Can't. stop. dancing.

World Invaders by Pluton and the Humanoids

This song is at the tippity-top of the charts of what makes me want to get down and boogie. Seriously. I cannot stop.

I love two year olds

Seriously, I think I might be crazy about them. They're so funny, adorable, loving, and hardly have any morning breath at all.

Especially my little Pumpkin . . . how can he be so cute?!

As he we snuggled down into sleep last night, I heard him whisper-singing, "No more monkeys jumping in the bed!" and "Twinkle-twinkle yittle starw". He has also been singing, "And one for the yittle boy who yives dow-n the yane" and, my favorite, "Pop! goes the wea-soh".

I could just eat him up. And I do -- then he yells, "Kisses are yucky!" and tries to wipe them off his face, smiling and giggling all the while. Then I have to smooch him more. ♥

Certified Professional Midwives

It's that time of year again . . . South Dakota's legislative season. This little beauty was created by for Massachusetts folk by two Massachusetts groups advocating midwifery. (They have legislation going forward this year as well.)

The twelve minutes are well worth your time. This video is extremely well-done; it provides an astute and concise synopsis of the medical model of birth in the US today and why we need midwives.

EDITED to say: Unfortunately, this vid was pulled off YouTube the very next day. Saaaaaad. It was so good.

As far as access to Certified Professional Midwives across the nation goes, here is the state-by-state break-down, with thanks to the national organizing force, The Big Push for Midwives.

In South Dakota this year, instead of a CPM licensure bill, midwifery advocates will be introducing a decriminalization bill. The idea is that in these tough economic times, a licensure bill wouldn't have a chance - but that a bill allowing Certified Professional Midwives to practice without fear of prosecution and jail-time* is better suited.

*Think that's nuts? Me too. And it's true... My midwife is a South Dakotan and has served jail time. That was before she moved her practice across the state border to MN; now she serves her SD clients across the border at Safe Houses.

Like a little chipmunk

An increasing trend from the last few weeks --

***

Truen: "Mama . . . Mama . . . Mama . . ."
Mama: "Yes?"
Truen (grinning): "Gumbawlths!"

***

Truen: "Mama . . . Mama . . ! "
Mama: "Yeah...?"
Truen (eyes shining): "Gumbawlths!"

***

Truen: "Mama . . . Mama . . . Mama . . ."
Mama: "Yeahhhhh?"
Truen (happily): "Gumbawlths!"
Mama: "Ohhhhhh, are you thinking about gumballs?"
Truen: "Yeah! They'rrrrrew taaaaaathsty!"

***

This little guy is obsessed.

Howling

AhhhhhwoooooooOOO!!!

I've been slogging through A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for an entire month now and I don't know how much more I can take. On one hand, it has given me a variety of ideas to contemplate (poverty, cruelty); but for the most part, I simply dread picking it up each and every time, to go through more of the drudgery of nothing happening, ever. It just drones on and on and on.

(I'm going to stick with it, though. I will see this book through, if it takes me forever and a day!)

Blah.

I also just finished reading The Secret Garden aloud to Diego. We both enjoyed the book until the middle-end when it became a tedious job just to get through. It went on and on and on; reading it aloud became a tongue-twister with the seemingly endless sentences and the verbal jumping-jacks required by the almost constant conversation in the "broad Yorkshire" dialect. It was enough to do me in!

And this was one of my favorite books from childhood...

Diego liked it, though; and even when his attention went a little hazy, he would ask questions or make comments that made me realize he was sticking with me. And so I lumbered on. And on. And on. And on and on and on.

I'm having a bit of a depression in my zest and enjoyment for reading. It's mind-numbing. I feel like my head is concave.

But just one look at this and my brain melts back into a malleable unit. I love these little fellers.

My little boys . . . such good daddies to their baby Ewoks

IGNORANCE IS BLISS

Because the truth will change your eating habits.

Two articles, check it:

The first, from the NY Times, an article about the processing of fatty beef trimmings, once used for pet food, which are now used in fast food restaurants and the school lunch system -- treated with ammonia.

The second, an eco-mag called Grist offers public commentary for the layman, the running column so appropriately entitled, "The Cheapskate's Dilemma".

In the end,
Eat real, whole, unadulterated food and cultivate wellness.

Stream of Connie

I'm going to spit out my thoughts in list form, as I have no time for anything more thorough.

• After 12, no . . . 14?! Oh man. After 14 years living in the Midwest, I have finally come to appreciate the snowy winter months. I am absolutely relishing it this year, in fact.
• This might have something to do getting to be home all the time; or perhaps living rurally, where the snow actually stays white and looks pretty.
• I was always so disheartened by how dirty the snow was in the city. And the salty-filth covered cars and buses. Disgusting.
• But I think the biggest influence is living seasonally, in rhythm with our garden. Winter is a time for rest and relaxation, not working outside until it gets dark at 10:00 PM, eating the evening meal, and then collapsing into bed.
• Though I think a lot of our warm-weather labor is due to "setting up shop" with young children and half-of-the-whole being gone 50 hours a week vs. slavery to a garden patch. We have a lot going on over here!
• Writing in list-form is very lazy. I see that . . . as I could be developing all this into much more interesting and fleshed-out thoughts.
• But for a Mama with less than an hour to herself each day, if I'm lucky, this is gonna hafta' do!
• I felt myself becoming semi-unavailable today. It was like my mind was shutting my little guys out; I just needed a break and some distance. Thankfully, they played very well by themselves while I was one-room-over.
• And then I found a book shoved into the VCR. (Hee! I'm pretty sure Diego was pretending he was the mama and taking care of little Truen. I heard him say something like, "And now I am going to play a movie for you!")
• Yes, we do have a VCR. We use it, too. When our old one conked out, Squeeze's dad tracked us down a used one because 1) ours couldn't be repaired, and 2) VCRs alone aren't sold anymore.
• I have found some wonderful VHS tapes at thrift stores -the old 1980's cartoon of Charlotte's Web and Raymond Brigg's The Snowman being the best of the best.
• We don't have a record player, but purchasing a Hi-Fi is on our agenda. Same idea: think of all the wonderful children's records we could get for 25 cents!
• Both Squeeze and I have fondness in our memories for watching records spin. There is just something so intriguing about sound coming out of a needle placed on a giant revolving disc with lines scritched into it.
• Speaking of memory: Diego's new thing is to ask us to tell him stories about "when we were a little girl and boy" every single night as we are snuggling down into sleep. The light goes off, and he's on it: requesting demandingly, "Okay, tell me a story!"
• It has been fun to recall various aspects of our youth -- and also very enlightening. I have been learning new insights into Squeeze's life and who he is and was. I love him all the more, just thinking about him as a little boy. He spent so much time by himself, inventing games and stories.
• Of our boys, Truen is the one who can handle being on his own. He enjoys it, and will even play little ditties on his own while all of us are, say, snuggling in bed or sitting on the couch talking.
• I don't think Diego has ever chosen to be alone longer than the books he was drawn into lasted, or the bursts of creative play that come right after breakfast or when we get home after being out.
• Sound familiar, anyone?!

2009 Booklist: Completed

• The Boxcar Children - Gertrude Chandler Warner (Read Aloud)
• The Family Under the Bridge - Natalie Savage Carlson (Read Aloud)
• The Complete Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
• Crocodile Gene and His Friends - Eduard Uspenski (Read Aloud)
• The Orchard: A Memoir - Adele Crockett Robertson
• Charlotte's Web - E.B. White (Read Aloud)
• The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements - Sandor Ellix Katz
• Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer's Life - Pamela Smith Hill
• Kitchen Literacy: How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes From and Why We Need to Get It Back - Ann Vileisis
• By the Shores of Silver Lake - Laura Ingalls Wilder (Read Aloud)
• The More With Less Cookbook - Doris Janzen Longacre
• Birth Order and You: How Your Sex and Position in the Family Afftects Your Personality and Relationships - Richardson & Richardson
• Garden of Eating: A Produce-dominated Diet and Cookbook - Rachel Albert-Matesz and Don Matesz
• On the Banks of Plum Creek - Laura Ingalls Wilder (Read Aloud)
• Farmer Boy - Laura Ingalls Wilder (Read Aloud)
• Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis - Kim Todd
• Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder (Read Aloud)
• The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices - Xinran
• Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods - Sandor Ellix Katz
• Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder (Read Aloud)
• Fundamentals of Homeschooling: Notes on Successful Family Living - Ann Lahrson-Fisher
• The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections - Amanda Blake Soule
• Montessori from the Start: The Child at Home, from Birth to Age Three - Paula Polk Lillard, Lynn Lillard Jessen
• Skinny Bitch - Rory Freedman, Kim Barnouin
• Real Food: What to Eat and Why - Nina Planck
• Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India - Madhur Jaffrey
• Food is Your Best Medicine - Harvey Bieler, MD
• Dr. Jensen's Better Bowel Care: A Complete Program for Tissue Cleansing through Bowel Management - Bernard Jensen
• French Women Don't Get Fat - Mireille Guiliano
• Your Vital Child: The Ultimate Resource for Using Food, Vitamins, Herbs, and Other Natural Methods to Make Your Children the Healthiest They Can Be - Mark and Angela Stengler, N.D.s
• The Well-Adjusted Child: The Social Benefits of Homeschooling - Rachel Gathercole
• Riding Shotgun: Women Write About Their Mothers - Edited by Kathryn Kysar
• Allergy and Candida Cooking: Understanding and Implementing Plans for Healing - Sondra Lewis
• Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence - David Keirsey
• Books That Build Character: A Guide to Teaching Your Child Moral Values Through Stories - Kilpatrick, Wolfe, Wolfe
• What is the What? - Dave Eggers
• The Self-sufficient Life and How To Live It: The Complete Back-to-basics Guide - John Seymour
• The Heart Can Be Filled Anywhere on Earth - Bill Holm
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows
• No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies - Naomi Klein
• The Contrary Farmer - Gene Logsdon