crunchy parenting

Photo by Kyle L.

Crazy busy weekend here! Had friends over to grill and got a ton of organizing done around the house, thanks to the spouse-unit and a sleeping toddler. A little bit of fun stuff from around the web:

• In Search of a Pan That Lets Cooks Forget About Teflon // One of the reasons we’re phasing our our nonstick pans and moving to cast iron or stainless steel. Love Lodge cast iron, BTW! [NY Times]
• How to Make Coleslaw // I’m used to buying coleslaw and it’s generally hit or miss. After seeing this, though, I’m determined to make my own one day. [CHOW]
• How To Build A Great Blanket Fort // Soon to be built under our kitchen table with the help of many hand-dyed play silks. [Simple Mom & Sara's Toy Box]
• Krispy Kreme Bacon Cheeseburgers // OMG. I can’t tell if I’m disgusted or curiously excited by these. [Kitchen Cow]
• 10 Cosmetic Uses for Everyday Foods // Whether you’re being more natural with your beauty products or more budget-conscious with your pocketbook, this handy list of common kitchen items as effective facial products is great to have on hand.[CHOW]

There’s a heatwave rolling across Southern California and it has me and Spice running for cover indoors lately. This means less sandbox and garden time and more fingerpainting and library trips.

For me, this also means more time to crash on the couch and knit. Or crochet. Or even needle felt, my latest hobby. Then, there’s also the precut fabric strips I picked up at Joann’s last week – just perfect for a toddler blanket for Spice. And the undyed playsilks sitting on the dining table, waiting to be dyed and sewn into a homemade playsilk canopy…

No, there’s never a shortage of projects to work on. And to think it all started with some simple yarn stash-busting ideas. Here’s what I have on the needles:

Crocheted socks. I started these on the plane to Oakland over the weekend. While the idea of crocheting socks is neat, I often find these a little more rough hewn and bumpy after a while, so they’re more “messy house socks” than “handcrafted gift socks”. I had the yarn sitting around and I’m no longer in love with the colors or the fiber (curses on non-machine-washable sock yarn that ISN’T made of some fancy fiber!), so it made a perfect portable project for the plane ride. The technique is to make them from the toes up and with an “afterthought” heel – leave a hole for the heel and come back and finish it last.

Spice's Navy Cardi

Spice’s Navy Cardi. I originally bought ten skeins of this soft blue cotton yarn for a sweater for myself, but after knitting a chunk of the back, I really, really didn’t like the super-thin drape of the finished fabric. After frogging the thing and flipping through some of my pattern books, I found I could hold the thin yarn doubled and knit a cozy cardigan for Spice. I’m done with the back and on to the front now and I think it’s going to be wonderful.

p. I’m also eagerly awaiting my order of sock knitting needles from Knit Picks. When I was in Denmark in June, I finally got around to trying out the knitting in the round technique on two circular needles and it was amazing. I whipped up a dog sweater for my mother’s chihuahua in no time, that was not only all knit stitch, but seamless to boot. AWESOME! Since then, I’ve been salivating just thinking about all the gorgeous sock yarn I have stashed away. It’s always been too demoralizing to think of juggling double pointed needles while running behind a toddler every five minutes, but if I can use two circulars… wow! Plus, there’s always the trick of knitting TWO socks on two circulars at the same time…

Today, I finally got around to seeing my favorite pregnancy chiropractor. Yes, indeed, there are chiropractors that specifically treat pregnant women, and yes, it is safe.

I go for a chiropractic massage, which is 45 minutes of targeted massage done by the chiropactor himself. This time, it was for sciatica-like pain in my right hip, possibly from all that weird sleeping you do when you’re pregnant. (Left side, right side, slightly tilted on your back, left side pillow between your knees, etc.) I’ve been meaning to see him for months now, but you know how life is with a toddler.

I go in, lie on the table and he gently nudges both sides of my hips. “Ow,” I say as he digs in a little on the right side. “Yeah,” he says, “that side’s much more mad than the other side.” It’s a strange feeling, since unlike other muscle aches and pains, I hadn’t even realized the muscles in my hips were sore until he poked the exact spot.

He starts in on the non-sore side. Just as it occurs to me that the other side is going to be really uncomfortable once he gets there, he beats me to it. “Let’s put some heat on the other side to start, or you’re really not going to like how it feels.” The heat on my butt and hips is oddly divine and I make a mental note to put a heating pad or hot watter bottle on it at home once in a while.

The chiropractor gets going on the sore side and the heat has helped tremendously. Now, the massage just feels good, and I’m day-dreaming of my future free-range of movement when I get home. Before I know it, he’s done and I go into his adjustment office. I lie in various posed positions and he cracks my hips, back and neck. There’s that moment of heightened soreness and then relief, as he has me go through some walking motions while he checks my alignment again. I feel like a new woman, even pregnant.

I tend to go to him throughout the pregnancy as long as something hurts or aches and he does a magical job of fixing it. While I was expecting Spice, I saw him in the last few weeks for more hip-opening adjustments, and I swear it helped her drop down on time and get labor going well.

Have you ever done chiropractic while pregnant, or considered it? Curious minds want to know.

More on chiropractic care while pregnant:

• Chiropractic: Can chiropractic care help during pregnancy? [iVillage]
• Pregnancy and Chiropractic Care [American Pregnancy Association]
• Berlin Wellness Group [Pregnancy Chiropractic, Los Angeles]

Photo by Jude Doyland

I’ve recently been reconsidering homeschool as an option for my family. The spouse-unit and I have always been open to the idea, and felt it was best decided by the temperament of our children.

We’ve always been fans of Waldorf education, and have always planned to send our kids to a Waldorf school. Recently, we were figuring out when Spice would go to preschool or kindergarden, prices, etc. and were flabbergasted to see that the starting price for 3 days per week of nursery school at our local Waldorf school was about $9K/year! We knew a full K-12 Waldorf would average out to about $12K/year, but I didn’t realize the prices would run so high before first grade.

Photo by wmshc_kiwi

So *I’ve started to reconsider homeschooling*, in spite of my fears that I wouldn’t be a good teacher, would burn-out being around the kids all the time for the next 15 years, etc. It’s just hard to ignore all the benefits, not to mention what we could teach our children on our own with all that cashola!

Here are the potential advantages for us:

• Travel flexibility: We already travel a LOT, so having the option to travel outside of traditional school vacation times would be great.
• Richness of curriculum: I love the idea of kids learning hands-on, or from real experience. Studying tropical fish and corals by snorkeling? Visiting historical civil war monuments for U.S. history lessons? You just can’t get that experience in a traditional classroom.
• Peers / influences: We’re picky about what we expose our children to, and when. One of the reasons I refuse to put Spice in daycare that I don’t like her being exposed to toddler television icons, cookies in lunchboxes, etc. Ideally, I’d like more control over this during my kids’ schooling years than traditional school would offer.
• Spend more time with our children: We all hear it – “they grow up so fast”. Why not get more of that time in while they’re young?

Potential challenges for us:

• Socialization: Yes, it’s the red herring of homeschooling, but it’s still something that I don’t know enough about and therefore, am still worried about. I know there are support groups, co-op classes and other ways to get the social experience in, but I need to find more of these in our local area.
• My sanity at home w/ kids 24-7: I worry a little about my own need for space and time-off. If the kids are with me five days a week plus weekends, when would I get time off for myself? Would it drive me crazy? How do other homeschooling moms manage this?

So, there you have it. My recent dilemma. Do you homeschool, or have you considered it? If you’re a homeschooling mama, when/how do you get your own space? I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!!

Happy Friday the 13th, everyone! I’m running around trying to catch a fly in the house and catch up with all my FlyLady tasks (there’s a good joke in there somewhere), so here’s some link love for y’all in the meantime..

• You’re Not A Real Writer // Los Angelista’s excellent post on what makes a “real” writer. I kept thinking of parallels to what makes a “real” mother and found it spot on.
• Little White Lies // Crayon Wrangler asks “what little white lie have you told your kids?” Don’t forget to read the comments; they’re hilarious!
  

  Photo by Tim & Selena Middleton

• 10 top tips for breastfeeding in public // “Adriel, from the Mommyhood Memos, offers some great practical advice to help even the most modest mamas.
• You Capture – Everyday things // Beth, of I Should Be Folding Laundry, has an awesome challenge/assignment going, in which you take photograph certain topics, or subjects. More deets can be had here.
• DIY Homemade Trail Mix // Absolutely drool-worthy, and looks like a breeze to make. Courtesy of Green Earth Bazaar.

Now, where did that dratted fly go…