new haircut, starting ballet, first letters, and a book deal!

We're in the midst of a series of milestones over here. Lilly recently had her very first haircut, she's started reading and writing letters, she's learned her first ballet moves, and I've signed a contract with a publisher that will release my first book sometimes this fall.

Lilly's hair didn't really start growing until around when she turned two. But by the end of last fall, it had gotten really quite long, and a bit unruly. We've been holding on to those baby curls though. However Lilly's hairdresser assured us that her curls wouldn't go away from a little trim, and we're please to say they haven't.

Lilly has always loved music and dancing and recently she announced that she wants to be a ballerina (and a fisherman, she added). With no end in sight to her ballerina craze, we decided to make a commitment to ballet lessons. She got fitted for ballerina shoes, and we got her a leotard and ballet tights too. Ever day after school and lunch, I give her a short hour ballet lesson. It's been fun for me to refresh my ballet memory and it gives us something to do together other than just playing all afternoon (which is not always so rewarding for me).

We also spend a good chunk of time reading books each afternoon. And we practice writing. Obviously, I love writing, so it's been a real joy to share the wonder of letters with Lilly. She's always loved books; we've always read lots to her; and even on her own she will often enjoy looking at her books, many of which she knows by heart. But that she now can point out what certain letters are, and that she even knows how to write many of them, is just so amazing to me. I didn't learn how to write until I started elementary school at age 7. That didn't necessarily deprive me of anything in the long run, but Lilly is clearly enjoying exploring this new chapter in her life opening up. She loves making her own books (a new author in the family!), and she has a passion for mail, collecting and writing letters.

My writing and Lilly's writing (her name) in my notebook.

And to conclude on the topic of books and writing: I this week signed a contract with a publisher for my book, After Pornified: How Women Are Transforming Pornography & Why It Really Matters. The publisher is Zero Books, a UK-based publisher with a transcontinental focus: half of its authors are based in the US. I'm really excited to be joining their team of authors whose discourse is "intellectual without being academic, popular without being populist." Zero Books is the Culture, Society, and Politics imprint of John Hunt Publishing, which has several other special focus imprints in addition to their General Topics imprint O-Books.

I'm sure there are many other firsts I could mention. We took Lilly to see her first feature film in a movie theater (the new Muppets movie, which she loved for all its singing and dancing). Last weekend, Lilly went to her first unattended-by-her parents birthday party, providing Leighton and I with the opportunity for a little date. And yesterday, Lilly had her official Early Childhood Screening that is done by the public school system in town; I was very proud of how well she did.

And then there all the things Lilly's learning in school now, doing lots of good work.

Cooking class at school (every Thursday)

I joined Lilly's class before Christmas to teach the children a Norwegian Christmas carol, singing and dancing around some evergreen boughs, replacing the tree.

Å jul med dine glede -- Oh Yule with your joy

And in January, the children celebrated Chinese New Year, including by doing a Chinese New Year Lion Dance:



Please visit Montessori Children's House Community page to access their online photo album (regularly updated with more photos) where you can get more snapshots into Lilly's life and work at school.

dreaming

We returned late last night from a very nice Thanksgiving break out in Wyoming. It was a long day of traveling, but even on 4 hours of sleep (on me), it went quite well. Lilly's such a great traveler. And we all got a good night of rest last night in our own comfy bed. Lilly woke up so happy to be home again; I think we all were. It's that Norwegian saying, borte bra, hjemme best (good to be away, best to be home).

Today started out with great expectations: I've gained, uhm, a few pounds lately and have been feeling some nausea. So this morning I took a pregnancy test. Negative. Turns out the extra pounds and the nausea are caused by a little too much good food lately. Of course, I haven't yet had a period yet since before I was pregnant with Lilly. What with all the frequent nursing still, that all makes sense. But we got a little excited about the possible family expansion. As I said to Leighton yesterday; we can't be that exhausted if we're still excited about the possibility of that!

Anyway, it was nice to be back in the library, working, and then as the day went on, I got to thinking that the best scenario, if we could plan these things, would be to get pregnant after we're back in Norway and I'm done with my book and the promotion of it, and onto the next one (which I'd like to be on parenting/mothering). So ideally next fall or winter sometime. By then we'd also maybe like to have Lilly in barnehage (preschool), which would allow both Leighton and I time for part time jobs as well, while also giving us time to write. Of course, you can't plan for things like these. Especially when you've already been told, like I was, that you can't conceive naturally. But we can hope. So we'll do that. Dream and hope. And enjoy what we have.