Danger and Delight
Louisette is such an easy baby that I very rarely have doubts about the mummy life (in fact, I’m waiting on one more publisher response before winding way back on the writing and blogging time, since it’s easy enough to rev things back up if one of the other publishers I’m currently waiting on – who won’t reply for at least six months – want to publish).
With sentences like that, it’s simply astonishing that I’m not yet living the life of the rich and famous*.
One thing that does scare me, however, is toddlerhood. It combines maximum energy with minimum self-preservation instincts – and sudden independence with the inability to clearly communicate. My own mum has pointed out that a toddler can understand heaps, and can say and do and understand more all the time – which will clearly make all the difference at the time. Nonetheless, I’m a little scared.
In the meantime, the horrors and joys of teething continue. She’s had some grumpy times lately, and has been waking up in the night almost every night for a fortnight. It’s 2:30am right now.
Teeth come through in pairs, so we’re very much waiting for the other shoe to drop. She’s developed a habit of sucking in her lower lip, which gives her a philosophical air.
And of course, she’ll chew anything that stays still long enough.
In unrelated news, last Sunday was my mum’s birthday, and for the first time in years all her descendants were in town at once. That’s my brother and his wife and son on the left, and my sister and her family on the right.
It’s always great for Louisette to see her oldest cousin (seven years older). . .
. . . and her youngest (three weeks old – what a difference seven months makes!)
*Or the author equivalent of the high life, which may sometimes peak as high as minimum wage.
Lion in a sidecar!
Because the past is awesome. This is from cracked, which often has swearing and/or naughtiness. But just go and read it, mmmkay?
Eeeeeevvviiiilllll
1. “Mister? Mister, wake up!”
2. “What do you mean, “RUN!”? What kind of a doctor ARE you, anyway?”
“Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen
That is a truly fine book. I wrote last week about Sandy Fussell’s “Samurai Kids” series, which sparkles with wit and warmth on every page. “Pride and Prejudice” is like that – brimming with brilliant one-liners and clever observations. The only other series that I think hits the “every page” rule so well is the “Larklight” trilogy by Philip Reeve.
Discipline
It turns out Louisette is fascinated by her two-week-old cousin. Which is awesome.
Also somewhat concerning.
Given that Louisette can now happily crawl across a room, and is on the verge of being able to then pull herself into a standing position. . .
. . . we have to do two things immediately:
1. Assume that everything in the house up to a height of 150cm (almost my height) is hers to destroy (I changed the books on this shelf last Friday).
Last weekend CJ went on a shopping spree at Bunnings and we spent many hours making her room and our living area as safe as possible for a crawler (I suspect based on the way she climbs over us that she is soon going to surpass our current safety level). I used up a whole roll of gaffa tape attaching adjustable fences around heaters, cords, etc, and filled two two-hundred-DVD wallets with most of CJ’s TV and movie collection (you’ll note it suddenly belongs to CJ) so we could empty our lower shelves. And we placed a barrier on our TV equipment not a moment too soon:
2. Start the long journey of teaching her to be a good person. The words, “No!” “Ouch!” “Hot!” “Yucky!” and “Gentle!” will be sung in and endless chorus for the next few years, and I’m even more scared by that than by #1.
At least we don’t have to focus on social niceties yet – just harm to others, herself, and our stuff.
I’m scared.
The changing face of publishing
Here is quite a long and thorough article on how publishing is changing. I picked the bits I found most interesting about the present. . .
Indeed, the problem for readers is that regardless of which side you agree with in theory, in practice you probably love the idea of buying books for under $5.00 but hate the idea of having to sort through quite so much junk to find good books at that price.
. . . the pricing. . .
Books deliver three sorts of value: good writing, good stories (true or fictional) and social connection. By the last, I mean that reading is a social activity and we like to read what others are reading. So popular books are worth more to us than less popular books.
. . . and the future. . .
Publishers also need to manage their backlists more effectively. Hugh Howey points out that in fiction many of the top-sellers are not recently published novels. Publishers are used to pulling titles out of physical circulation after a few months and focusing their promotional efforts on new authors. However a rich back catalog, all made available in electronic format will allow publishers to respond more quickly to emerging market trends.
Read the article here.
So much to love
I’m reading “Pride and Prejudice”, a version which happens to have the below picture on the front cover.
The painting is “Congratulations” by George Henry Harlow. Here is my list of concerns about the painting:
1. Why are these young women clearly teething?
2. Who stretched out their necks like that?
3. Why is a man’s hand protruding from the right-hand woman’s neck?
4. Why is the left-hand woman’s head and neck not attached to the left-hand body (I don’t care how good your corset is, chests do not stick out that far)?
It seems I’m not the only person who just can’t draw hands.
Felicity Banks 