Wherein I reveal that I am truly a geek. But at least my kids are cute.

Angela, at her friend Rusty's birthday party:

Angela: "Happy birthday!"
Rusty: "Happy birthday!
Angela: "Actually, it's not my birthday, but thank you."


Conversation at church:

Angela: "Smell my breath!"
Me, teasing: "Eww!"
Angela: "Now smell me."
I smell her neck and she giggles.
Angela: "Now smell something not on my body."
I pick up her hand and sniff it and she laughs.
Angela: "Nooo! Not on my body! Smell the church."
I breathe in deeply (smelling nothing) and say "Ahh."
Angela: "It smells YUCKY! because I tooted!"

What I've been doing:

• Getting ready for next week! We have family coming in to town for two weeks over the holidays. That means Thanksgiving and Christmas preparations this week. Whew!

• Reading! I've been devouring books lately. And I achieved my goal of finally, finally, finishing Pride and Prejudice.

• Teaching! I have had the opportunity to see fear turned into confidence as women learn about childbirth. In discussions and classes, those who worried about what would happen during birth, avoided learning about it out of fear, and then found out that their fears were exaggerated...it is thrilling. It reminds me that though we often avoid the things we're scared of, we might find, through facing our fears, that they're not nearly as bad as we'd thought. We shouldn't let fear keep us from the truth.

• Feeding my 70's sci-fi appetite! Rob and I have been watching as much of Solaris as we can stand, and I have to say that watching a creepy movie before bedtime helps with the nighttime cuddling.

So, if there was ever a week beyond July 2007 to geek out, this is definitely it.

Angela...

...can READ.

She is sounding out every word she sees and reading the books her sister brings home from kindergarten.

I don't know how we're going to fill the next TWO YEARS before she starts school. She will have no use for it when her turn finally comes.

But I love it. I can't wait for her to start reading chapter books (like her sister is doing already). I know she will get lost in the worlds open to her then.

So far, this is my favorite part of parenthood. The abundant love of literacy is wonderful.

Unstoppable

She had three shiny quarters.
And, best of all, she had a brand new purple plastic purse that played a jaunty tune when it was opened.

Elizabeth read these sentences, out loud, to herself, without help, the other day.

I'm impressed beyond words, but I'm also sure this is only a small glimpse of what she's capable of doing.

Just wait, Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Josie, until you get her cards in the mail. She did those also without help.

Book reviews

I've been reading quite a few books. Here are some I've read this year so far and a few words about each:

Enchantment, by Orson Scott Card
What if Sleeping Beauty was real, and the princess awoke in modern times? Set between our familiar world and 850 AD Ukraine, this book interweaves Russian history, Jewish custom, folk tales from each, popular and obscure fairy tales, and makes it mostly believable. I resent when stories wrap up too cleanly, though. I want to sit down with Mr. Card and say, "Sometimes it's ok to have an unhappy ending. Really." While a bit over-researched and under-humanized, the book is enjoyable and difficult to set down.

The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion
Not as gut-wrenching as it could have been. It is a fascinating account of bewilderment and dealing with change, but I did not find in it the despair I would expect. Didion is removed and very careful about what she reveals of her experiences in the year after her husband suddenly died and her daughter lay ill in the hospital; what she says of those times is studied and self-conscious. One would expect no less of an accomplished writer, though it makes the book slightly less human, less sympathetic.

Sometimes reading like a laundry list of exotic vacations and exclusive restaurants, the point of it -- that Didion's and Dunne's wealth and privilege did nothing to cushion Joan from the grief -- is still clear.

Whitethorn Woods, by Maeve Binchy
Utterly delightful. It is a collection of short stories set around a particular place and event, each one told from a different perspective and through an entirely different personality. Each story is rich and varied, some humorous, some tragic, all of them engaging. This story could not be told without the glimpses into every person, without the knowledge in every history and an understanding of all motives and shortcomings.

The Pearl, by John Steinbeck
This was a challenge for me. I am innately opposed to Steinbeck. But I was challenged by someone I admire and the book is very short, so I read it. I am still in shock. While I understand the message (it's pretty clear), I find the turning point in the plot difficult to locate. It's a masterpiece. I hate to admit it.

Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld
A novel for the YA crowd. This is like Brave New World for a slightly younger audience. It is a futuristic book, taking place in a time when boys and girls undergo an extensive operation at age 16, to fix their features and become pretty. Before that they are known as 'uglies.' While objectionable in itself, there is something even more malicious to the operation.

I didn't find the book very intriguing until the halfway point, but I am still stunned by where it went from there. Stephenie Meyer fans will understand this analogy: What if, at the end of Twilight, Bella had turned into a monster, completely forgotten herself, went on endless rampages, and then the book ended?? I can barely wait to see what happens in book 2, Pretties.

The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale:
Don't think that I set out to read retellings of fairy tales. I promise it's just a coincidence.

While that's ultimately what this book is -- a retelling of the Brothers Grimm story by the same name -- it is also much more than that. I have rarely read anything so captivating. It is simply charming. The characters are so splendid and the situation, going from bad to worse until it resolves unexpectedly (some of you will likely think of it as predictable -- "Oh, I saw THAT one coming a mile away -- of COURSE she's the king's long-lost child", that sort of thing) but it was a wonderful adventure getting there. Not a two-dimensional book at all, and there are more books that explore this world (Enna Burning, River Secrets). This is a story I can hardly wait to read to my daughters.
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Also, I reread the Twilight series. And I attended two births, made 8 capes, threw two parties for a certain 5-year-old, gained 3 more doula clients, and hold a nervewracking calling in my church that requires hours of my time. And I haven't fallen behind on my homework.

Out of my element

My Biology class is as easy as it gets. Well, as easy as a lower-level science class with a challenging lab component gets. And if that biology class is being taken by someone very easily distracted, even fanciful, then it's actually quite formidable.

Lectures go over something like this:

"Ecosystem dynamics are driven by two processes: those of consumers and those of producers. Producers, like plants, take in sunlight and convert it into energy. That energy is then transferred to a consumer, like an animal. The worms in the soil consume the energy from decaying organisms..."

Oh, no. Those poor worms, stuck in the dark and the dirt. Their lives are so limited, only feeding on decomposing things, never seeing the sunlight, except for one brief moment where they poke their little heads up and are noticed by a bird or a wild pig...

"...and these make up the domain Eukarya. That will be on your quiz tomorrow."

Crap! I hate science. Why am I doing this? I want to be at home, tucking my kids into bed and reading. I really want to read. I love the Twilight books -- now that's what I'd rather be doing. It's weird that I read vampire books, kind of embarrassing, but it isn't the vampirism; it's the humanness of the vampires. One in particular, really. That, and the main struggle is so interesting to me...

What kind of vampire worries about his eternal nature, worries about the fate of his soul? In case he's truly lost his soul, Edward refuses to sentence his love, who happens to be human, to the same fate. That choice both separates and unites the two, and the decision to keep their worlds divided creates security for him, and pain too. Vampire with a heart of gold. Heh.

"...And after many years of research, that's the clearest example I can give of the difference between covalent and ionic bonds. Your book doesn't explain it very well, so there you are."

Crap!!

This is why I might barely pass Biology.

I certainly feel like an English major out of place. And yet, in the back of my mind, I refuse to take all the blame.

Shouldn't these things, emotion and humanity and fascination, be able to coexist with science? Why can't a scientist worry about those poor little worms and still study them effectively?

It would be a serious flaw, in my mind, if these worlds cannot cross, if I must turn off my creative mind so that I can do well in a scientific environment.

Two chapters of chemical properties to study, and then one more chapter of vampiric delights. That's the deal.

Elements, radioactivity, and chemical structures. Before Forks, Cullens, and the dilemma of whether to damn one's true love to an eternity of night.