The Countdown Begins...

The end of this pregnancy is in sight! My doctor scheduled a c-section for February 8th, in case Baby Scribe doesn’t come before then. I am really beginning to think now that I am going to make it to that date, too. Baby Scribe seems just oh-so-snuggly and cozy inside me and doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to come out. What a difference from Little Scribe arriving seven weeks early! I am now 36 1/2 weeks and ready more than anything to have the baby. It’s going to be so nice to have a baby and hopefully be able to hold him and keep him with me instead of having him whisked away to the NICU, the way the miller’s daughter’s child was stolen from her by Rumplestiltskin

I haven’t been working on my novel, lately. It’s been a few weeks. I think I am officially in baby mode now, so I'm finding it extremely hard to concentrate on anything else that doesn't have to do with "nesting." Instead, I’ve been diving into books to help me not focus so much on baby baby baby and still do something that helps my writing. Recently, I loved the Y.A. novel, TWILIGHT, by Stephenie Meyer. I had heard so many good things about it and have been wanting to read it for a long time, so finally I bought the paperback, read it in a couple of days, and went out and bought the sequel, NEW MOON, the day I finished the first book. It was that good!

At first, I hesitated on reading it because I had heard it was a “vampire story” which really isn’t my genre, but it’s so much more a gothic romance with the main love interest being very much like Heathcliff in WUTHERING HEIGHTS in the first book. (The sequel even mentions WUTHERING HEIGHTS, which I found interesting, since I had thought of Heathcliff while reading the first book.) The author is very clever with how she creates a world where there are a group of “good vampires” who do not feast on humans, but instead on wild animals, in order to remain civilized, begin a family, and become members of normal, human society. I had never seen a vampire tale come from that angle before. The stories also have a TUCK EVERLASTING quality to them, as the vampires never age, so there is a plot thread in the book about how Bella, the main character, and Edward, her love (who is a “good vampire”) could possibly stay together if Bella continues to age as a human, while Edward does not. She decides that the only way it could work is for her to eventually become a vampire, too, before she gets too old. (Edward is stuck at seventeen and has been for eighty-plus years) but Edward is insistent that she stay a human and live a real life.

The only thing I don’t like so far in the two books, most especially the sequel, is how Bella has completely given up her own self for Edward. She has no other passions, ambitions, or goals, and just lives for Edward and his family. It’s very odd. I’m hoping that it is deliberate by the author, and that Bella will eventually change in the third book, ECLIPSE, and become her own woman somehow. It’s depressing the way the girl has no other passions in life. I am starting to not like her character, and that really bothers me. But, I guess a teenage girl would probably be that way with her first love, but hopefully would change later when she realizes her own self-worth is important, too. Or, is this just the feminist in me talking?

Another middle grade book that has been keeping my mind occupied when my fingers don’t feel like typing my own stories is DRAGON SLIPPERS, by Jessica Day George. I haven’t finished it, yet, but I am thoroughly enjoying this fresh take on the damsel-in-distress fantasy genre. Creel is a main character that has been given to a dragon by her aunt in order to have a wealthy prince come and rescue her and marry her. But Creel makes a pact with the dragon that she will keep the prince away from him if she is released and allowed to take a bit of his golden hoard. Low and behold, he has no gold at all, but shoes, and lots of them! He’s worse then some women I know! Creel takes a pair of blue slippers that hold some mysterious power to them and ventures forth to the King’s Seat to make her own way in the world. She talks the prince out of attacking the dragon while on her way, and later is captured by another dragon again (this one collects stained glass windows. Ha!) That is where I am at right now. The novel is a lot of fun so far. What’s also interesting is that both Stephenie Meyer who wrote TWILIGHT and Jessica Day George went to Brigham Young University, live in Utah, and have young boys (Jessica Day George has one, Stephenie Meyer has three.) I’d really like to know their writing secrets! Grandparent help? Nanny? Daycare? Old enough to be in school everyday during the day?

I wish I could write to them and ask them. Maybe I could. Afterwards, I should turn what I find out into blog entries about how published writers with young kids actually get their writing done. It would be inspiring for me, that’s for sure. Something else to think about while I wait for Baby Scribe!

A New Sippy Cup Salute

Here at the Quill and Crayon, I love children’s books, as you all well may know. So one of my New Year’s Resolutions, besides contributing to this blog more, is to bring about more discussion of children’s books. So let’s start with our newest Sippy Cup Salute. This is a review of a board book/ picture book that Little Scribe currently adores and an analysis of why it works, which should be of help to picture book writers.

Little Scribe is raising his sippy cup this month to BLUE HAT, GREEN HAT by Sandra Boynton.

My husband and I consider this the first book Little Scribe has ever “read” all by himself. Just a few days ago on his potty (maybe I should call this book a “Potty Salute” and have Little Scribe raise a slip of toilet paper in the air!) Little Scribe proceeded to read BLUE HAT, GREEN HAT out loud, pointing to the words and pictures, and never missing a beat. We couldn’t be more thrilled! Yes, we realize that most of the text is memorized, But just watching him say the exact words in the text and pointing to them as he says them makes us so proud of him. At his age, he is showing amazing pre-reading skills. He reads this way with many books, actually, but this is the only book where he can say the words exactly. The other books are paraphrased, which is still good but not as impressive when you see him read BLUE HAT, GREEN HAT.

BLUE HAT, GREEN HAT is a board book with spare text that shows a group of animals getting dressed, except that a quirky turkey keeps putting his clothes on the wrong part of his body. My son rolled with laughter the first time we read it a couple of months ago. Every time turkey is shown dressing wrong, the text says, “Oops!” The book teaches not only parts of clothing, but also colors, which Little Scribe also knows by heart now as well, probably with the help of this book.

The text is simple, repetitive, and funny—a perfect combination for a toddler/preschooler. And everyone loves Sandra Boynton’s simple cartoon illustrations.

If you’ve never read Sandra Boynton, check out this and other favorites of Little Scribe’s, including DOGGIES (another book he has almost memorized), SNUGGLE PUPPY, TIME FOR BED, and BIRTHDAY MONSTERS. Unfortunately, we’ve never quite gotten into BUT NOT THE HIPPOPOTUMUS very much, as it’s kind of a confusing book about a hippo that is too shy to join his animal peers with their activities. Good premise, but confusing execution.

Here’s to BLUE HAT, GREEN HAT, and may you never go out of the house with your socks on top of your head! Oops!

Otherwise Known as The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I do not feel like a writer lately. Instead, I feel like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, when the caterpillar has eaten a huge list of food, from pickles and lollipops to ice cream and cherry pie, and gets so fat that his body fills the page. I wish I could just wrap myself up inside a cocoon, hide away from the world for a little while, and turn into a butterfly. It sounds so much more relaxing. But instead I have to move my massive body around and chase after Little Scribe, all the while preparing for Baby Scribe’s arrival. It’s draining, to say the least.

But Baby Scribe is doing very well, so that’s good. He seems extremely happy in his snuggly little home. I am at 34 and a half weeks, past when Little Scribe was born, and Baby Scribe isn’t showing any signs of wanting to come out! It’s exciting to know that he will most likely be a healthy baby boy that doesn’t need to stay in the NICU and can come home with me right away, and also scary beyond belief because I need to be prepared NOW for his arrival. But most of our baby stuff is still hidden away in the garage. I don’t even know where my breast pump is! Trying to clean and pack up after Christmas, get the boys’ room ready for Baby Scribe, and gather together all of our “baby” contraptions from the garage while surviving in our construction-zone of a house under piles and piles of laundry and dishes that never seem to get done even thought we clean them over and over is taking its toll.

Maybe Christmas and New Years finally caught up to me. I did not participate in “significantly reduced activity” like my doctor advised. I felt pumped and excited watching my son enjoy his Christmas and really discover the holidays for the first time. (Unlike the blank expressions he gave when he saw lights or visited Santa when he was younger.) His enthusiasm kept me going, and I always rested if I felt that I did too much.

Now, I am not doing as much, and I feel more tired and drained than ever!

Must interrupt my thoughts—I am sitting inside St. Honore Boulangerie and overhearing a group of two women and a man discussing Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, and the area where I used to live in southern California one and a half years ago. Funny to hear those names here in conversation. I think one of the women is from Moorpark, and she thinks it’s so funny how the former farming town has become a “bedroom community” for Los Angeles. There really are a lot of Los Angeles area “expats” here. It’s the Oregon Trail all over again, one hundred and fifty-plus years later!

A few days ago just for fun my husband and I showed Little Scribe home videos of when he was a baby back in SoCal. Oh, I started to cry! He was such a cutie! Still is, but such a little boy now and not a baby at all. I also felt a bit homesick for our old home again, but I love where we live now, if that makes any sense. It’s the memories that I have there that do me in, really. I also realized that Little Scribe is now going on living here in Oregon longer than he lived in California! We moved here when he was only one and a half, and soon, after he turns three in a couple of weeks, he will have lived here longer. That feels so strange to me. And to think that Baby Scribe will have only lived here in Oregon is stranger still!

Back to my original thread—Oh, I don’t really want to. I’m tired of complaining. This blog entry is supposed to get my fingers warmed up, not make me feel worse. Time to enter another blog entry on a different topic. I want to start reviewing books again, so hopefully I will stick with it for a while.

Here’s to dreaming of my butterfly days to come, hopefully a year from now!