out. We were matched with two children ages 8 and almost 6. I did most of the work with input from the kiddos. We included an Arizona map and calendar, two Arizona postcards, two wrist cuffs, a jump rope, cowboy pants, a doll skirt, two Usborne books and two blank books for them.

Here is a picture of the goodies:

Quilt II

I made another baby quilt from the Bend the Rules book. It is such an easy blanket to make, so I decided our wee one needed one. I am not sure about it. I wanted gender neutral, since we do not know if the baby is a girl or a boy. The colors are a bit muted, so I may need to make another one. Everyone asked says it is gender neutral and nice, so I may give it to a friend who is also expecting her third.

Laying it out while the kiddos played with playdough

Finished Product