SortaCrunchy

What is it like to breastfeed a toddler?

Over at Code Name: Mama, Dionna has been running a series called Joys of Breastfeeding Past Infancy, and I have so enjoyed hearing the perspectives of others on their extended breastfeeding/full-term breastfeeding experiences have been like.

Reading through the thoughts in that series brings back fond memories for me of nursing my own girls past infancy. Dacey weaned right at two (when I was newly pregnant with AJ), and AJ weaned at twenty-one months.  That remains sorta incredible to me, considering that before I had children, I was completely skeeved out by the thought of nursing a baby who had teeth!  I just truly couldn't imagine it.  It was hard enough to imagine what nursing a newborn would feel like - but a child?  A walking, talking kid?  Weird.

So what happened?  How did I get from creeped out to nursing long past infancy?

What Are You Into This Month?

Sometimes even I am surprised by the love, affection, and devotion I feel towards friends I've made through the community of blogging. I was thinking about that this morning as I dug up an old post that inspires today's thoughts.

Back in October 2007, Stephanie at Adventures in Babywearing shared some things she was diggin' that month and invited us to share ours.  That was almost three years ago, y'all! And I had been reading Stephanie for quite some time before that. It still just amazes me how connected we can become to one another through this little snapshots of life.

Anyway.  It made me grin to think back on what I was into in October 2007.  I decided to change up the questions a little bit and re-visit

What Am I Into This Month - August 2010

SortaCrunchy Kitchen: Pico de Gallo

I've mentioned before and I'll say it again - my husband is a mighty fine man of the kitchen.

Well, technically, he does his best work outside on the grill (seriously, his hamburgers . . . Lord, have mercy), but he quite adept with pots, pans, knives, and whisks as well.  He can often be found in the kitchen on the weekends - it's a nice hobby for him and a wonderful respite for me.

Throughout the summer, we've gotten bag after bag full of tomatoes and other fresh veggies from our gardening friends and neighbors.  A few weeks ago, Kyle determined he was going to make Pico de Gallo and spent a few hours reading through recipes and tips and tricks (who knew pico could be so complicated?) and has come up with a version that is so delightful, we have been ladling it on anything that will sit still long enough to be smothered: chips and tortillas, sure, but also scrambled eggs, cheese pizza, and even hot dogs.  Loco, si?

Peace

I happened upon a verse this morning in my reading that never fails to comfort, inspire, and reassure me.  In the book of Ephesians, Paul writes to the church of the beautiful mystery that we who were born Gentiles are now brought into unity in the family of God through the blood of Jesus Christ.  In speaking of Christ, Paul writes

For he himself is our peace . . .

And, I don't know.  I just needed that today.  And I wanted to share it with you.  He Himself is our peace.  May you experience the fullness of the One who is peace today.

(Comments closed as I make time to attend to the bounty of comments accumlating from earlier this week)

On Transparency

this is me, unedited. I have gray hair and, apparently, a thin spot.  I have wrinkles and sometimes bad skin.  Bad teeth not pictured.

Your responses to yesterday's post on the yelling have overwhelmed me.  I had no idea how it would be received, and so to hear from so many that were thankful to have the topic brought into the light of discussion has given me such comfort and hope.

I have to be honest, though.  A few minutes after I hit "publish," I got really uncomfortable.  I wanted to go back.  I wanted to ameliorate, to tell you, "I mean, really, it's not that bad.  I'm not that bad.  It's fine."

I had to resist that overwhelming urge to edit.

Practicing the Art of Whisper

photo by takomabibelot

“A loud voice cannot compete with a clear voice, even if it's a whisper”  -- Bary Neal Kaufman

Oh, it is an ugly confession, but a necessary one.

I sometimes (not always) (but sometimes) (more than I would ever want to) (it's an ongoing struggle) yell at my girls.

I mean really, really yell.  Loudly.

And it's awful and I hate it - oh, I hate it - and I'm willing to do anything to stop.

this much i know

(my feet in the cold cold cold, fresh-from-the-earth springs at the Chickasaw National Recreation Area)

This week has been overwhelming.  In a good way.  Let's do a list, shall we?

1) The first week of kindergarten = WIN. Dacey is loving it.

2) You all are AMAZING in your support and feedback. Your feedback on the five-and-a-half stage we are weathering gave me so much hope and practical advice.  And you know what?  The start of school has seemed to really help her to even out.  I know she loves routine and predictability.  I know I am not good at that at home.

You Tell Me: Anything!

I made a slight misstep in judgement earlier this week.

(Don't worry.  It was nothing that would get our library cards revoked.)

I was reading an article on blogging - on Feedburner settings specifically.  For bloggers who utilize Feedburner's subscription by email service, there is an option to be notified each time someone unsubscribes. I had opted out of that option a long time ago because I was always getting my feelings hurt with each unsubscription.  (sad but true)

Well this article suggested turning the notification on so that as a blogger, I could email with a follow-up, thanking the person who had unsubscribed for their subscription and asking for any advice or feedback about how my blog could be improved.

Now, I had always wondered if anyone would actually do that, and here was this article from a blogger who blogs professionally about blogging suggesting that I try it.  So I turned the notifcation back on.

On Monday alone, I got four unsubscription notices. And I realized two things:

Can we be honest about five-and-a-half?

"What kind of a Mommy are you?  Your babies are causing trouble!" -- Olivia's frenemy Francine on the state of Olivia's pet mothering skills

Oh, how I can relate to Olivia's plight.  Many are the moments of difficulty in mothering, and we certainly don't need the court of public opinion weighing in with a ruling in our most tender spots.

I've alluded several times to the fact that this summer was difficult.  Very, very difficult. Early Five was lovely for a few months, and we've enjoyed lots of fun and funny conversation with Dacey as she moves ever forward into childhood.

big girl(s) now

A year ago this week, this was us.

And there she goes again!

My sweet Dacey Baby started Kindergarten today.

(Note: See how I do such a good job of not imposing all of my anti-consumerism fanaticism on her?  Through gritted teeth, I let her pick the Barbie backpack.  There are other battles for other days . . .)