Questions, questions

Oldest is all about the questions these days. No one told me that 'but why, mommy? WHY?' started so early. The other day though, this happened:

Oldest (in the saddest voice in the world): Mummy, is Littlest your favourite?
Me: Favourite what, child?
Oldest: Favourite boy?

How much does that kill me that Oldest asked me that! Since then I've been all paranoid that I'm favouring one child over the other... (and I tried my best to explain to Oldest that I love both him and Littlest very much in different ways - neither love is more or less)

How would you have dealt with the question?

Library List

Yes, folks, it is that time again. My latest batch of books from the library. I haven't finished a book all month, unless you count East of Eden - which I don't because I spent three weeks of last month reading it and only finished 50 or so pages during the days of September. It was just so darn good nothing else compares to it as yet. But here are the hopeful contenders:

Brick Lane by Monica Ali (I recently watched the film adaptation and thought I'd give it another chance)
Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster (hadn't previously heardof this book, but I HEART Paul Auster)
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (ha! why did I pick this one up?!)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (I'm still thinking I can catch up in the Big Read)
My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson (recommended by ... Ms Mac, I believe?)
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (it's on the 1001 list I THINK - but then, I thought East of Eden was on it was very wrong - at least this is quite a bit thinner!)
The Human Stain by Philip Roth (this is on the list as well, I'm not sure what I was thinking with this one)
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (I actually thought I'd already read this book but turns out, no)

No wonder I haven't read anything at all this month, I think I'm putting myself off by continuously taking out weighty, serious books. My library has just the worst collection of YA and chicklit. Nothing new at all, ever. Perhaps it's time to go back to ReadItSwapIt? What're you reading at the moment?

MONSTER TRUCKS

I wonder if my child is mad about cars because we take him to a bunch of car shows and events or whether the addiction would still be there regardless?

Either way, we took The Boy off to Legoland's Amazing Machines event over the weekend, in which there were vehicles of all shapes and sizes including motorbikes and helicopters and vintage cars and .. monster trucks! (though, amusingly, he called them 'spider trucks' for most of the day!)

I thought the show was quite good, I quite liked the noise of the engines, the crowd shouting, the bass-y music blaring. It needed more destruction though. For me, monster trucks are only ever something fictional people (in America) on TV go to see, but I'm really glad we went.

The same monster truck company (found here) did a show at Legoland last year as well in which this Porsche was destroyed, check it out:

Housekeeping

I've been struggling all week to update my blog links, and I just about managed it, until The Black Box comes along... Can I just say, I love that thing. I have very little time at the moment to blog, write, or comment but all the time that I have at the moment is being taken up by that beautiful little widget. It's there in my sidebar, go check it out, you'll meet some great people. And if you've stopped by here from it, be sure to say hello!

Also, here are some cool blogs that have recently been added to my blog list:

Hillary, an old friend of mine from high school, over at my thoughts exactly has just signed a two book deal with a publisher.

I've considered seriously whether or not to join bookshelves of doom's The Big Read because she's so funny... still on the fence! ack!

My Friend Amy is Hosting a Book Bloggers Appreciation Week and there will be hundreds of cool giveaways and things but her blog is always very entertaining to read anyway.

Speaking of giveaways, Bloody Hell, It's a Book Barrage! just posted one of the funniest posts for her latest...

And the first person who finds my husband N's blog amongst the others and reports back get a very special 'hurray' from me! Happy hunting!

Optimistic

Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test...

HBPS - The Optimist

Humanity, Background, Big Picture, and Shape

You perceive the world with particular attention to humanity. You focus on the hidden treasures of life (the background) and how that fits into the larger picture. You are also particularly drawn towards the shapes around you. Because of the value you place on humanity, you tend to seek out other people and get energized by being around others. You like to ponder ideas and imagine the many possibilities of your life without worrying about the details or specifics. You are in tune with all that is around you and understand your life as part of a larger whole. You prefer a structured environment within which to live and you like things to be predictable.

The Perception Personality Types:

Take The Perception Personality Image Test at HelloQuizzy

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.


I love sports movies. So much so, I should probably write an entire post on it someday. The other day, I watched Coach Carter for the first time on TV. Samuel L. Jackson usually puts me off a movie but I watched it anyway. There was a scene in the movie, where a kid quotes the above (taken from a book by Marianne Williamson)and I had to look it up and post it here. The film stripped the quote of any references to God, and I preferred it without the religious slant, but either way it's still powerful and I felt like I needed to hear/read this particular thing right at that moment. Just thought I'd share.

See these happy faces?

We are smiling no more. We're all sick. The three of us together. You know what they say, the family that sneezes and coughs together...

You'd think, right?

I was always slightly worried about my children and their accents. I am American, N is English. We live in England. I always worried that perhaps my children would be mocked at school or by friends for having a hybrid-accent (which is what I have). Do you think it could go either way? That having a bizarre accent to go with their mixed-race skin tone will make their exoticness seem sort of cool? I hope so. I hate the idea that my kids will feel out of place like I did growing up.

But it doesn't seem (so far) that I should have to worry about accents. Why? Because Elliot doesn't have even a trace of an American accent. It's all English. The one, ONE thing I insisted upon before giving birth to either of my children, is that they would call me 'Mommy' or 'Mom' instead of 'mummy' or 'mum'. Elliot decided to ignore that memo and firmly calls me 'Mummaaaaaaaay' It makes me wonder if I'm not such a big influence on his language as I thought I was. Surely, I am his biggest influence, having stayed at home with him everyday for nearly three years?

Edited to add: I just found this article on the Daily Telegraph that says 'Parents' regional accents may harm children' which explains that toddlers are more responsive to the pitch of the English accent, specifically over the North American accent.

Ah, Autumn...

You Belong in Fall

Intelligent, introspective, and quite expressive at times... You appreciate the changes in color, climate, and mood that fall brings Whether you're carving wacky pumpkins or taking long drives, autumn is a favorite time of year for you

What Season Are You?

Blogging for Darfur

Natasha over at Maw Books Blog is trying to do something amazing with her blog. She has dedicated the month of September to raising awareness and money for the genocide in Darfur. She's already posted a video of herself asking for help, as well as listed a huge number of links and videos to help you to learn more. Here's how you can help (taken from her website):

• Commit to write a post (if you have a blog or website) dedicated to the Reading for Darfur campaign. Use the button shown here and link back to this page. For every person who does this I will donate 25 cents to a organization that makes a difference in Darfur (list of these organizations follow below). Put the button in your sidebar linking to this post during the entire month of September and I will donate 25 cents more.
• Commit to visit my blog on a consistent basis during September. For each comment left anywhere on my blog all month I will donate 10 cents.
• Commit to read any of the books or watch any of the documentaries listed on this page. For every book that you read or video you watch during September, I will donate 50 cents. If you have a blog and review that book or video I will donate $1. Leave me a comment on this post once you do, so I don’t have to hunt you down. I will link to your reviews during my weekly recaps.
• Commit to donate a penny for every single page that I read during September (excluding picture books and easy readers).
• Commit to donate 50 cents for every single post I publish during September.
• Commit to donate a penny for every page I read AND 50 cents for every single post I publish.
• And heck, if you want to write the post, put the button in your sidebar, comment on my blog, read a book, and sponsor me in my reading and blogging, then I won’t stop you!

Soccer Aid 2008

I know what I'll be doing tonight. Soccer Aid 2008 is on tonight on ITV and the kickoff is at 6pm. It was so much fun the last time around! (England won 2-1!)

This year, famous football players and celebrities will team together to see who will win - England or the Rest of the World. In 2006, Soccer Aid raised 2.6 million pounds for Unicef providing textbooks, medicines, clean water, and mosquito nets, as well as care and protection, for thousands of children in some of the world’s poorest countries


Support Soccer Aid 2008 by donating online to support Unicef projects by clicking here.

The England Team:

Jamie Redknapp, Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham, David Seaman, Graham Le Saux Des Walker, Kyran Bracken, Craig David, Angus Deayton, Tom Felton, Chris Fountain, Ben Shephard, Gareth Gates, McFly’s Danny Jones, Hugo Speer, Jamie Theakston, and Jonathan Wilkes.

The Rest of the World:

Jaap Stam, Franco Baresi, Romario, Luis Figo, Paolo Di Canio, Claudio Taffarel Nicky Byrne, Heroes actor Santiago Cabrera, Alastair Campbell, Gethin Jones, Patrick Kielty, Kenny Logan, Brian Lara, Sex and the City actor Gilles Marini, Brian McFadden, Gordon Ramsay, and Rodrigo Santoro

Yay for the return of toddler groups

Toddler groups resumed today. I've been looking forward to it for weeks. Oldest always runs off and plays, Littlest generally sleeps and I get an hour and a half to sit somewhere awkwardly by myself but at least there are no children climbing over me and yelling for me to 'look, mummy, look!' I'm not so great with the small talk, folks. I seem to know everyone who comes to toddler group by face but I never seem to progress past the 'hi/how are you/wow your child has grown/did you have a nice weekend' type of conversations, though I've wanted to in many cases.

This morning, this woman walks straight in and started introducing herself. 'Hi, I'm B, this is my first time here' and asks about children's names and ages and where everyone lives. Even walks out with half the crowd's numbers and has made plans. She has my number, I have hers and we've made a tentative plan to meet up after lunch tomorrow. I was thinking maybe she's just one of those people. You know the sort, one who gets on with everyone, always smiling, always laughing, friends with everyone. But she turned out not to be. When everyone was crowding around during storytime trying to get juice and biscuits for the kids, I turned to look at her and she looked just as uncomfortable and awkward as I do every week. And then it looked like she steeled herself up for it and jumped straight in to see if she could help. But I saw it, she forced herself to do that, it was clearly outside of her comfort zone.

And I was thinking, I'd like to be able to do that. Has anyone read that book, Feal the Fear and Do It Anyway'? I always thought everything you needed to know was in the title, so I never did read it (that and self-help books are so not my thing) but that's what it reminded me of. Maybe there's something to it after all.

In case you forgot what my boys look like...

Back to school

It's back to school time, and I've been reading lots of posts about other bloggers going to grad school or taking their kids to their first day at school and I feel all a bit left out. But did I mention yet? (I have, haven't I?) I am DEFINATELY going back to university. Only it'll be starting next February (160 days from now, but who's counting?!). I have all of fall and winter to prepare myself (and be intensely busy with my dad's proposed visit, the first year Elliot's old enough to go trick-or-treating, my nephew's first birthday, Elliot's third birthday, Thanksgiving, my wedding anniversary, Christmas, sending Elliot off to HIS first day at pre-school) and then I get cracking on my psychology degree. It's going to be a hard workload, and I'll have very little free time for the next six years, but I can't wait. Here's a little snippet from my first course:

The social sciences are about people, how they act individually and collectively, and the course asks a series of questions at both levels. Individually, to what extent and in what ways are people having to live with change, diversity and uncertainty? How are they organising their lives to do so? Are people responsible for their own destinies, exercising power and making their decisions? To what extent are people’s lives – their food, their employment opportunities, their health – shaped by environmental, social or biological factors beyond their control? Collectively, are we living through a major transformation in society and the traditions that hold it together? What is happening to our sense of belonging as family life and communities change? How are global developments affecting the way we live?

Doesn't that sound exciting?