Thursday, October 28, 2010

Boots


My older boy is turning 3 on Saturday!
I cannot believe that this precious baby is really a preschooler!


He just learned to sit up yesterday, didn't he?
At least he still sleeps with Shine Shine Bear!


He's not a baby anymore.
He's a smart, funny, energetic little boy!

And I love him even more than I did the day he was born.
Happy Birthday Boots!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Bringing Up Boys



I'm not really a big "Focus on the Family" fan. Someone gave me the FOTF Baby Book when my older boy was born and a lot of the things that are important to me (cloth diapers, natural birth, midwifery, breastfeeding, the list goes on...) were dismissed as old fashioned or even dangerous. So I haven't used them as any sort of resource since then. Until recently, that it.

I finally got around to picking up the copy of Bringing Up Boys that my Mother-in-Law gave us a couple years ago. To say that I was skeptical would be an understatement. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found: a mostly balanced view on how to teach boys to become good men. Most chapters included in depth research, which was rather important to me considering the rash conclusions drawn in the only other Focus on the Family book I had read. I really enjoyed the studies on the differences between boys and girls. The book looks at many of the challenges facing boys and their parents today and offers practical advice on how to avoid some of the most common pitfalls.

Just like any book, there were areas I don't particularly agree with, but all in all it was a good read!


And the more I read the more thankful I became for Mr. Reliable, who is a great man and an excellent father.