Number-tastic

E constantly amazes me! He's just about to turn 19 months this coming week, and his talking is really coming on. His words aren't very clear but he's starting to put together more and more two word phrases. This morning I could hear him chattering away in his cot, and then clear as day he said....

'one, two, three, four'!

I had *no* idea he could count! I mean, we do count things in books but not in a hardcore teachy sort of way... they just pick up things like sponges, don't they.

So, I think we might get him this funny, stylish print from sugarfresh just to celebrate his new counting skills!

Unschooling

I'm loving the creativity of toddlerhood and I'm really starting to think about unschooling as an option for us, as I want to keep this exciting/excited way of learning and exploring for E.
Not sure I could cope with some of the negative reactions I know we'd get, but we'd find ways to cope with those over time I think.

I've been doing a lot of blog reading recently and am finding more and more wonderful blogs that show really creative families and people living outside of the more accepted ways of living. You might say outside of the 'system'. Travellers, unschoolers, anarchists, deworkers, idlers, crafters, bloggers.... Gives me inspiration to read such things.


(Photo by the brilliant Amanda Blake Soule of Soulemama)

This week's book: Rachel Cusk

I've been doing a bit of ebay shopping and have finally got round to buying Rachel Cusk's A Life's Work . It explores some of the more difficult aspects of being a mother. Today I'm really feeling the need to read this, as I'm struggling with E a bit today. I feel lethargic and not really up for chasing an uncontrollable toddler around the place. Plus we seem to be hitting the terrible twos six months early, as he keeps throwing massive tantrums. It's days like these that you mourn for the pre-mama days... and whilst I wouldn't be without E, I think Cusk's book is brave enough to admit that motherhood can often be like this. We're allowed to feel feelings that may be seen, by others, as negative, selfish, lazy or egotistical. We mothers are just people, after all.

Beautiful breastfeeding

One of my favourite blogs for all things mama is Marvelous Kiddo. Leigh is the writer of the blog and is pro-home birth and pro- breastfeeding, so we're very much on the same wavelength. I had E at home, which was a fantastic experience, and breastfed for just over a year.
I love to see positive images of breastfeeding, so here are a couple via Marvelous Kiddo. The first is a beautiful illustration, the second is an advert to support breast cancer research fundraising.


Illustration via Les Petits Papiers d'Annette Marnat