Mom, Can You Tell Me…

Posted on January 1, 2010

Happy New Year! As my first post of 2010, I wanted to chat about a book that I’ve had for awhile, and have been taking my sweet time going through because there are so many interesting things contained in its pages.

Thanks to Lisa Roe, Online Publicist ( http://onlinepublicist.blogspot.com/) for the opportunity to read this book.

The Handy Answer Book for Kids (and Parents) by Gina Misiroglu is a great reference tool for adults with questioning kids in their lives. If you fall into this category, you know what I mean. My son is not yet five, and he has already come to me with questions that have stumped me. Now, I can take a look in this book and find an answer that teaches us both something new.

The book is divided into sections with the following topics:

Outer Space

Planet Earth and Our Moon

Creatures Big and Small

Plant Life

People Around the World

Politics and Government

How Things Work

Math, Time and Measurement

All About My Body

Daily Life

I’ve already jumped into All About My Body, Plant Life, and How Things Work, looking for answers to my four year old’s burning questions. I would rate this book as a decent reference for kids in elementary and middle school. Some of the information would be over a younger child’s head, as is the case with my son. However, having the answer right in front of me helps me to then put the answer into language and concepts that my son CAN understand. And that makes him happy, because now he has an answer, instead of my saying, “I don’t know.”

There are also really cool pictures in the book that kids can look at. This summer was filled with : “Mom, what do a fly’s eyes look like?” Well, I know the answer, but trying to explain it to someone who has never seen a fly under a microscope is a bit tricky. But the Handy Answer Book has a close-up of a fly and its compound eyes. Now he has a better understanding of what I was trying to explain to him back in July.

Another question we’ve dealt with recently is the “What is my belly button for?” Even though I gave him an answer, he wasn’t to sure I wasn’t trying to pull a fast one on him, so we went to the book and I read the passage about belly buttons. Now he knows that I wasn’t just making something up. (My son is funny like that.)

If you have a child who is constantly questioning everything in his or her world, you might want to pick up a copy of this book. I seen that there are other Handy Answer books out there, so I may actually check out a few others to see what they contain. I need to keep up with this child and his questions…

New Year New Books

I’ve had this book for a few months now. I started reading it in the fall, and put it aside when life got hectic. I picked it up on New Year’s Day for a couple of reasons.

First, I wanted to finish it.

Second, babies have been on my mind lately,since one of my best friends is ready to have number 4 ANY.DAY.NOW. and I have the honor of being there as her officially unofficial doula. (I missed Baby #3′s arrival by mere seconds)

Third, New Years is all about starting fresh, renewing ourselves, having a better year (hopefully) than the year before. So I thought that these points all tied together nicely. If you don’t see the connection, well, that’s fine too.

When I was pregnant with my son and for the many months after his birth (while nursing), I read many books about birth, babies, and parenting. I got into autobiographical books about motherhood. I wish that THIS book had been around a few years ago.

Photo from randomhouse.com

*sigh* I love baby feet, don’t you?

Mark Sloan, M.D. is a pediatrician out in California. I know, what does a pediatrician know about birthing babies, right? After all, pediatricians take over after the child is out.

Fair enough.

What Dr. Sloan has done in Birth Day is put together a fantastic look into childbirth from various angles: The history and evolution of childbirth, his observations as a doctor witnessing the birth of many babies, and first-hand experience from the Dad-to-Be.

While it sounds like a lot of different areas to absorb in one book, Dr. Sloan does it in a way that makes you feel like you’re taking a journey into a new world while chatting with him over coffee.

If you’ve ever wanted to know how or why certain childbirth related items came to be, you will find it in this book. For those of you who always wondered why women have had to labor lying down, with our feet in stirrups. It seems that Louis XIV, King of France was the person responsible. Back in those days, men were not allowed in the room with a laboring woman. But apparently King Louis wanted to watch in the front row, so he had a special viewing table built so he could watch his mistress give birth. (page 19) Don’t you wish we could go back in time to smack him?

Ever wondered who started the whole “medicated birth” phenomenon? It’s in here. (and I’m not giving any more spoilers, so read it yourself)

Curious about the evolution of a baby’s head compared to its mother’s pelvis? That’s in there too.

I really enjoyed Birth Day, because I learned about a lot of topics related to birth that I didn’t find in other books. I also appreciated a look into childbirth from the male perspective, both as a doctor and as a father. It made me look back on my own birth experience to try to see it through my husband’s eyes. I’m sure it must have been overwhelming to see me in labor.

I had the chance to meet Dr. Sloan when he came to sign copies of his book at work, and chat with him about the book and his research while writing it. I also had the chance to meet his children, whose births he describes in clear detail in the book. There is even a picture of his son John, right after the c-section that helped bring him into this world. I wish that I had a picture of my own son right after my c-section.

This is a must-have for anyone who has had a baby, is pregnant, or thinking about becoming pregnant. Anyone reading this book will take some new knowledge from it.

Ohm…Relax Into the New Year

Posted on January 11, 2010

I like yoga. One of my personal challenges is to get into it more this year. That is, I must make time to practice yoga, not just talking about wanting to practice yoga.

A few months ago, I was working at the bookstore and feeling kind of lost. Not the “where is the graphic novel section” lost. The “I’m not quite satisfied with myself, where do I go from here” lost.

Personally, I’m not that big on the Self-Help section of the bookstore. Once in a while I will snoop around to see what’s new. But I very rarely buy something from that section. But on that particular day, walking through the Self-Help aisle, this cover caught my eye:

photo from www.everywomansvoice.com

It wasn’t the photo that really caught my eye. (most of the time, it IS the cover art that lures me in) It was the title.

So I grabbed it off the shelf and read the back cover. It sounded interesting, so I started flipping through the chapters. Even more interesting. So I bought it.

I read it this weekend.

Katrina Repka moved to New York from Canada for something different. She could have stayed back home and gotten married and been a housewife. But it didn’t feel like the right thing to do. The chance to take some classes through an exchange program brought her to New York. She decided to stay.

Breathing Space: Twelve Lessons for the Modern Woman is a look into a year of Ms. Repka’s life as she struggles to put her past behind her, while finding herself and who she is meant to become. It tells the reader of her journey to Alan Finger’s studio where she becomes Alan’s student and learns how one’s breath can release the negativity holding you back.

Each of the twelve chapters gives us a look into Ms. Repka’s life and her personal struggles: Family dynamics, boyfriend issues, stress, etc. At the end of each chapter, Ms. Repka explains the breathing exercise that Alan taught her, step-by-step, and how it’s supposed to change you as you practice it. The reader also learns how the breathing exercise changed the author.

I was intrigued by the breathing exercises at the end of each chapter. However, I know I would find it hard to try them while having to read each step. Not very relaxing or enlightening. Last night, I was chatting online with a friend who runs a yoga studio here in town, and I asked her if she had read the book. She hadn’t, but was immediately interested in borrowing my copy. I told her of my issue with the breathing exercises and following the written instructions. She suggested that when I come by this week, to show her which exercises resonated with me, and she’d work with me on them.

Score!

I’ll keep you posted on what happens…

Before I go, make sure you check out this website for more information on this book, the author, and other books that might interest you. My copy came with a bookmark that included a link to this site, and I found a few other books to add to my TBR pile.

Happy Reading!

*This post originally was made on my old blog. I decided to move it, and few others over here, because these are the books that I have really enjoyed this year.