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About Me

Monday, October 28, 2019

A Kick in the Pants from Mr. Aesop

I've been child-rearing for an entire year now. Twelve complete months of the good and the bad, the happy and the sad, the sweet and the smelly, the messy and the slightly-less-messy. And while I've been caught in the crossfire of decision paralysis related to food, naptime, milk, and sleep, I've never questioned whether I'm a good mother. That said, when I came across the succint little fable "The Crab and Its Mother" I felt the weight of parenthood in a fresh way.

An Old Crab said to her son, "Why do you walk sideways like that, my son? You ought to walk straight." The Young Crab replied, "Show me how, dear Mother, and I'll follow your example."
The Old Crab tried but tried in vain, and then saw how foolish she had been to find fault with her child."
Thinking through meals, activities, childcare, toys, schooling, routines, and books to read is of course important and influential, but the words I say, the actions I take, and the responses I display is the real curriculum in these younger years. So when normal frustrating events occur...like when it takes me way-too-long to open the baby wipes, or when I misplace three different items in the span of two days, or when I'm running late for a meet-up, or when I forget something and have to run back into the house for a third time, I want to go easy on myself rather than falling into an angry, melancholy, disparing, or finger-pointing headspace. 

I want to be a patient, logical, kind, self-controlled, good-humored woman who will in turn model these traits for NLW. I know he already has bits of me in his demeanor and personality, but I want to keep rubbing off on him in the best possible way knowing that he's likely to follow in my crabby footsteps. 
You can't have your crabcakes and eat them too,

-SJW

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Life Wright Now | Summer 2019

The summer has swished away into cool crisp days and I'm ready for our fall line-up including pumpkin patch adventures, birthday celebrations, a new season with Seattle Rep, and a trip to Hawaii!

Here's a quick glimpse of how we rounded out our summer:
- Trips to the zoo
- Free author events at Book Larder
- Ice cream at Frankie & Jo's (our new favorite since Mr. Fleece can eat everything on the menu)
- Rollerblading at Green Lake
- Weekly library pit stops
- Visits to Lincoln Park in West Seattle
- The Seattle Children's Museum on repeat
WATCHING | We recently purchased a second-hand outdoor baby swing and NLW is loving it! His face lights up, he smiles, he giggles. It's the cutest.

I'm currently binge-watching season 3 of This is Us...cue the emotions. I'd also recommend this feel-good remake.
EATING | Lazy Susan, Citizen's sister restaurant, just opened up two blocks from us, so we took a family date night there...and ran into two different sets of neighbors. We also tried this little gem of Thai street food.

In my own kitchen, I made BBQ sauce for BBQ chicken and modified Rosie Daykin's Zucchini and Couscous Salad from Let me Feed You. I added marinated artichokes, sauteed the zucchini, replaced pine nuts with almonds, and used Trader Joe's Israeli Couscous.
READING | I finally finished re-reading Jane Eyre. This novel was required reading for me in high school and I recall enjoying it, but reading it for fun as an adult is another endeavor altogether. The language is rich, witty, descriptive, and beautiful. Every other page I was making a note of a phrase, exclamation, or description. Other favorites from the summer were Brainiac:Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs by Ken Jennings and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. My bookmark is currently in Great Expectations by Dickens.
LISTENING | Melted Ice Cream by Lucia and the Lumineers new album III :)
Stashing sundresses,

SJW