Time for a book roundup!

These are the titles titillating my two-year-old toddler (dang, can't think of any more T words) presently. Oh, right — today.

I have No Time for Flash Cards to thank for clueing me in to Jazz Baby, by Lisa Wheeler and R. Gregory Christie (there are multiple titles with the same name, so check the authors or make like picture). So glad I picked this up at the library, and Mikko loves it so much that I think I might (gasp) have to buy it.

It's one of those rhythmic, toe-tapping reads that makes you happy to have a toddler to read to, like Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb which I mentioned before, and Bear Snores On. The wordplay and meter arc and flow through a jazz improvisation as the baby sways and bebops with glee, before settling down to sleep, deep, deep, deep...oh, yeah.

This book cracks Mikko up in two unexpected ways: First, one of the early phrases is "Grandpa toot-toots," meaning on a trumpet, but my son has a wicked sense of toilet humor. (Hmm, wonder where he got that from... The thing is, you're allowed to be juvenile when you actually are one.) Secondly, each section ends with the baby shouting "Go, man, go," and Mikko literally screeches out "Goooooo" and employs his sign language for the word, learned from Baby Signing Time because I didn't have the foresight to realize it would be such a beloved sign. (It's pointing both index fingers in the direction you're go, go, going.)

Jazz Baby makes me happy as a parent, too, because it demonstrates a Continuum-happy lifestyle where the baby is surrounded by nurturing family members, neighbors, and friends of all ages and both genders. There is no disrespect for baby here, or for any age. Everyone's musical contributions are valid, and I think — and maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I'll go with it — that that shows that every person is validated and honored as well.

And, hey, as I mentioned, it's stinkin' fun to read!

Two other favorites right now are a treat from Grandma's recent visit. We were at the library for a German story experience and had some time to kill, so Grandma zeroed in on two Richard Scarry books — Busy, Busy Town and Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever — and asked if Mikko had either. He sadly did not, so they were checked out posthaste.

I have mixed feelings toward word books, without story to connect the vocabulary. I say mixed, because before having an actual child with whom to interact with them, I used to find them quite boring as a reader, but now I see how much delight Mikko takes in them. In fact, his favorite book for some time was First 100 Words, presumably because he could sign almost every one of those words. It was such a treat for him to point to a picture of say, a monkey, then sign it (scratch your armpits) and make an "eee, eee, eee" sound (that's what a monkey sounds like, natch), then wait for me to repeat it back to him and say "monkey" out loud several times to show I understood. It's been really helpful as we're learning German together, too, because I can "read" an entire book like this in German, reinforcing his (and my) bilingual vocabulary.

So, back to Richard Scarry... I'll just say, they're a big hit. Mikko goes ga-ga over the pages with trains, a recent obsession. He'll start saying "choo choo" and making the train sign (rubbing two fingers from each hand together) while I feverishly and obediently flip pages. Once I find the right one: "Train! Choo choo!" His joy is worth every hour spent poring over word books.

Something that's on my mind about children's books is Arwyn's recent post about sexism in board books. I've noticed that Richard Scarry draws every woman and girl in a shapeless dress, and every male is in pants. But at least, I was reassured, he has a woman police officer on the cover of the Best Word Book Ever, even if she does have to wear her frumpy dress to work.

I should have known, though. I realized that the books must have been updated since their first publication, because there's a recycling truck on one page, and I know these books were around when I was a young'un. Let's just say that was before recycling, kids.

In gathering my little linkies and images for this article, I found the original 1963 cover to compare with today's version. It's so very intriguing!

Let's contrast: The woman police officer was definitely tokened in. A mother instead of a father used to be pushing the pram and leading a little boy (now a little girl) along on a trike. The house has been expanded to switch up the family roles. Originally, a woman bunny presided over the kitchen, while a boy bunny brushed his teeth upstairs. Now the boy has inexplicably changed to a girl (because girls have good hygiene too, dang it), and a man bunny has come to join the female in the kitchen. He's juicing some oranges for his tooth-brushing daughter and his layabout other child, and he's happy about it. There used to be only a male farmer in the field, hanging out with a scarecrow. The scarecrow has since become a woman farmer, and the term has been changed to the plural. The cow's still a cow. The firefighters are gender neutral, because I can't see if they've got skirts under their long coats.

Wasn't that fun?

And, hey, here's another funny thing as I'm learning German: There is no word I can find for "firefighter," only "fireman" or "firewoman." For some reason, this confounds me, because I want there to be a gender-neutral term.

Oh, here's another funny-slash-disturbing thing about the Richard Scarry books. In one of the train compartments, there's a pig eating what looks undeniably like a pork chop. I am agog.

Andi Silverman of Mama Knows Breast is hosting a nursing top giveaway from Boob, a Swedish maternity and nursing wear company.

You don't need clothing that's made specifically for breastfeeding to nurse in public, but it doesn't hurt! So pop on over to Mama Knows Breast to try for this cute nursing shirt. This is your chance to put those writing skills to use. If you're pregnant, tell Andi why you're dying to have this top. And if you already have a baby, tell her a favorite story about nursing in public.

Andi will pick the winner based on how fun, clever, or poignant the story is. If you wrote a particularly good one, cross-post it in the comments here so I can enjoy it, too. I've been reading some of the entries so far, and there are some really fun ones. I especially laughed at the "little tiny breasts" story and was shocked that someone was kicked out of church for a noisy nursling (as in, slurping, not crying). I was going to recommend some other comments, but I'll give up and say, just read them all.

The contest is for U.S. residents, and entries are due August 1, the start of Breastfeeding Awareness Week.

So why are we?

One thing I've thoroughly disliked is that the word "home" has been co-opted by the real estate industry. As if nothing other than what you own qualifies, when home is such an emotion-drenched word.

Another thing I've disliked is the tired axiom: When you rent, you're just throwing money away. Balderdash. You're exchanging money for a place to live. Might as well say that you're throwing money away when you buy groceries, because you're just going to eat them.

I've never been much for the American Dream. I've never longed for white picket fences and expanses of green grass that's mine, all mine. I've liked the freedom of renting, being able to pull up stakes with 20 days notice, being free to earn as little as we wanted and find a rent to suit.

I've been rightly skeptical of the financial advantages of house-owning, as we've watched Sam's parents' equity disappear into the black pit that is the Michigan housing market, as we've seen friends foreclosed on, as we've watched investment properties not pay back as much as a savings account. I've witnessed the smaller financial disadvantages of owning, as well — the increased monthly payments even for a smaller place in a more prosaic location, the impulse to buy new furniture to fill those pretty new rooms, the drive to put in granite countertops and those sinks that sit on top of the counter and to switch to the stainless-steel appliances that will show all of your children's grimy little fingerprints. I held myself aloof in our rentals, making do with whatever ugliness and inconvenience presented itself, because it wasn't mine to deal with, and neither were the repairs or maintenance. I reminded myself of this as I saw two separate friends sink tens of thousands into replacing the rotting foundations of their purchases.

Mostly, we just felt we needed to be free. Sam and I each grew up living the Gypsy life. Before here, the longest I'd lived anywhere was four years, and the shortest was six weeks.

But, dang it, we fell in love. With a location, not a building. With this stretch of beach we're living along in Seattle, with Seattle itself.

We don't feel like picking up and jumping onto the nearest box car. We've (dare I say it?) settled.

And then we had another run-in, the latest in a series, with our crazy landlady of doom, as we've un-fondly named her. We recognized that we no longer felt comfortable in our otherwise ideal apartment, but rather than moving to another rental and another potentially insane landlady, would it be possible to own? We asked this of ourselves wistfully and sheepishly, not really expecting a yes from the universe.

But as I mentioned in my post on housing assistance programs, there were options available. We were beyond surprised when we walked out of the bank with a preapproval for what seemed like a great deal of money.

Of course, in Seattle, even a great deal of money doesn't go very far. We quickly realized there wasn't much, and hadn't been much lately, in our price range in the neighborhood we were interested in. When we happened upon our underpriced beauty, we pounced.

I think we will be happy there. Not because we're owning it. Not because we'll be cool then.

We would be happy where we are, too, or in another rental.

I think we'll be happy because we mean to be happy, and this purchase makes sense right now. It will make our lives easier in the future, if all goes well. Our housing payments will go down in proportion to inflation as the years go on, and meanwhile we will be secure in our nice little water-side bungalow.

We will raise Mikko there, and potentially another kidlet. We can see it. Mikko will continue sharing our room for now, but there's another room available if he prefers, and he and the future sibling can share the space together. Can I say how stupidly happy that makes me to envision? Not being a cosleeping baby or toddler myself, I always felt the lack of a roommate. I seriously loved it when I got to college and didn't have to sleep in a room alone anymore.

And our kids can run down the stairs and out to the beach, to our home, this stretch of sand and languid blue water.

And, who knows, maybe we'll even put in some granite countertops at some point. But I draw the line at the stainless steel. I don't want to go wiping those down every minute.

I unexpectedly received a mainstream parenting magazine in the mail the other day. I need to call to find out why, but I'm putting off the task.

Once I inadvertently got signed up for a subscription because I had put myself on a mailing list for samples and didn't return a card specifically opting out of subscribing to the magazine. I got customer service to cancel it and not charge me after all, but it all seemed very underhanded to me.

It's possible I got signed up for this current one because Mikko's Grandma recently signed him up for a kids' magazine subscription, and maybe this was a package deal. That's all I can guess at the moment.

I flipped through the mag anyway, wondering if I'd like it enough to read it if it is indeed free.

I quickly determined that you couldn't pay me to read it. Even if it's free, I want to cancel the subscription.

First of all, flipping through it is a misnomer, because most every page stuck at an advertisement. One of the first ones I flipped to was a scare tactic for the pertussis vaccine. Then there was the full-page one on the back for toddler formula. Most of the ads weren't anything out of the ordinary: disposable dipes, bright plastic toys, and all the other gew-gaws your average American parent thinks are necessary. I will freely admit that I make use of some of the wares being advertised. But I kept thinking that these were all things that didn't need advertising. And I did think to send a letter condemning the formula ads in particular, since formula companies, ethically speaking, aren't supposed to be advertising at all!

Then there were the articles. The raising of fears and the urging of coercion, and the veiled advertisements even here. My favorite was the page of snack suggestions, which recommended feeding kids Jell-O to learn colors (no, seriously) and Cheez-Its with letters on them to learn the alphabet. Huh-wha? Yes, let's make sure our preschoolers are getting their full RDA of gelatin and cheez, shall we?

To keep this from being just a rant about what I don't like in parenting magazines, let me plug my fave mag of all time: Mothering. And, no, they're not making me say this (or paying me, sigh...).

There are ads (something's gotta pay the bills), but they're for companies you root for, ones that need the attention. And the articles celebrate parenting in relationship rather than present it as a task to be done just so.

It's so odd, because my uncle was visiting one day when my parents were here and was flipping through my issue of Mothering and said to my parents, "So, this is the guilt magazine, I see." My parents chuckled along. And I couldn't even figure out what he meant.

I processed it later. I guess he saw that it encouraged breastfeeding, organics, traditional foods, cosleeping, unschooling, and so on, and decided that it would make everyone as uncomfortable as it made him.

But, for me, since I already embrace those precepts, it makes me feel good. It makes me feel like there's someone out there who knows me, a whole heap of someones in fact, and that they're going to support me in every issue.

And when I want more support, I can head off to the Mothering.com discussion boards to chat and listen.

Mothering's even cooler now, because it's introduced a new digital interface. It's eco-friendly, internationally accessible, substantially cheaper, and easier than print to read in a dark room while breastfeeding your baby to sleep! Parfait, non?

So, that's my plug for Mothering magazine. What magazines do you read that make you feel all warm and squishy inside, or inspire you to think deep thoughts, or challenge you to change your ways? Please share, so I have more good parenting magazines to read, to replace the trash in my mailbox!

Go to Motherwear's Breastfeeding Blog for a fun excerpt from Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers, by Kathleen Kendall-Tackett and Nancy Mohrbacher.

It explains the four different types of mammals, and why our breast milk is designed to be so low (comparatively) in protein and fat.

(To break the suspense, it's because human babies were designed to be carried around and feed all day long!)

Tanya says it might be geeky that she finds comparisons to other animals so fascinating. I'm too much of a geek to say whether it is or isn't, but I'll share in the fascination.

I've felt kind of out of it lately, because all my emotional energy has been going toward buying a house.

A 2-bedroom condo, to be exact, a half-block from the beach. It's a pretty sweet pad, if I do say so myself.

But not so sweet that my mind should be this taken over by the process of acquiring it.

I haven't been writing or commenting much lately, because all I've been thinking about has been this home-buying process, and I didn't want to write about that, for fear of jinxing it. Do I believe in jinxing? No. And, yet... Well, I think it's more that there are so many ifs in our particular quest, and I felt vulnerable putting them out here. If it all falls through, then I'll have to admit that and feel stupid for ever mentioning it in the first place.

But maybe our journey and the resources we used can help some other low- to mid-income first-time home buyers (thusly was the demographic presented to me), so I'll give out a little bit of our course of action, and if you want details, feel free to email.

First, I'll point out that it seems to be a really good time to buy if you can swing it. Housing prices are low(er) almost everywhere in the U.S., and interest rates are very low as well. The place we're trying for is definitely undervalued right now. Now, no one can predict what will happen, if we're heading into a serious depression, where prices and rates will dip even lower. The common wisdom I've heard for my part of the country is that prices will stagnate for awhile, but interest rates will go back up. I am not a financial advisor or housing expert; do not take this as a prediction from Madame Fortuna. I only seek to point out that if you can afford it now but wait a couple years, you might not be able to afford it then.

To find helpful information and programs, I went to good old Google and typed in "first time home buyer Seattle." Substitute your location accordingly.

Using that method, I happened across the Washington State Housing Finance Commission's website. Might there be similar commissions in other states? There might. It's worth checking out.

The commission offers a free, 5-hour intensive class for first-time home buyers. Once you take this educational seminar, you're eligible to apply for various income-based assistance programs.

Washington in general and Seattle in particular have what's known as the House Key program. If your household is under the maximum income limits and your house price is under the maximum price, and if there are funds available in the House Key program (a big if, as we've discovered), you can potentially combine a low-interest mortgage loan with a down payment assistance loan (up to $60,000) with very low interest (3%) and deferred payments (30 years).

Another program we looked into was the community land trust option. There are various CLTs operating across the country and internationally, so see if there's one near you if you're interested. Again, there are income limits. The CLT operates as a nonprofit whose purpose it to keep housing affordable for generations to come. The one hereabouts buys the land under your house by gifting you an additional $100,000 on top of whatever mortgage amount you qualified for. You then lease the land back from the land trust for $35 a month as long as you live there. When you sell, you agree to forego a large portion of the appreciation to sell it at an affordable price to the next CLT wannabe. It's community-spirited and nicely do-goody. It also protects you in a down market by cushioning the effects of depreciation.

So, long story short, we're trying for House Key, but it's kind of like threading a needle to be poor enough to convince House Key that you need the assistance but rich enough to assure the underwriters that you can afford the monthly payments. After a whirlwind couple weeks of learning, hunting, offering, and switching lenders, we're twiddling our thumbs right now, waiting for the approval or rejection of our loan application. Time has suddenly slowed, and we have nothing to do but wait. And write, apparently.

So that's my current story, and those are the thoughts keeping me up at night. Here's hoping for good news, an easy move, and more interesting thoughts for the future as we continue to enjoy our life by the water!

And I'll try to respond to comments soon!