I've been thinking about midwives a lot this week. I just finished a great book about it. There has been some recent controversy in the news about homebirths and midwifery practice in general. There is a new documentary out about the Business of Being Born - I encourage you to follow the link and just WATCH THE TRAILER. But what has jolted my mind the most is that I just learned that the midwife who delivered our daughter no longer has a place to deliver babies. Hospital after hospital dropped their contracts with midwives due to pressure from OB/GYN's over the last decade, and the only hospital that allowed for midwife care in our entire county just shut it's doors. You can read about it, and my own midwife's fight, here.

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I stumbled on this quote today and it was like water to me:

There is more to life than increasing its speed.

-Mohandas Gandhi

My family has a love-hate relationship with Crocs. My kids love them, and I hate them. I tend to be on board with this other girl named Kristen, who describes them as the bane of modern civilization.

I tried so hard to resist buying them for my kids. Friends were raving about their comfort , and all the kids at playgroup were wearing them. Jafta saw them in stores and begged and begged. Finally, I relented with my baby daughter, because her feet were getting stinky in her Vans and sandals would not stay on her feet. I figured that she was so young that their lame factor didn't count (i.e. you wouldn't see an adult walking around in Robeez). Toddlers can get away with anything, I told myself. I bought her a pair and she LOVED them. In fact, she threw many a tantrum when I tried to take them off for her naps.

Well, you can imagine how that sat with Jafta. He was distraught for weeks. We would walk by the aisle of plastic shoes at Target and he would run up to them, yelling "please can we take these home? PLEASE?"

Okay, fine. I allow Jafta to try on a pair. I mean, it would be nice for him to be able to put on his own shoes in the morning. So we venture into that aisle at Target (cause ya'll know I'm not gonna spent $24 on the real thing), and of course, there are none in his size. But Jafta grabs the first pair he sees (adult size 9) and walks around in them, proclaiming his love and devotion. I explain to them that there are no pairs in his size, to which he argues how the adult shoes fit him perfectly. I explain that mommy needs to go home and order them from the computer. He totally does not understand this concept, and throws a sizeable tantrum at Target. Imagine a 3-year-old screaming in the checkout aisle, "I miss my Crocs. Oh, my Crocs! I miss them so much!"

I ordered his pair online, and Jafta checked the mailbox every five minutes for a week until they came. And when they did come . . . you should have seen how overjoyed this child was to be reunited with the plastic wonders you wear on your feet. He has worn them every day since.

Which leads me to a very, very embarassing confession . . .

So before we left for Haiti, I ran to Whole Foods to get some herbal bug repellant (which led to the Mosquito Fiasco of 2008). And there at the end of the aisle were some Crocs hanging on the wall. Hmmm. I need some sensible shoes for walking around Haiti. Breathable AND with a closed toe? Anti-bacterial? And wow, they really are comfortable. Maybe just for the trip, I think.

So with more than a wee bit of shame, I bought myself a pair of Crocs. The real thing. I wore them the whole time I was in Haiti. They were lovely. They were so comfortable, and keep my feet cool and dry.

My intention was to leave them in Haiti at the end of the trip. But then, I needed something comfy to wear on the plane. And then, yesterday, I was just walking around the house and slipped them on . . .

And then today, I just ran to Target in them.

Oh crap. This is how it starts . . .

We spent a lot of time preparing for the 4th of July around here. Our neighborhood has a huge block party, and we live in a city were fireworks are legal, so every year we put on a fireworks show right outside our house.  Jafta, my 3-year-old, was really excited about the party last year. That is, until the fireworks started. Then he started screaming like a caged animal. I have never seen a child so freaked out.  Despite my best efforts he insisted we go inside as soon as they started .  But even with the doors closed, our house sounded like a bombing over Baghdad that night. It was LOUD, and it lasted for several hours while my son screamed and cowered in his room. He talked about it for months in vivid, horrified detail. I seriously think he has a little PTSD about it.

So for the past month we did a little systematic desensitization. We talk about the fireworks. A lot. We look at pictures of fireworks. We read books about fireworks (our favorite is Olivia Forms a Band). And the we moved up to watching videos of fireworks on YouTube.

I was feeling really, really poud of my parenting skills.  I had put all of my psychological training to good use, planned ahead, and foreseen every possible outcome.  I had also done some "narrative reframing".  I told Jafta every day that now that he was 3, he loved fireworks.  Brilliant!  There is no way he was not gonna love fireworks come July 4th. 

My music-loving and musician husband has introduced me to something utterly fabulous that sort of reminds me of the magical "mixed tape". It is called Pandora and in a nutshell it is a website that allows you to make your very own radio station that plays music for you based on your preferences. Amazing concept.  -Feeling in the mood for some super mellow tunes? Go ahead and set up a playlist based on Jack Johnson and the music that will be played on your station will be from Jack or other artists similar to him. Want to take a trip to the 80's? Choose an artist from that decade that rocks your casbah and you will be doing the funky head bob across your kitchen in no time. Are you desiring to sing some worship songs written by artists like Chris Tomlin and Tim Hughes? Create your "stations" and then you can change up the music based on your moods... Pandora will also choose songs for you that you have probably never heard before that fit into the genre you have selected because they feature a lot of independent artists.