A New (To Us) Table

I keep a lookout for certain items that I'd like to have that aren't priorities.  I've been scoping Craigslist for an outdoor table since we moved.  I was looking for: metal, 4 chairs (or more, hey a girl can dream), decent condition, fairly close to home (since I'd be asking Abram to pick it up), and under $100 (preferably cheaper).  That's quite a list of requirements, but after a year of waiting, it turned up last week.  Abram picked it up after the boys went to sleep, and they had breakfast there the next morning.  Breakfast looked like a lot of this:  

and this:

We've enjoyed a few meals outside already and look forward to more as the weather cools off just a little.

Late Summer In the Garden

Cabbage and peppers

 Green beans

 Okra flower

 Okra (with Zoe cat for size reference)

 Brussels sprouts

 Mesclun mix

 Spaghetti squash (with turnips and radish sprouting in behind)

 Okra, sunflowers, spaghetti squash, Brussels sprouts, mesclun, beets, and Swiss chard

 A promise of more tomatoes

 Marigolds, chives, and rosemary

 Zinnias, more chives, and more rosemary

 Sage, nasturtiums, and fern

Unschool

Home management (chopping peppers to freeze for the winter)

 Biology (insect collecting and identification)

 Snack

 Theatre (an impromptu pirate play)

Apples and Pears

Ma generously offered for us to come and get some apples and pears recently.  Saturday we went down to Hillsboro, made dinner to share (shish kebobs with beef (from Billy's cow), squash*, green peppers*, and onions; Petia's salad*; green salad; fried okra*; roasted potatoes; and sauteed green beans* - * = from our garden), took some of our abundance of eggs, cut some river cane for more garden stakes, and picked  apples and pears from Ma's.  

The apples are a red delicious variety, and I'm not sure what the pears are, but they are the yummiest sweet-tart, crispy pears I have ever had.  

Abram made apple and pear juices;  the pear has been the more popular.

We've also dried some of each.  The boys seem to like them equally well, and I agree that they are both really yummy.

Today I cooked down a bunch of the apples

 and with a bit of help

 made apple sauce:

 11 pints and 4 half-pints.  The darker ones to the left have extra sugar and cinnamon added (for Ma), and the lighter ones are just apples with a little water.  The boys both approved the plain apple sauce when they got some for snack.

gratuitous picture of Owen and Caedmon with face paint done by Owen today :o)

One Of These Things Does Not Belong

 The egg on the right is a "large" egg.

It and most of its companions fit quite well into a reused "large" egg carton, but we have a chicken who often lays a super jumbo egg which won't fit into any carton I have.

 

Sometimes, these super sized eggs have two yolks.  Owen is betting that this one that we collected today will have three.  I'm doubting it, but we shall see.

Old Stone Fort

Cicada shell

 Wading

 Moss

 Puddle play

 Cicada

 Atlatl

Fungus

 More wading (and a bear walk)

Toad

Owen picked up this toad, and the poor thing jumped out of his hands. Then "fluid came out of it's body," Owen said.  I said, "That was pee."  As we hiked along, Caedmon was nursing, would pop off, and kept telling his funny story:  "Froggy!"  Smile.  "Peepee!"  Giggle, giggle, smile.  He did it until he fell asleep part of the way through our mile around the park.  Ah, bathroom humor comes early!

World Breastfeeding Week and Thoughts On Breastfeeding

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!  

  

Today, we gathered with other breastfeeding families at a local park for The Big Latch On, a worldwide breastfeeding awareness event.  Twelve mothers were counted nursing their babies at 10:30 am at our location.  

And just in case you are still confused on the finer points of breastfeeding, here are some of my thoughts.  

I believe that full-term breastfeeding my boys has been one of the best parenting decisions I have made.  While I've never had a negative encounter with a stranger about nursing my children, I have certainly felt judgement about nursing a 1-, 2-, 3-year-old and for nursing into pregnancy.  And you know what, it's because people are ignorant:

- ignorant that the World Health Organization says:  "Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended up to 6 months of age, with continued breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary foods up to two years of age or beyond."

- ignorant that the American Academy of Pediatrics says, "Breastfeeding and human milk are the normative standards for infant feeding and nutrition. Given the documented short- and long-term medical and neurodevelopmental advantages of breastfeeding, infant nutrition should be considered a public health issue and not only a lifestyle choice. The American Academy of Pediatrics reaffirms its recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding for about 6 months, followed by continued breastfeeding as complementary foods are introduced, with continuation of breastfeeding for 1 year or longer as mutually desired by mother and infant."  (empahsis mine)

Because of the importance of breastfeeding and the known risks of formula feeding, the AAP has recently accepted a resolution "that the Academy advise pediatricians not to provide formula company gift bags, coupons, and industry-authored handouts to the parents of newborns and infants in office and clinic settings."  

- ignorant that normal breastfeeding duration is measured in years and months rather than days or weeks - In fact, anthropologist Katherine Dettwyler predicts a weaning age between 2.5 and 7 years based on weaning in similar species.

- ignorant that breast milk increases in nutritional and immunological factors as women nurse beyond a year - Kellymom.com has lots of great breastfeeding information including some interesting references concerning breastfeeding toddlers.

- ignorant of the many benefits that each and every day of nursing has imparted to me and my boys - from increased bone density for us all over our lifetimes to decreased risk of diabetes, heart disease, and cancers for me and the boys  

And you know what, that's okay.  They don't have to know.  Because I do.  I know that full-term breastfeeding is the easiest, most natural way of parenting my growing children until they have outgrown the need for the nutritional, emotional, and immunological support that breastmilk imparts.  I know that nursing for years is the natural expectation of my own body and my son's bodies.  I know, and that's enough for both them and me.