Gone With the Wind

No, I'm not recommending this book for kids (although, come to think about it, I read it at the tender age of 11).

Just jumping on to say that we are temporarily staying in a hotel as our power is still out from the highs winds that passed through Virginia on Sunday. Right now, it's me and baby in a tiny room while Dave is at work. We're getting a little stir crazy. I'm way behind on birthday preparations, but I will try to post some more recommendations soon!

Go Away, Big Green Monster!

Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley consists of a series of cut-out illustrations ("two big yellow eyes, "one big green nose," etc.) that build upon one another to make the face of the big, green, monster and then dissolve page by page when the monster is told to go away. The artwork is bold, bright, and simple and each cut-out is just begging to be explored by little fingers. (I mentioned in my last post that there are tons of board books being made from books that are more appropriate for an older audience. Well, here is an instance where I wonder why a book hasn't been published in board book form.)

Children's librarians do a lot of outreach visits to daycares, preschools, and elementary schools. Often, we don't know much about our audiences before we enter the room, so I would always bring a few books that I knew from experience would get a favorable reception no matter what. Go Away, Big Green Monster was one of these and boy, did it come in handy.

Not once, but three times, I found myself in a classroom where, unbeknownst to me before I arrived, the majority of the children spoke only Spanish. The first time this happened, I sweated through a storybook while the kids looked totally bored and disinterested. My Spanish is rusty and rudimentary. However, four years of high school classes and one of college had drilled the question, "Como se dice ______?" into my brain. So, next, I pulled out Go Away, Big Green Monster! and on the nose page, for example, I'd say "Como se dice nose?" The kids had a great time yelling out the Spanish word and cracking up that a grown woman didn't know such basic words. (I didn't mention above, but my other critera for my go-to books was that they elicited lots of audience participation.) It saved my storytime butt on several following occasions, and is a real testament to the fun of the book that it can easily play in another language.

Each Peach Pear Plum

Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg is a classic that I knew about, but largely overlooked when I was working as a librarian. The pictures are much too detailed for a large storytime audience, so it managed to fly under my radar. Each illustration has an "I Spy" element related to a fairy tale or nursery rhyme. For instance, on one page you see Mother Hubbard and are asked to spy Cinderella whos outstretched hand wielding a feather duster you can see emerging from behind a pile of suitcases. The characters are never complicatedly hidden, so little ones can easily find them and experience a sense of accomplishment. The other details in the illustrations and on the cover page lend themselves to lots of discussion and make the books fun to look at over and over.

Since it assumes a knowledge of basic nursery rhymes and fairy tales, it both leads to other stories and reinforces a child's knowledge of these tales. (I'll save my soapbox rant on the importance of fairy tales and nursery rhymes to child development for another post.) This book is a bit advanced for Henry, but by the end of the year, he may be getting in to it. Kids from almost three up to age five or six will really get a kick out of it.

I have to mention that I was a bit surprised by two of the illlustrations. The first shows the Three Bears going hunting and Baby Bear accidentally shooting Baby Bunting's basket out of a tree. The second shows Robin Hood trying to shoot down the Wicked Witch with arrows. To be fair, many fairy tales and even some nursery rhymes contain violent imagery and I think that sanitizing them often robs them of their power. I'm personally not thrilled about the depiction of firearms and the necessary discussion of safety these illustrations will elicit in a book for such a young crowd, but the book has enough other merits that I'm trying to overlook it.

Board Books for the Birthday Boy: Global Babies

My little one is almost one! He's been read to nearly daily since he was born, but it wasn't until sometime around six month old that he made any indication that he was actually interested. Before that, he would screech like an angry monkey about halfway through the book and then bat it out of our hands. Our persistance paid off, though, and now he screeches like an angry monkey when the book ends!

Against our best intentions he got a glut of toys for Christmas (albeit mostly homemade or natural wood), so his birthday is going to be all about the books. It was really hard to stick to our self-imposed money limit, but I think I made good choices.

We just received the first two in the mail: Global Babies by The Global Fund for Children and Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. Let me just start by saying it's really hard to find good board books. Lots of the books out today are just board versions of books that were intended for an older audience with too much text and small illustrations that just don't hold the attentions of little ones. Or, they have the bold photos or simple illustrations that babies love, but come off like a collection of clip art.

I was expecting the latter when I ordered Global Babies, and was pleasantly surprised to find those expectations surpassed. While his favorite face is his own (seriously, he lights up whenever he gets a glimpse in the mirror), like most babies, my son loves to look at other kids. This book features close-ups of babies from around the world, with an emphasis on third-world countries. The photos are coffee table book quality gorgeous. I love the fact that the children are in both traditional dress and modern clothing and as a babywearing mama, I think it's really neat that many of the babies are depicted being worn by an adult.

I think my favorite thing about this book is that each baby, no matter how "foreign" the location, is captured in a moment that babies and parents can recognize as familiar. Seeing the same impy expression Henry often gets mirrored on the face of a child half a world away brought tears to my eyes.

So often, I'm struck both by how lucky I am that Henry was born into a safe place where I have the luxury of imagining a happy future for him and by the realization that such luck is a precarious thing that many mamas and babies have lost or never had. I remember rocking newborn Henry and listening to a CD of lullabies. Before I had him, I'd never realized the sad, lonely, fearful quality of many traditional lullabies. It connected me in a bittersweet way to all the women who've held a fragile life in their hands and worried about the future.

Looking at this book brings up similar emotions (for me--Henry will just dig the baby pictures). That such a simple book as this can hold so much makes it one of my new favorites.

Check back tomorrow for Each Peach Pear Plum.

Welcome, Readers!

Hi, all!

Welcome to the new, improved Straw Into Gold! It's a new year and I've got lots of ideas brewing. While there will still be some crafty goodness (stay tuned for information on my new store at etsy), I'm shifting the focus of this blog.

In my pre-baby life, I was a children's librarian. I loved coming across new and wonderful books. For years, I didn't even bother reading adult books, as some of the best, honest, most heartfelt literature is being written with young people in mind.

Now that I'm a stay at home mom, I find myself missing the ability to share my favorite books with kids and their parents. So, I came up with the idea of revamping this blog to focus on literature for babies, children, and young adults. It's a great motivator for me to stay up on all the great books being published, many of which don't end up being featured at your local large bookstore chain.

More importantly, I want to do this as a service to parents who are looking for new books for their kids to enjoy. In that vein, I love a good reference question, so feel free to email me (amy ruth webb at gmail dot com) with questions or just leave me a comment. Nothing makes me happier than matching a child with the perfect book.

Check back in a day or so for some acutal recommendations!

Big Kid

A couple of posts ago, I wrote about how Henry's eating had slacked off. The doctor said it was nothing to worry about. And although he turned out to be right, we're still thinking of changing practices. This is the second physician in the practice that we have seen as Henry's primary doctor and it turns out we don't really jive with him either. I love the nurses and receptionists, but the doctors have a certain tone. For instance, when I casually mentioned Henry sleeping with us, he made me "aware" of their policy against co-sleeping. Both doctors went on about how Henry needs to learn to be independent. For god's sake, he's not even six months old! At this age, he needs to be learning that Mommy and Daddy will always be here for him. I wonder if they would use that argument if he were a girl or are they especially worried that we'll turn him into a "mama's boy"?



But enough of my tangental rave. Henry is learning so many new things. He's mostly making up for his sluggish appetite now. And we've started him on solids. We were going to wait until he was six months old, but he can sit up all on his own ("Look ma, no hands!") and he had become very interested in what we were eating and drinking. He's such an adventurous little eater. Nothing's put him off yet. He makes a little face on the first bite or two of something new and then lunges for the spoon with mouth open wide and you just can't get it in there fast enough! He's had potato, avacado, sweet potato, and today, we added banana to the mix.




The other big thing is that we're doing a very loose version of elimination communication. I've been a slacker about it lately, but I've been trying to put him on his potty for a very short time at diaper changes. He likes to sit on it and play with his stacking cups or look at books and I've actually caught a couple of pees. Mostly, though, he's building a positive acquaintance with his potty early, so potty training will hopefully be easier. Plus, he looks so cute sitting on the pot:



*I've decided to remove pictures of Henry. There are just way too many stories floating about now regarding stolen images of children*

Found!

I got the most wonderful call today. After much searching, my mom found the photos in my grandparents' attic! I am beyond happy and cannot wait to get hold of them. I'm planning on scanning them all so we have a back-up. So expect to see them cropping up here from time to time.

All Gone

My favorite thing to do with Nanny was get out the boxes of old pictures and look at them. I wanted to know who everyone was and stories about each. I grew up knowing that some day I would be the one to take care of them.

This past weekend, we visited my parents and went by Nanny and Poppy's house. I was finally going to take the pictures home and scan them all. And they were gone. We looked all over the house and couldn't find them.

I'm in mourning. I feel like I've lost Nanny all over again. All those beautiful photos of her. My mom's baby pictures. Photos of great and great-great grandparents. All gone. How will Henry ever get to know these people now? I'd counted on those pictures.

Heartsick.

Missing Her

Today, as I was worrying about Henry, I felt my grandmother's absence more than usual. My grandmother Ruth Schosser, my Nanny, was one of the few people I've ever really, truly loved. She died three years ago this past May.

She never met sweet Henry. After years of saying we weren't going to have kids, we decided to start trying right around the time Nanny was diagnosed with cancer. I am glad that I told her about our decision before she got her bad news. She was so happy about it. She always loved having a houseful of children running around. It's supremely unfair that we're all starting to have children and she isn't around to enjoy them.

Nanny was a nurse and she would have known exactly what's been going on with Henry. I kept having this vague, unformed notion today that if I just called her house, she would answer. And while I napped with Henry today, I dreamt that I could see her from a distance standing on her porch. I hurried to meet her, unable to believe how lucky I was that she was back, only to have her disappear right as I reached the house.

During her last few weeks, I quit my job and went home to be with her. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made. It was such a beautiful, shattering time. And it allowed me to receive a final gift from her, a gift that I didn't even know she had given at the time. But when I got pregnant with Henry and worried about the great unknown of labor, I found that I knew deep down I would have the strength to bring him safely into this world, because I had been strong enough to be present and ease her passing. So in a sense, at least, she was there for the birth of my son, just as she would have liked to have been.

Still Here

I didn't disappear again, I promise! I've started several entries, but Henry's been keeping me busy. Apparently, typing disturbs his naps.

Also, he's not been eating as much as he should the last couple of days and it has me really worried. All his other behavior is normal, though. We're seeing the doctor tomorrow morning and hopefully, everything will be just fine.

Back From the Ether

It's been over a year now and I'm finally back. I didn't even know I had any comments until today and I apologize for essentially never being heard from again. I have some really good excuses, though, if anyone is still out there. I got pregnant in May, quit my job, and we moved to Virginia from California in September (the day after my 20 week ultrasound informing us we were having a boy). I've even got a new name. After nine years of marriage, I took my husband's last name to avoid confusion when the baby came along.

Our little love, Henry Uebler Webb, was born on February 17, 2007 at 9:09PM at home in our bed. And his very strong personality has been guiding our every move since then! As you can see*, he's a big boy--15lbs. 14oz. at his last check-up. We're so proud. *Photos have been removed due to privacy concerns--sorry!

The whole time I was pregnant, I couldn't bring myself to make anything. I'd start a couple of things and never complete them. It was so weird, but I think it was because in September 2004, I had a miscarriage and somewhere in my subconscious, I was convinced that this pregnancy would end tragically, too. I would be ordering stuff for his room or buying clothes and catch myself thinking, "I won't be able to handle having these things around when we find out there's something wrong." So, crafting for him, putting all those loving thoughts and hopes into every stitch, while fearing that I would never see the little one for whom they were intended was too much to bear.Thankfully, he was born, small, but healthy and I was consumed with his constant care.

Then David gave me a laptop for Mother's Day, which at the time I thought was completely insane. "On the most meaningful event of your first Mother's Day, let me present you with some electronics." After I dragged the information from my mom in advance, I proceeded to make an ass out of myself by having a "discussion" with David about the appropriateness and expense of the gift only to find out he'd also bought me an amethyst necklace (both his and Henry's birthstone) and planned a little presentation which I completely ruined.

Now, I love my laptop. Once Henry began napping with more predictability, I began lurking on my favorite craft blogs and soon my hands were once again itching to create something. I didn't want to crochet yet, though. Then I remembered that I had Jess Hutchinson's "Unusual Toys for You to Knit and Enjoy" and the supplies to make them. I'd bought it primarily for the cute bear which I found out as I opened the booklet was named Henry. It was fate and here I am crafting again. I will post some results of my labor in the next few days. I'm not doing my own designs again yet, but it's a start!

I think this blog will be a lot about my journey with Henry now, in addition to the crafty stuff. I'm happy to be back and I hope you'll feel the same.

Froggies!

At long last, a photo! Nevermind that it looks like it was taken in a dim basement cell rather than my craft room that is bright and cheery in real life. (Must work on photography skills!)

This is the little frog I mentioned making. I must say, I'm pretty proud. I've made lots of amigurumi creatures, but this is the first one I've really accessorized.

Her dress is made from a scrap of calico fabric that my mom's had since the seventies. The other side of the dress is a scrap from a vintage shirt that I talked Dave into buying on one of our thrift adventures. He only wore it once or twice before declaring that it wasn't his style, so I got to take it for crafty purposes. The litle bag is roomy enough to hold a treasure or two.

I was so pleased with the result, that I decided to make a second one for my cousin's little girl. That's the one I made for Hadley on the right--you can see the red and white checked material from Dave's old shirt. I always thought it looked like the perfect shirt to wear on a picnic. Hadley seemed to like her new doll whose name she decided is Frieda.

The visit home was great, but way too short, especially cosidering it took almost 24 hours total traveling time. But it was worth it. This past Christmas was the first I didn't spend at home, but this visit almost made up for it. Nearly everyone in the family got home and it was so nice to be around people who love you just because and who share the stories of your life.

Birthdays

Today is a very special day. It's the 90th birthday of both my grandfather, Milo Schosser (Happy Birthday, Poppy!) and Beverly Cleary.

We will be flying to Kentucky next week to celebrate Poppy's birthday with the whole family. We haven't been home since we moved to California last August, so we're really excited. I'm looking forward to seeing my cousin's kid who is the only little one in our family so far and who just turned four. The frog I made turned out so well, I've make a second one for her. (Pictures to be posted soon--I promise!)

We celebrated Beverly Cleary's birthday today at the library with a D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) event. Not a lot of kids showed up, but I did get to read aloud from one of my favorite childhood books, Ramona Quimby, Age 8. I have so many good memories of the Ramona books. She was the first heroine I really identified with. I absolutely loved the books when I was small and I find upon re-reading, that they are just as good and fresh and true to kid life.

Happy Birthday Poppy and Ms. Cleary!

Making Do With Sunday

Both David and I had to work yesterday. I simply detest working on Saturdays. Bad enough weekdays have to be marred by going to work, but being made to work on Saturday is cruel. At least our library system (David is also a librarian and we work in the same building) tries to compensate by giving those who work on Saturday a three day weekend the following week. Still, Sundays have always depressed me. They seem to just be ticking down to the beginning of another week of someone else telling you how you should spend your time. I've always felt this way about Sunday. This same sense of forboding has overtaken me on Sundays since at least Junior High School.

David, on the other hand, is so even-tempered and accepting. (Thank goodness, too. This house doesn't need another Queen of Drama.) It's hard for him to understand the amount of distress I feel at the prospect of another work week. That's why he can take a lovely little nap while I sit spinning my wheels, trying to figure out the most meaningful and satisfying way to spend what little time I have left before MONDAY.

I had some plans to make and clothe a small cloth doll, but stalled on a pattern. With time ticking past, I finally decided to go with my strengths and crochet a frog instead. I'm really trying to make an effort to complete at least one small project a week instead of collapsing in from of the TV during my brief time away from work.

Well, it's a lovely warm, sunny afternoon. I think I'll resume my efforts to actually enjoy it!

Amy

Beginning (Please Be Kind!)

Hello! I'm Amy.

Since deciding to start my very own blog, I've been debating over how in-depth an introduction to give about myself. Even in my personal journals, if I haven't written in awhile, I tend to want to go into the backstory to fill in the blanks between the present and the previous time I made an entry. More often than not, this tires me out before I get to the actual point that inspired me to pick up pen again, which, in turn, makes me loathe to write the next day. And so I never quite catch up. I won't do that here (or maybe I already have!). Even though I'm personally fan of instant gratification, I will hold back and reveal myself to you over time.

I've been reading various blogs for over an year now and thinking, "How neat! I should really do that, too." But I never have...until now. I've been thinking about it lots, though, to the point where I find myself composing acutal posts in my head for my imaginary blog. Hopefully, now that I've actually got a blog, I'll remember all of those interesting, witty musings and be able record them here.

I've been crafting on and off since childhood, but it has only been in the past few years that crafting has become a constant in my life. When I was a kid, I'd often check out craft books from the library and try to puzzle through the instructions. (Enlarging patterns always threw me off, so I'd end up making these tiny creations from the unenlarged patterns in books.) I learned to sew and cross stitch a bit in Girl Scouts and for a long time, cross stitch was my craft of choice.

After I finished grad school, I suddenly had evenings free from homework and I began casting around for a new hobby. I finally hit upon knitting and discovered I really liked to make knitted animals. Then, and I don't even remember how, I stumbled across amigurumi and knew I must learn to crochet. (I'd tried to teach myself three times before and couldn't get it, but this time I was determined!) Now I mostly crochet animals with a Japanese aesthetic. I find myself getting slowly back in to sewing, too.

I'm a slow crafter. The speed at which others manage to turn out such lovely creations amazes me. Even when I consciously try to go faster, even when it seem like I'm succeeding, I'm just fooling myself. So, I promise to post my new creations as I finish and in the meantime, I will try to be interesting! After all, there's so much more to use than what we do.

I must admit, I feel somewhat intimidated by eloquent and entertaining writing (not to mention the inspired crafting) of my favorite bloggers. That is probably why I've been procastinating about starting my own. But I get the gift of daily glimpses into the lives of some amazing people, people who I feel in a weird way friends with already, so it is only fair that I offer the same of myself. I'm ready to join the fun!

P.S. This site will probably look different soon. I'm an infant at code, so I'm using free templates right now. While I re-embraced pink quite awhile back (along with wearing make-up occasionally and shaving regularly), I'm not so sure I like the unrelentingly pink of this template. Bear with me as I struggle to settle in!