Planting; Mylestones

It was a tough one this week. Myles continued through the weekend to struggle without his pacifier, which led to sleepless nights and days without enough work getting done, since he wasn't napping well or at all. This also led to prolonged fits after nap time, one which had both of us in tears because it went on so long. Finally, on Tuesday, I thought, "this is crazy!" My son is two and I've just taken away his primary coping mechanism...so I asked for some advice from some other mamas. My sister voted, "re-pacify!" and Donna sent me an excerpt from Dr. Sears' book and from a web source that both said it wouldn't hurt a two year old psychologically or dentally to keep on keepin on with the paci, especially if it's only during sleep time. I called a local pediatric dentist who said the same thing. So, on Tuesday night we went out and bought another pacifier (this was day eleven!!), and life's been good ever since in the sleep and behavioral departments. We're only using it at sleeping time, or if a major tantrum takes place, and we hope that when the time is right for the next step, we all will know. I tell you what, parenting is an exercise in humility. Sometimes you just don't get it right. My respect for my parents' parenting increases by the day...

Back to the tough week. Seth's department at the city also had some lay-offs this week. Two really stand-up employees were told that they will be laid off come June, one has worked closely with Seth for years and is deeply respected by those who work with him. There are eight more positions that are slated to be reduced to four jobs. Each of the eight employees will be notified that they can compete for the four remaining jobs. We are pretty sure that Seth is not one of these. It seems he's made it through the first round of lay-offs, but morale is very low and our view of the economic downturn is much different than it was even a month ago. If Seth did lose his job, for example, we would only sell our house at a big loss, since the housing market is down and we have new houses selling in our neighborhood for much lower than what ours cost. It's easy to feel panicked. Of course the worst thing about a job loss at this point would be forfeiting our dream of the new church start. So, we are incredibly grateful that Seth still has his job (and it looks like he will keep it for the time being). Still, we really feel for those who have lost their jobs and when lay-offs start you never quite look at your employer the same way.

Mylestones: In the midst of it all, Myles is growing and changing and doing new things. This week he counted to eight by himself (he still can't say "seven" so he skipped over that one). He's singing his ABC's with us, sometimes right on the money and sometimes just making it up as he goes (he knows the rhythm, and that's enough for him). He's also started "reading" to himself. He picks up a book and turns the pages and says some key words in a very animated way. I think this is a huge change, it's like he understands that a book is a story of something that happens and it unfolds with the pages. He's also increasingly excited about things that "pop!" like the toaster. Sometimes he will run and get a rag and pretend to clean up a spill or wipe his mouth, and if there's a real spill and we ask he will help clean it up. He loves to help do the dishes, water the plants, empty the dishwasher, feed Juniper, and pound the soles of his shoes together to get the mud out. In general, if you ask for his help with something he's excited to give it his best. He is refusing to eat veggies lately, and that's hard for the vegetarian mama. Hopefully as he gets older he will get better, but it's really frustrating to fix a nice meal for him and have it refused outright.

Planting: As the photos suggest, we got some seeds in the ground today. Freckled lettuce, spinach, and gourmet salad greens. Our friend Cindy, gardener extraordinaire and quite possibly the Asheville incarnation of Barbara Kingsolver, suggested the hay bales topped with old windows as a way to plant greens early and keep out the pesky frost when it comes poking around. Last year we had a really late start to planting because of my work crisis, so it's good to plant early this year and we have high hopes of eating our own salad greens soon. After the week we've had, planting some seeds in the ground is a good ritual of hope.