Toddler Time

It's been a while since posting partially because my computer got stolen from school (long story,) and since summer started, I have not gotten as many breaks as I do while teaching; considering how many breaks teachers get, this says a lot. I figured before a new post, an update would help:

The Studio: Hubby finished The Studio... sort of. It is almost ready for final inspection, it has studio equipment in it, and I am starting to see him a little more often. Now we have shifted our focus to making the house more baby proof, hence...

Daughter: She started walking at around 11 months, running at 12. She is everywhere and into everything. I seem to remember Mom telling me repeatedly, "Stop digging!" and now I understand her frustration. What used to take me an hour takes about 3 times as long because everything I do, she can undo in less time. The recycling has been our biggest battle so far. I spend an hour or so on the kitchen while she is strewing her toys across the den, and while I pick up her toys, she goes through the recycling by picking things out and tossing them over her shoulder. Wow. But it has been nice to be able to set her down, and I love the hugs and kisses. She is beginning to sleep in her own bed, and her babble is getting more and more adult-like and less baby... granted it sounds more like a foreign language than English, but she's getting there. We joke that she bypassed English and went straight for Japanese... maybe that means she will be good at the piano???

Projects: Knitting has been slow. I have not sewn anything in months. I have, however, assembled more IKEA furniture alone in the past month than I have in my entire life. Storage in The Studio was a must and I when I can help Hubby, I do.

Reading: I finally read The Little Prince; while it was enlightening, I'm not sure about it being enjoyable. I understand how perhaps reading it in French would be more understandable, but this is not a kid's book. Kids are literal thinkers until the frontal cortex has developed, hence adulthood, and granted some kids develop faster, these kids are usually more sensitive. Just watching Disney's Winny the Pooh brought tears to my eyes, and when I was little, I never made it through I Love You Forever or The Giving Tree, and I could not grasp the concept that Puff the Magic Dragon was not real, and it was okay that he was going to be lonely. Sometimes kid's books are meant for adults, (Can I reference The Giver, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, or anything by Dahl, anyone?) and the adult concepts can be, ironically, to let adults detach themselves from their childhoods. I cannot see how these books can provide anything helpful to children, but I do see how they can be helpful to the adult writers.
With that said, I want to know whether the author intended the prince to be killed by the snake, if the Prince was supposed to be a metaphor, a mirage, or to be taken literally, and if the snake was supposed to be an archetypal symbol for knowledge. It's kinda bugging me. Mainly the question about if the Prince was supposed to die and the author just could not handle the truth...

I'm currently reading Astros Polyp, which I've had to set down because life has been hectic. It's good. The artistry is amazing, the story is spot on, and the philosophical edge is wonderful. The beginning put me off last year, with his apartment building burning down and all, but this year I have gotten better at distancing myself from the story enough to make it through half of the book. With that said, I see Hubby in Astros and I'm very concerned about a certain Little Prince, but that's another story.

I hope all is well with everyone, and I plan to post more regularly.