96 day to go until what, you ask? June 22 is the launch of the first International Course for 0-2 offered by Centro Nascita Montessori in Rome. And I am counting down the days.
I took on this self-challenge as a way to make blogging more tangible. I was not sitting down at the computer often enough to "blog" for a variety of reasons, and there are still many questions from the Congress in Prague that I have not answered.
Recently I saw a movie about Julia Childs called Julie & Julia staring Meryl Streep as Julia Child, where a young writer begins a blog based on a challenge she gives herself: to personally try cooking and write about the 524 recipes found in Julia Child's book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, in 356 days. This was my inspiration for this 100-day challenge.
I am not sure what I have gotten myself into but there's no turning back now. I've been observing newborns for the last two years. And Grazia tells me regularly that I have to write about what I am seeing. So as of 5 days ago, I wake up in the morning and head off to the hospital with a new vigor. And there are plenty of notebooks full of the last two years if I miss a day.
Today I went to the hospital to work with 17 pregnant moms and three father's to be and we read the excerpt that I put in the blog a few days ago and talked about the points that Grazia makes.
My only newborn observation today was a home-visit with six-day old Francesco and his newborn parents. They called me in desperation, since coming home two days ago he has had many "unconsolable" crying fits. They are in a delicate phase of figuring out how to be parents, how to understand their new son, how to balance the "advice" they get (that goes against the new family's best interest, in my humble opinion) and what they feel instinctively and see directly in a positive way.
Not wanting to do harm, they are torn, in their inexperienced state, between the world of newborn socialization based on cultural tradition and the world of allowing Francesco to decide when and how long to nurse, to decide when and how long he will be held in mom's embrace, and to decide with whom he wants to sleep. I did my best to represent him and negotiate with his folks on his behalf and when I left for home at 9:30 pm there was one satisfied newborn asleep in his mother's arms, nose one inch from the tip of the nipple, and a parting smile reflex (or a good dream of yummy milk) was my payment for a day's work.
I took on this self-challenge as a way to make blogging more tangible. I was not sitting down at the computer often enough to "blog" for a variety of reasons, and there are still many questions from the Congress in Prague that I have not answered.
Recently I saw a movie about Julia Childs called Julie & Julia staring Meryl Streep as Julia Child, where a young writer begins a blog based on a challenge she gives herself: to personally try cooking and write about the 524 recipes found in Julia Child's book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, in 356 days. This was my inspiration for this 100-day challenge.
I am not sure what I have gotten myself into but there's no turning back now. I've been observing newborns for the last two years. And Grazia tells me regularly that I have to write about what I am seeing. So as of 5 days ago, I wake up in the morning and head off to the hospital with a new vigor. And there are plenty of notebooks full of the last two years if I miss a day.
Today I went to the hospital to work with 17 pregnant moms and three father's to be and we read the excerpt that I put in the blog a few days ago and talked about the points that Grazia makes.
My only newborn observation today was a home-visit with six-day old Francesco and his newborn parents. They called me in desperation, since coming home two days ago he has had many "unconsolable" crying fits. They are in a delicate phase of figuring out how to be parents, how to understand their new son, how to balance the "advice" they get (that goes against the new family's best interest, in my humble opinion) and what they feel instinctively and see directly in a positive way.
Not wanting to do harm, they are torn, in their inexperienced state, between the world of newborn socialization based on cultural tradition and the world of allowing Francesco to decide when and how long to nurse, to decide when and how long he will be held in mom's embrace, and to decide with whom he wants to sleep. I did my best to represent him and negotiate with his folks on his behalf and when I left for home at 9:30 pm there was one satisfied newborn asleep in his mother's arms, nose one inch from the tip of the nipple, and a parting smile reflex (or a good dream of yummy milk) was my payment for a day's work.
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