Everyone else with a blog is doing this, so why not me? Here are 7 things you may not know about me.
1. I often get obsessed with topics and spend weeks reading everything I can find about them. This happened much more often in college and graduate school, mostly when I was procrastinating doing my actual schoolwork. Examples include: the fate of the Romanov family (Anastasia did, sadly, die with the rest of them); the Lindbergh kidnapping (I don’t think Hauptmann did it); and Robert Falcon Scott’s expedition to the South Pole (I don’t think he was a great leader, but I also think he had some really bad luck).
2. I have breastfed both of my kids well into toddlerhood. I know that’s out of the ordinary and it’s nothing I really planned to do; it’s just that we kept hitting the “usual” cut-off dates (6 months, 9 months, 1 year) and I couldn’t think of any real good reason to stop. Mallory nursed until she was 32 months (although only for naps and bedtime for about the last six months of that); Phoebe is almost two and still nursing. (She’s much more intense about nursing than Mallory ever was.) There are lots of good reasons to nurse past infancy, as the benefits of breastmilk continue to apply – it supports the immune system, it decreases the risks of diabetes, ear infections, and other diseases, it helps with proper jaw/teeth development – and it’s still, of course, extremely nutritious, which is handy on those days when, for example, Phoebe eats nothing besides a handful of raisins, a piece of toast, and a lollipop. It’s good for bonding, too, which obviously means a lot to me as a work-outside-the-home-mom. I would like to become involved somehow in breastfeeding advocacy; I believe that every woman should at least try to breastfeed in the beginning, but I also know that even though it supposed to be “natural,” it can be very difficult and painful, and that oftentimes women don’t have the support/information necessary to be successful.
3. Okay, this one needs to be much shorter…so, the first thing I do when I come home from work every day is remove my jewelry and my bra (see #2, above. Ha!). I can’t stand to wear those items in the house.
4. I hate calling strangers on the phone – things like making a doctor’s appointment, placing a take-out order, and so forth make me really nervous.
5. I am against capital punishment but for abortion rights, and yes, the inconsistency of that does bother me.
6. I didn’t know about the Oklahoma City bombing until the day after it happened. I was in graduate school at the time and had a term paper due. I spent all day in the library, rode the bus home, watched Simpsons and Seinfeld reruns while I ate dinner, and then spent all night on the computer. Imagine my surprise when I picked up a newspaper the next morning.
7. When I was younger – 11 or 12 – I spent a whole summer trying to “become” left-handed, or at least ambidextrous. To my disappointment, it didn’t take.
1. I often get obsessed with topics and spend weeks reading everything I can find about them. This happened much more often in college and graduate school, mostly when I was procrastinating doing my actual schoolwork. Examples include: the fate of the Romanov family (Anastasia did, sadly, die with the rest of them); the Lindbergh kidnapping (I don’t think Hauptmann did it); and Robert Falcon Scott’s expedition to the South Pole (I don’t think he was a great leader, but I also think he had some really bad luck).
2. I have breastfed both of my kids well into toddlerhood. I know that’s out of the ordinary and it’s nothing I really planned to do; it’s just that we kept hitting the “usual” cut-off dates (6 months, 9 months, 1 year) and I couldn’t think of any real good reason to stop. Mallory nursed until she was 32 months (although only for naps and bedtime for about the last six months of that); Phoebe is almost two and still nursing. (She’s much more intense about nursing than Mallory ever was.) There are lots of good reasons to nurse past infancy, as the benefits of breastmilk continue to apply – it supports the immune system, it decreases the risks of diabetes, ear infections, and other diseases, it helps with proper jaw/teeth development – and it’s still, of course, extremely nutritious, which is handy on those days when, for example, Phoebe eats nothing besides a handful of raisins, a piece of toast, and a lollipop. It’s good for bonding, too, which obviously means a lot to me as a work-outside-the-home-mom. I would like to become involved somehow in breastfeeding advocacy; I believe that every woman should at least try to breastfeed in the beginning, but I also know that even though it supposed to be “natural,” it can be very difficult and painful, and that oftentimes women don’t have the support/information necessary to be successful.
3. Okay, this one needs to be much shorter…so, the first thing I do when I come home from work every day is remove my jewelry and my bra (see #2, above. Ha!). I can’t stand to wear those items in the house.
4. I hate calling strangers on the phone – things like making a doctor’s appointment, placing a take-out order, and so forth make me really nervous.
5. I am against capital punishment but for abortion rights, and yes, the inconsistency of that does bother me.
6. I didn’t know about the Oklahoma City bombing until the day after it happened. I was in graduate school at the time and had a term paper due. I spent all day in the library, rode the bus home, watched Simpsons and Seinfeld reruns while I ate dinner, and then spent all night on the computer. Imagine my surprise when I picked up a newspaper the next morning.
7. When I was younger – 11 or 12 – I spent a whole summer trying to “become” left-handed, or at least ambidextrous. To my disappointment, it didn’t take.
Comments
2. Good for you. I hope that you do become involved in that. Breastfeeding is still such a taboo it seems in this country. (Especially after a certain point)
3. lol!
4. Me too!!!
5. At least you know where you stand. :)
6. I knew about it but the impact did not hit me until I moved here and saw the memorial. Then I was like, "Oh. This was really bad."
7. Hilarious!