Timing

Just as I was about to spend hundreds of dollars on self-help parenting books, we've had a tolerable couple of days around here. We're busy, and there's barely time for blogging, but it's mostly good things: hosting book club, getting into a school schedule, readying various birthday treats (apples with caramel dip tomorrow at school, cake with neighbors and friends on Thursday morning), writing more freelance copy, running (Annie, too!), visiting Jason's office on official dental-cleaning business . . . I do best when I have just enough on my metaphorical plate to keep me on my toes, and while that plate is a little full this week, I'm happy.

It seems that Annie is just going to be the type of child for whom a consistent schedule is going to be totally necessary at all times. I remember her going through a similar funk last fall, so I looked back at some old entries and sure enough, she was a handful right around her birthday then, too. There must be something about those weeks of unscheduled laziness at the end of summer that doesn't work for her; on top of all the underlying anxiety about change and new school and becoming a whole year older, I yanked her schedule out from underneath her and expected her to entertain herself a bit more than usual. But Monday morning, she woke up ready for school and a whole new girl. So I guess I'm going to become one of "those parents" who signs her kid up for activities just to keep them "in" something. Also, I might have to stop telling her about her birthday more than one day in advance: "Birthday? Nope. You don't actually have one. I know, everyone else does, but you don't. You just become a new age magically, with no milestone." And then, September 11, BLAM! "Annie! Hey, it's your birthday TODAY! Enjoy!"

Just as Annie's done a fair amount to turn herself around, Jemma has begun asking the dreaded "WHY?" I thought two-years-old was for "no," and three-years-old was for "why," but we're getting it very, very early here.

"We don't throw things in the house."

"Why?"

"Don't put dirt in your mouth. It's not good to eat."

"Why?"

Really? . . .

I've started a new book just in time for the farmer's market to be in all its fall glory - In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I read his other book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, last summer and have been meaning to read this new one, too, ever since a friend claimed on her GoodReads review that it changed the way she shopped for groceries. (I am such a nerd that I actually emitted a whispered "Yes!" in the library the other night when I found it on the shelf.) Even though Jason and I are both pretty into eating healthy food that we cook ourselves, I feel like we're ready to hear some reasons to commit more fully to a seasonal, local, more-organic way of eating. Wednesday morning farmer's market, here I come.