alexist

Now, confession: I like some of Baby Einstein's products. Before I actually had a baby I didn't really like the whole idea; it seemed to smack of competitive parenting. Then I discovered that some of their toys really are very good. I'm still not keen on the whole DVDs for kids part, though, and the following quote from their web page is just... well...

"That being said, The Baby Einstein Company is aware of the ongoing discussions regarding children and television viewing, particularly as it pertains to infants under the age of two years old. And, while we respect the American Academy of Pediatrics, we do not believe that their recommendation of no television for children under the age of two reflects the reality of today’s parents, families and households – for example, a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study found that 68% of all babies under two years old watch screen media on any given day. The Baby Einstein Company believes that when used properly, developmentally-appropriate video content can be a useful tool for parents and little ones to enjoy together."

(from http://www.babyeinstein.com/about/01-01_aboutus.asp)

So, parents ignore the AAP, so we'll help them! Not that I expected anything else--they want to sell their products. Still, it's a lovely piece of self-justification.

BTW, if you go to "products by age" and click on "birth and up", one of the items is the Baby Einstein Ultimate DVD collection ($369.99). For goodness' sakes, babies can't even see far enough to watch TV till they're a few months old. Not that I would let Aliza watch TV yet either. She's seen it of course, as I'm not enough of an extremist not to watch it when she's in the room, but she's never been sat in front of it. And she won't be for a long time yet. My mother was really strict about TV with me and I think it was good. You can really notice the difference with my youngest sister who was allowed to watch a lot more, and became much more of a TV junkie.

First, my housekeys have disappeared. I know they have to be in the flat because i used them to let myself in, and I didn't take them with me yesterday when I went out with Neil. We ransacked the place. No sign. They have to be in the front room, because I would have opened the door, come in with the baby, put the keys down and then put the baby down. I always put them in one of the same few places (dining table, coffee table, sometimes arm of sofa).

I don't know what possessed me, or why I didn't wait till next week, but I went into town today, with the baby. The trip into town on the bus was all right, since it was a Saturday.

I went to see the Sacred exhibition at the British Library. It was fantastic. I have to go back, without Aliza. (She was well behaved [I carried her in her sling the whole time, so she'd get a change from lying down in her pram] aside from a couple of cries when she dropped her pacifier, but the exhibition was not brilliantly laid out and there wasn't a lot of space for the buggy in places, so I didn't feel comfortable clogging up the space. Also, there were steps from the entrance into the exhibition. What would they have done for wheelchair users? They would have had it even worse.) Anyway, they had an unbelievable collection, down to a fragment of one of the Dead Sea Scrolls. (Not from the Israel Museum. I was wondering about that, because as far as I know they aren't lent out, but a museum in Paris had one.) It was an amazing collection.

Afterwards, I fed Aliza in front of the BL, went to Borders, and trudged home. I forgot that although Archway DOES have an escalator, there's a good sized flight of steps after it :-( I should've got off the bus at Camden. (I wanted the tube home because it's less of a walk and I was carrying packages--northbound at West Finchley is not a problem with a buggy as you go straight from the platform to the street. I couldn't remember if it was the northbound or southbound platform at Camden that was steps down from the escalator so I stayed on the 134 to Archway.)

Now I'm knackered, and my back hurts from walking with the baby in a sling for 35 minutes. I need to look into a carrier that uses both shoulders...

Aliza was fussy when we got home; didn't want much of her bottle. I thought she was overtired as she slept very little this afternoon and put her to bed. She went to sleep, but 20 minutes or so later, woke up and began to fuss. I tried to get her to settle, but it didn't help. Finally (around 21:20) I got her up and gave her another bottle. She sucked 90% of it down, was smiley and sleepy, and went right to bed. Good girl! She was actually awake when I went in 15 minutes ago but was being quiet--she's become quite a good sleeper and once you get her to bed she knows how to settle herself back down. (It's only a problem if she drops her pacifier right at the start when she's sucking herself to sleep. Then she cries and you have to go stick it back in.)

I put some laundry on (ooh, just beeped, shall have to fetch it in a few) and am sitting with my feet up on the sofa. :-)

Tomorrow I shall tidy up a bit and finally sort all my books out--one of the bookcases had been blocked for the past couple of months. The junk has now been removed, and all the books can be correctly shelved. I also need to take out all the recycling (including a giant stack of newspapers), clean the kitchen (meh) and bake a banana cake (yum).

Spare a thought for my poor husband: it took him over an hour to get from our house to Hanger Lane gyratory (8.3 miles according to Google). He had to take the M4 and M5 to Devon because he's driving a Transit and didn't fancy driving it down the A303. At least he hired it from a different company this time. The one at Apex Corner is still using 10 year old Transits--no power steering; it was like driving a cow. He's got to drive back tomorrow, too. :-( (At least he doesn't have to load and unload furniture this time.)

A map in today's Independent says Bethlehem is in Israel. I await the activists screaming "Occupied Palestinian Territories!!!"