what I've been up to

Zach had a business dinner to go to last night, and started Spanish class up again tonight (6-9pm) so these past 2 days have been a bit on the long side. Donovan was pretty grumpy today, throwing a few mean tantrums like I haven't seen in a while, and that's with today having been a 2-nap day. But maybe it had to do with the fact that we didn't get to spend much time outside at all today, for various reasons. Will try to remedy that tomorrow. The funny thing is he'll switch from OHMYGODSKYISFALLING grumpiness to giggles and silliness in about 0.05 seconds, so when he wasn't being grumpy he could be pretty darn cute. He's all of a sudden saying more words, both on his own (I heard "appie" for apple a few times the other day, and today, he kept saying "eye" while pointing at my and his eyes) and also repeating after me (semi-comprehensible versions of marmot, tiger, cat, and blue ["boo"]). He then also says a bunch of stuff that's totally indescipherable, which is also pretty darn cute.

I've been having fun playing with my iTouch since it arrived on Tuesday (and then today I received my felt case for it from etsy, wheee!). I love the Wi-Fi access, being able to check Twitter and Facebook without opening the laptop at all, which seems to be making my "online" time a bit more effective (not as distracted by links and other pages, etc). It's also just plain fun, the touch interface is just SO COOL. Zach was playing with it last night after he got home and is convinced he'll have to get himself one, too, eventually. Hype and brand "coolness" or whatever aside, I can totally see the intrigue of the iPhone.

In addition, I started reading NurtureShock the other day. I've read and liked Po Bronson in the past, so was very interested when I happened to catch a full interview with him on NPR about this new book he co-wrote. It's all about our "cultural norms" when it comes to child-rearing and how many of them are not only not supported by any actual research, but are actually discounted by it. Examples include how you praise your children, dealing with racism, lack of sleep, etc. It's been fascinating to read, and is already changing the way I parent Donovan. It's so refreshing to read a parenting book that's backed by real, hard evidence rather than just a hypothesis made up by the author and supported by conjecture and handpicked success stories.