Better Than I Choose To Be

Life is going well around here. Work is busy for both of us and we are happy to spend the remainder of our time together as a family.

We love our house but it has no air conditioning. As it's warmed we've invested in several fans and some heavy curtains to block out the sun. I would NOT be so environmentally responsible if given the choice. I definitely would have cranked up the AC by now but I'm learning to live with the heat and humidity. It helps motivate me to go out and find fun, air conditioned activities and it makes no barrier to spending time outside since it's often just as cool if not cooler out than in.

Reuben's Red Slippers

I found some croc shoes half off and decided I'd get Reuben a pair so he wouldn't destroy his decent shoes at the beach. I thought he'd probably like the shoes better if I involved him in the selection. So I held up a respectably colored dark navy pair and brown green pair and asked Reuben do you want blue or green? He surveyed his choices then looked over my head (figuratively and literally) at the rack and said RED! RED!

I thought about doing a parental over ride but in all fairness I did ask. And I didn't want his first lesson in self determination to be met with a no. But maybe I'm obsessing a little too much on the parenting?

Either way, my child now looks like Ronald McDonald. But a very happy Ronald McDonald. He's walked up to me several times to show off his new apparel. As soon as he gets my attention he points down to his feet and says RED! RED! Red shoooes!

Indulgence: Skyflight Mobiles

I generally try to avoid using the birth of a baby as an excuse to buy a ton of junk. But I have my weak spots. One of my absolute favorite indulgences is mobiles. I love mobiles and so do babies.

We bought a swallow mobile for Reuben and I ended up becoming jealous because he spent so much time smiling and cooing at it instead of me. Unfortunately for the mobile it looked a little too realistic for Battle our cat and he dispatched each paper bird in a night of domestic sabotage. Finding our beloved little swallows knawed to pieces I almost threw him out.

So with the upcoming baby I've been on the look out for a replacement. I just found the most wonderful company Skyflight Mobiles. Their mobiles are big, high contrast and beautiful. The birds, butterflies, fish and other animals each sport the accurate markings of their species. I want to buy them all but I restrained myself and bought the new baby butterflies and Reuben the owls (Okay, honestly I bought both for myself) But I will hang each mobile in the kids' rooms.

Aren't these awesome?? You can see all their mobiles here.

Represent

I'm working on a project for my mom which involves painting about a half dozen super heros on a sheet as a back drop. I've got Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Ironman, and I'm holding a spot for a strong female but I'm having a hard time deciding who should get the place. I guess Cat Woman is the most known but I think she looks too much like Batman. I'm partial to Rogue and Storm of the Xmen but I'm not sure how well they're known. I always thought Wonder Woman was kind of lame and has a stupid costume. I could make it easy on myself and do the Invisible Woman. (That's a joke) A lot of the ladies I mentioned belong to teams so it seems a bit odd to represent them alone. I don't want to do the after thought female counter part to some better known male super hero like Super Girl - yuck. So I'm looking for advice. Who do you think is the best female super hero?

Bubble! Bubble! Ball! Bubble!

Reuben turned 18 months which means he is finally old enough to go into the nursery at church. I have felt apprehensive about what his reaction would be. Reuben doesn't love strangers and can be pretty shy.

In the past few weeks I've dragged him to several play groups to try to give him a taste for playing around a lot of other kids. These efforts have made me be a lot more social than I generally prefer to be. So I guess Reuben and I have done a little bit of growing together.

In the end it seems to have worked out. Aaron dropped Reuben off without a hitch. Reuben didn't even cry. Afterwards when I asked Reuben how church was he responded with "bubble! bubble! ball! bubble!" which is about as glowing a report as you can get from the boy.

More Coverage

Another of my favorite illustrators is Tove Jansson who created the Moomin comics and wrote one of my top five favorite books "The Summer Book." I enjoy her work so much that I've toyed with the idea of naming my daughter Tove. It was a fleeting thought but Aaron detests the name with such vehemence that it's become a really tempting option.

Anyway I was pleased to find that Tove Jansson created both a cover and interior illustrations for the Swedish translation of The Hobbit. You can see the illustrations here.

Speaking of Tolkien, on Saturday I learned that Tolkien got a fair amount of material and inspiration from the Finnish epic saga The Kalevala. Not familiar with it? Turns out there's a multi-hour, made-for-Finnish-tv movie created in the 80s which will catch you up. (This info is also from the Finnish embassy) Unfortunately netflix doesn't have it in stock so I won't be renewing my subscription.

Judge Away

One of my favorite illustrators is Sam Weber who happens to be married to another favorite illustrator Jillian Tamaki. The other day I saw that Sam Weber was recently commissioned to make a new cover for Ender's Game. Isn't this a perfect Ender?

You can read more about the project here.