02 February 2014

I Blame the iPad

Oh man, ever since Ellen was born, my recreational reading has very seriously declined.  I've been reading people's end-of-year book lists and upcoming book picks and thinking, "I believe I did really only read one book all the way through in January."

BUT Miss Nemesis posted this Wall Street Journal article by Jennifer Senior about the difference in parents' time (mom's versus dad's) on Facebook last week, which reminded me that I have the book the article is based on, because Eliana the Good sent me the ARC last year and I was very happily reading it until The Bairn socked it away somewhere while playing 'library' (take a shelf of Mommy's books, restack them somewhere else, carry them around and shove some under the couch or into the blanket basket, call it a library), so I poked around and found it with some cookbooks and finished reading it this morning while The Bairn played another fun game that involves emptying my kitchen drawers.  The book is titled All Joy and No Fun and was so dead on in its discussion of parenting small children that I kept marking passages to read to Steve.  For example, the author mentions a study that found (based on cortisol levels measured through saliva) that mothers' stress did not decrease as much when they were given more leisure time as it did when watching their spouses help out with household tasks.  Amen, sister.

Speaking of which, possibly the best thing Steve has done for me EVER is to take over the last portion of the bedtime routine with The Bairn.  I give The Bairn a bath and read him stories and snuggle him and possibly sing to him and then Steve comes up and we say family prayers and Steve and The Bairn do 'talk a day' and then Steve stays with him until he falls asleep. 

The Bairn has made this arrangement extra glorious by deciding last week that he wanted to start sleeping in his office, which is what he calls his bedroom.  He stays there (usually) happily all night and when I hear him chatting to himself on the monitor in the morning, I go get him and find him full of joy and hugs.  This morning I found him half disrobed and attempting, fairly successfully, to yank off his diaper, but it's a small price to pay.

So, that's one book down for February.  What should I read next?

7 comments:

CSIowa said...

I don't have any book recommendations (I have my own reading problems), but I strongly recommend you keep writing. You do it quite well.

Anonymous said...

The way I take care my reading needs is to wait until the book is made into a movie. Than when the movie comes to the dollar movie theater I go see it. I guess you could wait until it is shown on TV?

Love

Dad

eliana23 said...

His office! Love it. Find a Rainbow Rowell book.

Anonymous said...

Parenting takes time. Hence the reason I gave up golf until I reached my late fifties. Having said that I do not regret having spent my time raising my family and not lowering my golf score. I have grand children now so golf is back in the ditch again and I really don't mind.
KWB

Unknown said...

All Joy and No Fun .... I read a NYTimes review of this, and based on the review alone I sent the title to Sarah and recommended it. So it's fun to see what you had to say about it too. --MarmDad

Unknown said...

I just heard an NPR interview with the author today, and it sounds interesting. I was surprised by how she said that parenting has changed over the years. But I agree that it is hard, but joyous. Mom

MBC said...

CSIowa--Thanks! If only I could still craft blog posts the way I did before kids. Now I type them up in 5 minutes and hope for the best.

Dad--Our TV is in the basement with the mice, so that's not going to work for me.

Eliana--I looked for Attachments after you recommended it (and because I enjoyed Eleanor and Park) but our library doesn't own it. Will have to ask for an ILL when I go in on Friday.

KWB--I don't mind giving things up for the kids, but I think I'm going to go back to reading and completely abandon things like housework that I don't enjoy anyway.

MarmDad--I thought it was really interesting, although it filled me with fear for the teenage years.

Mom--I was interested in her history of childrearing and especially of how people are currently raising children. I think some modern practices will pass us by, just because Steve and I live a somewhat old-fashioned lifestyle in a rural place.

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