Well, that was fast – barely noticed the entire summer flashing past. Please don’t think that flashing actually means there was any heat generated – I would not call this one a hot summer. Almost breaking rainfall records every month wasn’t fun.
Alisa has put together a little photo collection of some of the things Marley has been up to this summer. If you want an update on our little Highness, this is your fix.
Alisa, Marley and I took in the first hour or so of the Vancouver Pride Parade this past Saturday. I’ve put up a few of my pictures if you’re curious as to what we saw and how cool Marley was in her sunglasses.
Uh oh!
It seems to me that Marley isn’t thrilled with me taking pictures of her on the other side of the child gate. Or perhaps she’s a little .. what would you call this … exasperated? I guess so, she’s a little exasperated with something I’m doing.
Never again my dear, just tell me what bothers you and you’ll never be bothered by it again, I swear! Who could say no to such a look?
Click the picture to see the original (large) picture.
This article looked interesting – addressing “Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature“. As soon as I saw that beautiful people tend to have more daughters I knew they were on to something.
Physical attractiveness, while a universally positive quality, contributes even more to women’s reproductive success than to men’s. The generalized hypothesis would therefore predict that physically attractive parents should have more daughters than sons. Once again, this is the case. Americans who are rated “very attractive” have a 56 percent chance of having a daughter for their first child, compared with 48 percent for everyone else.
This is some wild and crazy stuff! They address/prove other issues like suicide bombers being predominantly Muslim, men preferring blondes, polygamy vs. mongamy, etc. Tucking it away for a future read when I have a few spare moments. I’m not saying it is all true, but if it is then I think Alisa and I need to have a son next to avoid our apparently statistically elevated chance of seeing a divorce in our future. Sounds like sound science to me!
I’m being given the opportunity to stay home a few days a week for most of June, to let Alisa take a turn at working outside the home. This past Tuesday, June 12th, Marley approached me with an idea. I simply had to photograph it. So, on behalf of Marley, I present to you “An Afternoon with Marley“.
On May 5th we celebrated Marley’s first birthday with a small group of friends and family. It was a zoo! We’ve finally got the pictures up in an album.
It’s sad that it has taken me around a month to go through our Cuba pictures and to post the story of our trip – but that’s the pace of these “hobby-type” things nowadays.
We spent a week in Varadero and the pictures tell the story – enjoy!
The term “Yummy Mummy” has become quite well-accepted in common “parental talk”. What used to refer to sugared cereal is now used to label a mother who portrays herself as glamorous and fairly unaffected by the birth of her children.
The Georgia Straight has an interesting article on how this term is becoming contentious and divisive in the parenting circles.
The Birth Lounge, which held an alternative baby fair at Britannia Community Centre on March 10, promotes the idea that the transition to motherhood is a major one: bodies change, focus changes, work changes, and relationships change. For a mom’s life even to slightly resemble her former world, it takes lots of money–enough for a nanny, a diaper service, a maid service, and the “right” baby wardrobe and accessories. The term yummy mummy has serious class overtones, they agreed.
In fact, they think that yummy mummies are a myth. No matter what a mom looks like on the outside, you never know what’s going on beneath her mascara–or tank top.
I’ve long felt that this term was becoming somewhat dismissive and … … pejorative, to borrow the phrase from the article. It’s nice to see local community discussion about it. And frankly, this article is an excellent one.
Parting words:
Yummy mummy, Williams said, challenges the yuckiness of motherhood in the same way that the perky 1940s housewife challenged her grandmother and the supermom challenged her. Like those stereotypes, the yummy mummy is totally unrealistic for today’s women anxious to appear to have it all.
P.S. Anyone interested in sending our ladies to see Mom’s the Word 2: Unhinged. We missed the original Mom’s the Word, but this one looks like it could be useful in a decade or so…
It’s that time in Marley’s life (just over 9 months for those counting) when she will be making a very important decision. The outcome of this decision could scar her for life and frankly I’m a little concerned about the path she seems to be choosing. You’ve all heard the experts say that a baby needs to learn how to crawl – that it is part of their developmental staging and it is important to encourage the baby to crawl. Yes, I’m sure you have all heard this, right?
I’m afraid that recent developments indicate that Marley is poopoo’ing these experts: I don’t think she wants to crawl at all. The moment she’s on her belly when we try to encourage it she’s crying at us. Is it anger? Frustration? Disdain? Who but Marley can say?
Here’s a video (1.2MB) that sheds some light on her next planned “step” in the world.
P.S. Alisa just posted some 9 month pictures that support my observation that she’s made her decision.
Indulge me a moment – go look over a few pictures of my little girl and tell me she’s not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. Mind you, I don’ actually want to hear you say you’ve seen cuter, it’s just a common phrase. If you don’t think she’s cute please keep that to yourself.