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.

february summary

Nighttime weaning
accomplished: Lilly goes to bed in the extra bedroom between 7 and 8 p.m., then transfers in to me between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. and Leighton goes in to sleep in the extra bedroom so Lilly and I can have more room in our bed. She settles quickly, without nursing, I often can't remember her coming in to me. She doesn't nurse till 4 a.m., often it's not till 5 a.m. Typically, she nurses at 4, 5, and 6, and then we get up for her to pee & poo in the potty. Sometimes she wakes up between transfer and first nursing, could be teething pain, gas, or discomfort, but will most often settle soon again on my arm. Such an amazing change since we started this in January and how things were before with nursing every couple hours from bedtime till morning.

Winter wonderland
Temperatures finally warmed up a little to entice me out on some amazing skiing in the white covered prairie land, blue sky and sunshine. We've gotten lots of snow this winter. Driving out into the country side yesterday, I saw flocks of pheasants and wild turkeys looking for food by the roadside.

Child swap
I've finally found two moms to swap child care with. So far, this has gotten me two mornings with yoga and Leighton and I have one brunch/lunch date to look forward to and are now also planning an early dinner date. (Keep in mind, we've only had one dinner date so far, when Leighton's mom came out to visit in November, so we are very excited about this.)

Urban living
First weekend of the month, we house sat for some friends in Saint Paul. We splurged and ate out, got to visit with good friends in the city, went to the Walker art museum in Minneapolis where they have free activities for children every first Saturday of the month. We headed up to the cities again the second Sunday of the month, Valentine's day, for some sushi. We'd planned on happy hour, but it was canceled with all the people there. So we splurged again; it was worth it.

Manuscripts submitted
I submitted the second half of my manuscript on feminist porn to my editor and launched my next book which will be a collection of mamas' stories about their children's sleep. Leighton received positive feedback on the story he wrote for Lilly from a professor of children's literature at Saint Olaf College and a friend of ours in Norway whose expertise is children's literature and who works with promoting Norwegian literature abroad. We sent the story to my editor who passed it on to the children's department in the same publishing house.

Got a grant
I finally received a big grant I've been applying for; maybe third time really is a charm? I know my proposal kept improving as I got further into the project, and I received helpful feedback from friends. It's a boost to the project and my self-esteem.

Stay or go?
We put our house out for sale this month with mixed feelings. There's so much that keeps us here, so much that draws us to go there. The pros and cons seem to outweigh each other, leaving us rather handlingslammet.

Lilly
has all four corner molars now, but teething's still a pain. She loves books, music, dancing (she's obsessed with Strawberry Shortcake's Let's dance these days), baby MacDonald and farm animals. She has three friends she repeats the names of: Avery, Addie, and Anna (pronounced Annie). She speaks a lot, more Norwegian than English, a lot that sounds like Chinese to us. She loves hugs and kisses, cuddling and playing with mama and papa.