Leap Year! Then and Now

Last Leap Year went unoticed. I probably thought February 29th sounded a bit odd but then assumed there's always a February 29th and this was just another thing I didn't know. I don't say that to sound self-depricating or pathetic, I say it because four years ago Wes and I were engaged in a life of not knowing, trying to learn and wandering blind.

In 2008 Wes and I were fresh out of college (I have a degree in English and Secondary Education, Wes in Business Finance) with plans and some money. We'd moved to Seattle when Wes got a job at Microsoft. To say he was stressed out during this first year at Microsoft was an understatement. He felt guilty about not working enough when he sometimes worked 12 hour days. He developed ulcers. Had it been me (luckily it was not) I would have hid under the covers and admitted defeat. But Wes has a superhuman work ethic. I worked as well at a baby boutique. I found the job while looking for jobs. I was walking down the street and saw a "help wanted" sign and went in. The owner and manager were so impressed that my resume wasn't written on crumpled notebook paper and I wasn't in sweatpants that I got the job then and there. It felt so old school. No computers, no automated interviews, just handshakes and conversation. The pay was also old school; about $7.00 an hour. I threw my loan repayment schedule away unopened.
My days were spent talking about things I had no knowledge of. Why women thought that I would know how to help them develop a breast pumping schedule was beyond me. "I just work the registar, lady" I wanted to say. A big part of my job was learning how to use all the baby carriers the store had. Words do not describe the terror felt when when mothers would give me their newborn to strap to their body. My manager wanted me to take one of the carriers home along with a very lifelike doll to practice putting it together. This wasn't a big deal until a frantic lady pulled her car over and demanded that I stop carrying my "baby" in such an unsafe way. I walked the rest of the way home with the doll securely against my chest like a crazy person and resolved to quit the second I got home. I thought, "when I'm I ever going to need any of this information?"
Two moves, a wedding and one baby later, February 29th appears again. I suppose I could have imagined myself here; a stay-at-home mother, married. Wes has gone from Microsoft to Nike with his work ethic intact and he recently moved to a permenant postion (no more contracting!) with benefits and a significant bump in pay. I noticed Leap Year this time around because I've slowed down and the days have more meaning. I could be a customer to the 23-year-old me; another woman with a baby absorbed in all the gizmos and gadgets of my new life.
On the next Leap Year Seeley will be four and Wes and I will be in our thrities. I feel too superstitious to make any projections about the future, I only hope I stop to recognize the ordinary on that not-so ordinary day.

Weekend Pics!

It has been alternating between sun and rain all weekend and we seem to be catching colds here, but we did manage to get out a little bit this weekend! On Friday Seeley and I went up the street to a fantastic bakery in Hillsdale called Baker and Spice. As you can imagine from the pictures, their stuff is pretty yummy. We also got Wes some home beer making supplies so hopefully soon I'll be posting about Wes' homemade IPAs!!

If you are in Portland be sure to visit Baker and Spice on SW Capitol Hwy.

It's always busy but sooo worth the wait.

Yep.

Endless goodies!

The maple croissant-thing I got was insane!

Jailbird pants

Pile of squish

Little Alfalfa

Video! Chats and Giggles with Seeley

Untitled from tanya dickinson on Vimeo.

giggles from tanya dickinson on Vimeo.

Reasons to be Excited for Spring (Northwest Style)!

It was suprisingly warm here today in Portland (and then it rained like crazy, but let's ignore that). I can't believe it's already spring, I feel like winter barely happened. Maybe that's because I had a newborn and my sense of time is all over the place! I'm actually happy winter is more or less over because now we can look foward to the greatness of spring.
A little list of my favorite springtime things:

1) Away with the coats!I hate having to feel like I'm wearing the same thing everyday with my winter coat.

2) Tulips- my favorite flower, which works out because we are only a couple of hours from the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival just north of Seattle.

Photo by Scott Lechner on www.tulipfestival.org

3) Hiking-In the Northwest we're gauranteed rain for at least another couple of months, so camping is out of the question for me until late summer,  but at least everything will be super green for hiking!

4) Travel- Once the weather improves everyone tends to take roadtrips. We'll be heading to two of our favorite places: Missoula and Seattle!

Weekend Pics!

My dear friend Lindsay and her boyfriend Sam came down from Seattle this weekend and it was so fun to see them. We had lunch at Bridgeport Brewery in the Hawthorne neighborhood and had some yummy beer. Lindsay also got to meet Seeley for the first time! So special.

Yay! Together again :)

Sam and Wes discussing dude things.

Mac and Cheese baked with chips? Yes, please.

Hey there short stack!

The trio

Big girl standing on those chubby legs!

Too cute. So chubby.

Good Reads: The Maternal is Political

The Maternal is Political: Women Writers at the Intersection of Motherhood and Social Change. Edited by Shari Macdonald Strong. Seal Press. 2008

In the 1960s and 70s second wave feminists coined the phrase "the personal is political". They were telling society and women specifically that our personal lives and our political lives cannot be seperated. What happens at home is shaped by and shapes what happens in the world. The idea has lasted and remains today, most notably in the local food movement which encourages us to view purchases as political acts.

Becoming a mother is life-changing. Not only do you see the world through the eyes of your child, your role in society shifts. It doesn't take long as a mother or talking with a mother to realize how political or personal lives are. The wonderful book of essays, The Maternal is Political: Women Writers at the Intersection of Motherhood and Social Change includes essays from a diverse range of women including Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Kingsolver and Benizir Bhutto. Topics include pay inequality (in 2008, when the book was published, women without children earned 90 cents to a man's dollar, mothers earned 73 cents and single mothers earned 60 cents), healthcare, paid leave and professional barriers to leadership roles. The book also has more emotional stories about mothering with disability, being a step-parent, raising children outside of gender stereotypes and post-partum depression. The reoccuring theme of the book is that mothers need to work together to achieve social change. I couldn't agree more.

When I decided to have a child and later decided to stay home to raise her, I could feel the weight of my choice and my connection to society at large. I could see the lack of affordable, quality childcare and could imagine the difficulty of trying to achieve my professional goals in an 8hr plus workday system not designed for families. For me it wasn't worth it, but boy do I have unending respect for those mothers trying to navigate that world. My choosing not to work for pay doesn't mean I get to ignore my responsiblities to other families and mothers. Regardless of our differing choices and opinions, all mothers want the best for their chlidren. So let's come together through dialogue and books like this to create the world we want for our children.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

My two valentine's : )

Weekend Pics!

We've had quite the busy weekend; and it's not over yet! My dear grandma is visiting Portland from Montana and we've all been over at my uncle John and his fiance Shanti's house. I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera, but lucky for me Shanti took some great pictures. We've had some great meals together, checked out Powell's Books where Seeley got two new books from her great-gram, and tomorrow we're going over some family genealogy. It's been great and Seeley loves being surrounded by her fantastic family!

Baby at peak cuteness.

Chubbers!!

Who me?!

Lemon cake with lemon frosting made from scratch (by culinary goddess Shanti, naturally)! And yes, I ate two slices.

Homemade, from scratch: marinara with meatballs, roasted veggies and focaccia.

Unschooling: If You're Bored You're Boring

There are three schools surrounding our apartment. Up the hill is the Portland Jewish Academy, one of the best private k-12 schools in Portland. A block to our left is Mary W Rieke elementary and Wilson High School, both public schools. During our walks I can see the kiddos at recess and I have to steer clear of the 15-year-olds that were somehow given drivers licenses. It's nostalgic and makes me smile to watch the kids play tag and shriek with joy or listen to the teenagers gossip as they loiter in front of the gas station. My twelve years in public schools gave me some good memories. But the ratio of those good memories against the blur of monotony is not so good.
I've shared my opinions on compulsory traditional schooling before and I don't want to be redundant, but I recently came across a speech that so wonderfully articulates my feelings about homeschooling and unschooling that I had to share it and expand my own thoughts. Astra Taylor is a successful filmaker who, along with her brother and sister, were "unschooled". Taylor uses her experience to distinguish "homeschooling" from "unschooling"; describing homeschooling as a system that still keeps the ideas of a curriculum and scheduled, segmented times to learn different subjects. "Unschooling", on the other hand,  is premised on the belief that people learn naturally and that if we create environments in which to learn, along with support and resources, then get out of the way so to speak, kids can direct their own learning.

"Do we trust people's capacity to be curious? Do we trust them to be in charge of themselves or not? Do we trust people to be inquisitive? To follow their innate desire to investigate? To seek knowledge? Or do we believe people need to be led?"

"Our curiosity and creativity was not regulated or controlled [. . . ] it was influenced and facilitated."

The idea of never sending your kids to school can seem scary, but I think that's because we tend to elevate what actually happens in school. Wes and I recently had a discussion on the "return on investment" of traditional schooling. Yes, you do learn a lot of skills, but we're in school eight hours a day for twelve years and most people, including myself,  come away with only a little knowledge of this and that. Taylor states that school is where we're indoctrinated to become "professionally bored". And after all the movie days, pointless worksheets and days spent looking out the window or with your head on your desk, wouldn't you agree?

The ability to think outside the box and try new things isn't promoted in traditional schools. It can't be because the structure in school doesn't allow for any kind of divergence. For example, Seeley and I went for a walk today and she was so engrossed in the trees lining the road. I thought, "When she's a kid wouldn't it be awesome if she could say, 'I'm interested in trees' then spend however long she wanted learning about different kinds of trees, looking at trees, drawing trees, etc?" That is unschooling. Having the ability to pursue something vigorously on your own is a skill needed for success as an adult, and with twenty other kids in a classroom the teacher just doesn't have time to offer needed support. Taylor sums it up well:

"My mom would say 'when you're bored you're boring' [. . .] you don't have to learn because you'll get in trouble, or because you'll fail a test[. . .] you want to learn because there's something in you that wants to touch the world and communicate with it"

Song of the Day

Our dance around the house and sing song of the day! So cute and precious:)

Four Months! (A Little List)

Seeley isn't officially four months old until Monday, but today feels like a good day to do a four month reflection. Time is moving by waaaay to fast. Yet some poopy and cry-filled days feel soooooo long! I've made a little list of what's going on now that this baby is out of the "newborn" stage (tear).

1. The "Four Month Regression" hit.We're tired. We were all on a schedule. Seeley went to bed at around 9:30, woke up once at around 5, or sometimes even slept through the night! During the day she ate around every two hours. I thought, "oh yeah, I got this." Then a couple weeks ago all that changed. I have no idea what happened but Seeley decided sleep wasn't her thing anymore. She tosses and turns all night and has been getting up to nurse every three hours. She eats every hour during the day. I'm a feed on demand kind of mama, so I spend most of the day feeding this girl and trying to keep up on my own caloric intake! I'm so tired, this morning I put my underwear on over my pants. But I guess this is normal and called the "four month regression". Babies are learning so much cognitively and physically that they can't "turn it off" at night. So she's growing and I'm happy.

2. We've moved to the crib. For the most part. I love co-sleeping, but I noticed that we tend to wake eachother up. I want Seeley to have the best possible sleep so into the crib she goes. She actually didn't seem to have any trouble transitioning (probably because she's so young), and I still bring her in bed with me after Wes gets up for an hour or two of cuddles before we start the day :)

3. Time to find a pediatrician, think about vaccinations, etc. We just took Seeley to a doctor to the first time and it was...okay. It's hard to go from our incredibly supportive and knowledgable midwives back out to "the real world". We had a lot of vaccine information thrown at us, gave her one shot instead of the three they brought us, and left feeling like we went because we were "supposed to". Ambivalent feelings remain...

4. She is still super alert. I see a lot of babies her age in banks, resturants, grocery stores, and they're usually sleeping or sitting quitely. I always shake my head and think "no way Seeley would sit like that!"She might sleep if your keep her moving, but for the most part this girl loves to move and take everything in! She squirms, coos and demands to look around. Although we're usually up and down at resturants I wouldn't have it any other way, :)

Today Seeley Saw the Pacific Ocean

The title says it all. We decided to take a spontaneous day trip to the coast and it was fantastic. The weather was sunny and amazingly warm. Looking out at the ocean is such a moving experience. The waves were crashing and the power of nature was overwhelming. Of course, we took a million pictures. Enjoy!

Excited for a day at the beach!

When did she learn to write?!

Taking in the view

The beach went on for miles

Girls

Love

The waves and rocks were gorgeous.

Huge waves!

Good Eats: Veggie Pie

Let us take a moment to appreciate the wonderfulness of ingredients thrown together in containers and cooked. Slow cooker meals like chili and soup? Fantastic. Casseroles and baked mac and cheese? Perfection. We must not forget the potential of the pie plate.

I received a batch of vegetarian recipes from my mother-in-law, one of which was for a veggie quiche-type thing. It called for frozen asian veggies and ricotta cheese. I chucked most of that recipe but flew with the idea (which I think is the best way to cook). A bunch of veggies, eggs, herbs, how 'bout potatoes? And it was sooooo good. I've included the recipe and pictures in case you want to experience this goodness for yourself. So preheat your oven to 350 and let's go!

Cut up whatever veggetables you think would go well with eggs and potatoes.
We recommend zucchini, broccoli, red onion, bell pepper and tomatoes.

In a bowl mix four eggs, a 1/2 cup of milk and sage (and/or basil and rosemary)

Pie crust: 1 3/4 cup flour, 3/4 veg. shortening, 4-5 ttablespoons water and a pinch of salt.
Mix together with a fork, knead and roll.

Cut up potatoes, add olive oil and salt and pepper (we like a lot!)

 Cook the veggies and potatoes on the stove top. Put pie crust, veggies, potatoes in pie plate and pour egg mixture on top. Cook for 50 minutes and....

Good Eats!