I've been reading lots of books lately - I have rediscovered public libraries, and it's been a very exciting thing - I've read like 10 books in the past few weeks, and it's been so much fun. One book that I'm currently delving into is called French Kids Eat Everything, by Karen Le Billon. I really love this book so far - I love the way the French approach eating. They are very intentional about what they eat, and how they eat, and children are no exception. I've always been really interested in French culture, and in French parenting, there are upsides and downsides. I've read several articles explaining that sometimes the French education system and parenting system doesn't allow as much room for freedom of expression and creativity as American systems do, which may be why America produces more entrepreneurs. I do think that their approach to eating is far more sophisticated and doesn't leave much room for childhood obesity, which is a true issue in American culture. One thing I found really fascinating is that in France, children are expected to come to weddings, fancy restaurants, and places that they may not be socially accepted in the U.S. because of standards of behavior. They raise their children to be able to function normally in society and have upstanding politeness. I think this is really interesting and tough to wrap my head around - part of me thinks it's wonderful that the children are well-behaved enough that they actually enjoy partaking in these formal events, and part of me thinks that children should be allowed a bit more leeway and not such high expectations. I think everyone should read this book, because it's simply really interesting and fun to read about other cultures.
Ben is almost 9 months old - holy COW. I can't believe he's been out of my womb as long as he lived in there! I have to say - pregnancy felt a whole lot longer than this has felt. I feel so lucky that he blesses us with smiles and sweetness every day. He's been having some really exciting advancements - he has just begun to crawl once in a while, and he army crawls like an old pro. He has also been experiencing night terrors - or what I believe to be night terrors - once every few nights. This has been kind of scary and I'm not sure how to handle them, to be honest. He wakes up screaming, and is pretty inconsolable for a while, like he doesn't know who I am. I just hold him for a bit and let him eventually calm down, and sometimes he will just go back to sleep. Sometimes he doesn't and I feed him and he will cry more, but so far he has ended up falling back asleep every time. It's hard because I honestly don't know how to help him feel better, so I just do what I can.
Anyway, time to get some cleaning done! I'm so glad I was able to write for a bit on here - I know this isn't the most exciting stuff, but I love just updating on this blog. I hope you are all doing well and enjoyed reading this!
Megan
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