My new camera arrived, so we're back in business!! And I love it-- it's still barely bigger than the little Exilim I had, but takes great low-light photos and waaaaaaaay better videos.
Evidence:
A clip of Josephine eating breakfast (it's on youtube-- apparently blogger can't handle the cuteness).
I got a Canon Powershot-S95. We hadn't budgeted for a camera replacement, so it was kind of a blow, but with a rapidly changing toddler it hardly feels optional. We considered it a necessary expense the way car or appliance repairs just have to get done. It's not like it was going to be cheaper for me to return to film photography, so there was no alternative if we wanted photos. Anyway, this one had rave reviews, and I see why! I'm loving it! I think it was worth the money, because A) it's a reliable brand-- one that can be repaired, as opposed to the Casio I had, B) its predecessor also had excellent reviews, and C) they kept it to 10 megapixels and did not overload it with bells and whistles, while most little compacts have ramped up to an excessive 14 MP and a thousand useless settings, all of which come at the expense of reliability and performance. Instead, they sensibly invested in excellent low-light technology (see below), good video, and full manual settings, which I LOVE. And the interface is adorably simple.
Examples of the automatic low-light setting follow. In the first two, the only lights on were the Christmas tree, a dim lamp behind Sean, and the dining room light, which is where I'm sitting, a good 15 feet from Sean. In the napping one, the only light was a small lamp across the room. I haven't made any edits to these photos except for cropping. And we only have two strands of lights on that tree, which would have been over 20 feet away from me, so you can tell how sensitive the camera is. (Okay, I'll shut up now-- I know everyone has cameras they're happy with, so I'm not trying to sell you something-- I'm just excited! :-) )
Meanwhile, that little Casio Exilim still has use of it's video function. It's not high quality-- you can see examples of the quality in any of my previous posts with videos. But it's very easy to use: you simply turn it on and press the button with the red dot to start and stop recording. So if any of y'all have a kid who would enjoy taking little videos on what is otherwise a useless camera, let me know. I'll happily mail it to you and be delighted to know that someone's making use of it!!
Moving on, Josephine is now 20 months old! She's hilarious, sweet, and opinionated. I've got a stack of library books a foot high that I'm pouring through trying to ramp up my comprehension of her developmental needs and my toolbox of options when it comes to discipline and guidance. I've definitely realized my own instincts and drained creativity are not up to the job! Acquiring helpful ideas is a necessity! And since I haven't found any parenting book that I buy into 100%, all I can do is just keep reading a variety and pulling tricks from all of them according to what I think we can work with.
It has certainly kept me on my toes. It's pretty exhausting trying to be mindful of how I'm reacting to things and analyze my responses to her from a standpoint of "how does this affect her long-term?" I want to be consistent with her, but that requires implementing things NOW that I will still be okay with enforcing in a year, two years, and beyond (assuming age-appropriate modifications, of course). She needs the stability that comes from parental consistency, and I need to start practicing the responses that I want to be able to give automatically.
In short, I'm probably over-thinking EVERYTHING. But I figure that's better than under-thinking and never really having a conscious plan regarding how we're raising her. I don't want to be a creature of habit in any area of my life (unless I've considered said habits and am happy with them), and that comes to my parenting skills, too.
Anyway, I'm certainly open to recommendations-- books, concepts, advice, etc. I know I have a lot of friends who have brought beautiful children through the toddler phase successfully, and I could learn from you! (Or even if you don't have kids, what do you think your parents did well that you would try to emulate?)
We're also trying to cut back to one nap, with a "quiet crib time" sort of thing replacing the second nap. So that's got everything all squirrelly now too. In case you haven't gathered, I REALLY like knowing what to expect each day, and having her on a steady schedule has been a lifesaver for me. (I never used to be that way-- I always felt chaffed by structure-- but I've found that schedules are now the only way I can efficiently keep my responsibilities juggled in a balanced fashion. Otherwise I find myself rethinking the world and my existence every single morning).
Anyway, we're a week into the schedule adjustment, and my excel spreadsheet documenting each day's times and tweaks has yet to reveal a reliable pattern of when she will ACTUALLY sleep if we cut down to one nap. Not worth going into the details. Hopefully we'll get a good routine in place soon.
Apparently I'm feeling chatty. (I just had to force myself to NOT go into all the schedule details.)
Why don't I just move on to the post's title? Got our Christmas decorations up in a timely fashion this year. They aren't much different from
last year, but here are a few new bits:
First and foremost, the
nativity scene made by the Poor Clare Nuns that I was telling you about earlier this fall (hedgehogs, my addition):
Dried chive blossoms from Sean's garden:
This year's ornament from the Simside. It's a common thing for cute, redone Austin bungalows to slap on a metal roof, so I personally find this interpretation of the Ark delightfully fitting:
Not that you can tell well from this photo, but a key difference to our tree this year was hanging all the toddler-friendly ornaments at the bottom. (And Andrea, have I ever told you my tree-topper was the angel centerpiece from one of high school's prom tables? :-) )
Lastly, when I discovered three strands of colored lights in the bottom of our decorations bin, left over from super fancy college dorm lighting, I dragged them outside with a couple hooks and spread the cheer (albeit in a rather limited fashion).
I love this season! There's never a more beautiful time than Advent.
Hope everyone's doing well. And please e-mail me or post your toddler-parenting thoughts! Input is REALLY welcome!
Of course, the PERK is that we can also know how Josephine would look as Rambo, a slightly flamboyant soccer star, a bathtub scuba diver, and Superman. I imagine it would be something like this:
You would not believe the restraint I'm having to exhibit to withhold how Josephine would look as a junior high video gamer in braces.
