summer reading

i thought i'd post the great books i've read this summer, in case you're wanting some ideas for yourself. or just wondering what it is i do at work, i.e., whenever i nurse liam.

currently reading:
'jitterbug perfume' by tom robbins. thanks, evie! so far, i'm loving it and would really rather be reading than updating. which is why the blog has been sparse lately.

finished recently:
'breastfeeding: biocultural perspectives' editors: patricia stuart-macadam and katherine a. dettwyler (from the LLL lending library)
'someone like you' short stories by roald dahl (from my friend, missy)
'becoming attached: first relationships and how they shape our capacity to love' by robert karen (from the API group lending library)
'the way that water enters stone' short stories by john dufresne (also from missy)
'girl, interrupted' by susanna kaysen (missy again!)
'the girl with the pearl earring' by tracey chevalier (book sale find)
'the man who mistook his wife for a hat, and other clinical tales' by oliver sacks (book sale find)

i would highly recommend 'becoming attached' to anyone with children or contemplating having them in the future. it is full of the science behind attachment theory. this is the theory that motivates colin and i, along with many of our friends, in the ways we choose to parent our children. many people have misconceptions about what attachment parenting is. it isn't babywearing, breast feeding, or co-sleeping, although these practices often naturally grow out of this type of parenting. what it really is is education about infant and child development, based on scientific research. this book makes a compelling argument against most forms of daycare during the first two years of life. it also stresses the importance of being responsive to infant's cries, and shows that actual brain damage occurs when babies are left to cry without being comforted.

the other book i wish everyone would read, although it is dry (because it is, in fact, peer reviewed research studies) is the breastfeeding book. i thought i was pretty schooled on the womanly art of breastfeeding, but a few things caught even me by surprise. the first is that being breastfed reduces a woman's chance of getting breast cancer. you read that correctly. not only does breastfeeding protect the mother from this form of cancer (when duration is 2 years or longer), it also protects her infant daughter. second, out of 190 cultures surveyed, only 13 viewed the female breasts as sex objects for men. much to colin's chagrin, this seems to be a cultural valuation instead of a biological one. this, in the author's view, is one of the biggest stumbling blocks in our society to breastfeeding. another study shows that breastfeeding and near-sleeping reduces an infants risk of dying of SIDS (but i admit, that i already knew!). finally, over 3,000 babies in the US die each year from not being breastfed. crazy!

as far as my fiction list goes, i loved both books of short stories. i hadn't read that genre in ages, and i don't intend to stop now. there was some synchronicity between ending 'girl with a pearl earring' and beginning 'girl, interrupted'. the first was all about the painter vermeer, and the second also takes the title from a vermeer painting. although i took an art history class, i don't remember the painter, and found it odd that he appeared in both books.

liam updates

he can now say the following words: mama, dada, cat, car, and baby. it's so freakin' adorable. i need to get it on video soon. he's such a delightful kiddo and we cant' imagine what we would be doing without him.