The question mark is key

A very dear friend bought me this card. It makes me laugh daily.

In which I actually read a book

It may not seem like a great achievement, what with me being an English graduate and all, but I have just finished reading a book. A novel in fact. A whole one, from beginning to end. It took about two weeks, on my twice a week commute and in little snatches before bed. It was the first novel I have read since having my baby over a year ago and yes, I am pleased with myself.

What is it that stopped me, an avid reader, from reading? Time, yes - I have had a glut of it but it’s not the right kind of time. Concentration, also yes – I have had a deficit of it. But it’s been more than that I think. Novels deal with big questions. Of life and death and roots and families and aspirations and declines and parallel worlds and alternate universes, of friendships and relationships and enemies, and of mysteries and revelations and truths and lies. I just wasn’t ready.

Then two weeks ago I felt the urge. I took a book from our shelves determined to read it. It was Andrea Levy’s Fruit of the Lemon. I knew I had enjoyed Small Island by the same author several years ago, that she was the right kind of author for my return to reading, combining big issues with accessible writing, kind of intellectual holiday reading. I didn’t know that it referred in part to Crouch End, the small part of north London I hang out in with the baby – so much for being an escape – but that aside I enjoyed it. It wasn’t a masterpiece but that was a relief – I wasn’t ready for a masterpiece, but as novels go, it was pretty solid. But the best thing about it? It’s given me the hunger. I’m not sure what to read yet but I’m ready (or should that be read-y). I’m looking at the shelves as I type and all I can think is ‘bring it on’. It’s so exciting.



Related post: Things to do on maternity leave when you're braindead

Where did the years go?

In my head I am 32. I am, admittedly, not that much older, but it hit me the other day that at my next birthday I will be 34 and it just didn’t tally with the age I thought I was.

Which is odd because birthdays are important to me. I don’t subscribe to that whole don’t make a fuss thing. What’s not to like about presents, balloons, cake and a whole day to celebrate your existence? What’s more, I think birthdays become even more important once you have children because it’s an opportunity for them to learn about the pleasure of giving and making other people feel special, about saving pocket money for presents and attention not always being on them.

And while I remember my last birthday, the lunch with friends, the nice gifts and the fish and chips in the evening with Mr, I just didn’t take it in properly. My brain, addled by eight months of sleep deprivation at that time, just didn’t register the change in number. And now, when people ask me my age, I automatically say 32. I feel like the 490 or so people in Samoa who lost their birthday this year when the country decided they’d had enough of being a day behind their major trading partners and skipped December 30th.*

I wonder whether I will ever catch up with myself.

*Yes really, there are just 179,000 people in Samoa, which divided by 365.25 is 490.

A blog about the blog (again)

It amuses me no end that the most common search term that bring people to this blog is 'what does a baby peacock look like?'

Let's remind ourselves:

Though I have regular crises where I worry that maybe some people will believe that is really what a baby peacock looks like. So feel I should include this picture which is what some baby peacocks also look like:

The second most popular search term is 'What shall I wear to give birth?'.

Here is a suggestion from the NCT:

"Every pregnant woman deserves a little black dress to birth in! The Womama Birthing Wrap is the only clothing designed specifically for labour and birth, allowing you to feel comfortable and feminine on your special day. This beautifully light, practical wrap is made from super soft cotton and allows for quick easy access for skin-to-skin contact as soon as your baby is born."

Bleurgh!

And here is what one woman wore on One Born Every Minute - a bikini/skirt combo she designed herself:

 

(I mock, but she seemed to have a lovely birth in water without too much pain and with the bikini on throughout.)

Teach diversity? We live diversity

My daughter has started nursery and on the first settling in day where I had to leave her for a short while and entertain myself I went to the library round the corner from the building and looked up the Ofsted report. I’d read it before but wanted to reassure myself that we weren’t leaving her somewhere grossly inappropriate.

The report is ok. It’s not totally brilliant, but not awful either. It’s one of the tools we used to select a nursery, along with cost, convenience, safety and atmosphere. Above all, in fact, atmosphere. Would our daughter be happy and well cared for were the main questions we asked ourselves.

But there is one particular line in the Ofsted report that I find particularly irritating. It says “The promotion of inclusion and diversity is generally satisfactory; although not prominent in feature at the setting.”

This nursery is in Haringey, one of the most diverse areas in the entire country. Over 120 languages are spoken by its residents. And the nursery, while not representative of local families financially (due to the cost of childcare), is pretty representative ethnically. The children and the staff come from many cultures. There are several languages spoken, talks by parents on where they come from and displays about different countries. And while I can see that in less diverse areas specific promotion of diversity and inclusion might be needed, my daughter, and the kids at her nursery, live diversity every day. In the people who look after them, the kids they are looked after with, the streets they walk down, the shops they pass, the homes they come from. In fact if she was to be taught about the real world in which we live she’d need the specific promotion of the fact many places are homogenous and some people are bigots. Yet they call the promotion of diversity satisfactory. Well I think it’s outstanding.

In need of Hug

Before we had a baby we occasionally babysat for a friend's little boy. His bedtime book for a while was Jez Alborough's Hug.

I'd forgotten about Hug until I spotted it in the bookshop today and bought a copy. It's the story of Bobo, who spotting all the other animals enjoying a hug, gets more and more distressed until he finds his mummy for a hug of his own.

Until I had a baby I don't think I realised the sheer terror the thought of your baby needing a hug and not being able to get one can bring, and the absolute love Alborough gets across in his picture of Mummy and Bobo finally getting their hug. The baby got it too. We read it once and she immediately turned to me and nestled in for a glorious, breath each other in deeply, wonderful hug.

The nicest bookshop

My local bookshop, the Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green, is really nice. I feel a special connection to them because not only did they host events to launch my books but the owners, Tim and Simon, have met my parents and my parents-in-law and been nice to them all. They know my daughter’s name and have even kept an eye on her in the buggy while I dashed across the road to Sainsbury’s. In Yiddish, they are what one might call mishpucha, part of the wider family.

Not only are they nice people – and you can see just how nice by looking at their blog here and here – but they run a singing and storytime session for kids three times a week on a donate what you fancy basis. With tea and coffee. In fact my friend When You Are That Woman wrote about how nice they are ages ago here.

But one of the reasons I am particularly full of love for them at the moment is they quite happily take suggestions for kids’ songs. So at the Big Green Bookshop the wheels on the bus still go round and round but the nannies on occasion snog, the dads knit, and the mums think deep thoughts. No ageism or sexism on us thank you very much. I’ve not yet suggested the verses we sing in the car, where the teens scratch their arses and the tramps drink special brew, but I’m sure they’d allow it. What’s more, when a child in the shop suggests an elephant for Old MacDonald’s Farm, an elephant it is. E-I-E-I-O.

Their willingness to adapt lyrics has made me examine the words myself. I remember reading in Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes that nowhere in Humpty Dumpty is there any suggestion that Humpty is an egg. Similarly, I have realised that there is no reason to suspect that Old Macdonald is a man. I’ve not yet suggested to Simon and Tim that the lyrics should occasionally be “And on that farm she had an elephant” but the reason I love them so much is that I know they’d be receptive.

Their blog:http://woodgreenbookshop.blogspot.com/

Their website where you can order books: http://www.biggreenbookshop.com/