Wombats and cents

Hard to judge how rational the fear is

A recent article in Salon.com about peanut allergy got my goat.  Here's my reaction.

Fear is only irrational if it is out of proportion to the risk. The problem with peanut allergies is that, for many of us, it is difficult to assess the risk of us or our children becoming severely ill or dying from exposure to peanuts. Certainly, for some people, the risk became quite obvious the first time they or their child was rushed to the emergency room, but for many others the allergy is identified in relation to treating less sensational threats, like eczema or asthma. For those people identified through skin prick tests or blood tests as likely to have an allergy, or those who had a reaction to eating peanuts that was not confirmed by a physician, assessing the risk is decidedly more fuzzy...

This post has moved.  Read the rest of the post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2009/02/hard-to-judge-how-rational-fear-is.html

Mix and match your duplo

Semi trailer with excavator like the ones we saw when they pulled down the house on the corner - using truck base from cement truck kit, wheel base from Lofty kit, caterpillar tracks from Muck kit, back hoe and cabin from Scoop kit, warning sign base from one of the Bob the Builder sets to provide the articulation between the truck and the trailer, generic pieces, and rubber bands to create the loading ramp.

I've always known that lego (and now duplo, its larger cousin) was a fantastic toy.  With a few blocks and a little imagination you can create a stunning array of things, from pretend power drills to guitars with strings to pluck (granted, not with particularly good tones).  With the addition of a few specialized pieces picked up from the Legoville collections or Bob the Builder sets, you've got everything you need to create an extensive array of construction equipment.

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2008/02/mix-and-match-your-duplo.html

Oh my god, I'm a stay at home mom!

This shouldn't be too surprising, since I haven't worked in over a year, but before now I was in denial.

Until my son was born I was earning more than my husband.  I decided I'd like to stay home for the first year of my son's life so I quit my job, naively believing that I'd be able to find part time employment after a year out of work.  Last month, I dusted off my resume, added my most recent experience, and sent it to a few people.  The response I got was less than encouraging: "The chances of finding part time work in the IT industry are virtually nil."

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2006/05/oh-my-god-i-stay-at-home-mom.html

Why I'm teaching sign language to my child

I guess I'm not an entirely conventional mother.  One of the ways this evidenced itself was when I tried explaining to my child's day care minder that we were teaching him sign language.  She reacted with surprise; she had never heard of hearing parents teaching sign to a hearing child.

This post has been moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2006/02/why-i-teaching-sign-language-to-my.html

Raising children gets easier, I hope

When my son was about four months old the father of a young girl told me, "It only gets harder."  There aren't many crueler things a person can say to someone who hasn't had four consecutive hours sleep in almost six months.

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2006/01/raising-children-gets-easier-i-hope.html

Tunnel wonder

I made a tunnel out of a box for my son to play with.  He loves it.  I need do nothing more than look at him from the other side for him to drop whatever he is doing to crawl through the box.  In fact, anything that is remotely tunnel-like will get his attention: the previously forgotten play gym, someone's legs, the dining table (or more likely, the dining chairs).

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2005/12/tunnel-wonder.html

Children's Books

My son is about a year old.  Every night, as part of the bed time ritual prescribed by all of the child rearing "experts", we read him two or three books.  At this rate, one can go through a lot of books.

Now the first thing that I have to say about children's books is that they are absurdly expensive: "A dollar a word" as one friend and parent said to us.  Now, it's not really that bad.  They're probably closer to $0.20/word, and some of them may even go less than $0.04/word.  Still, can you imagine paying that rate for your typical novel?  I've mostly gotten over this.  If I find a really good children's book, I will simply ignore the price tag as I take it to the register and pay for it with my credit card so I don't ever have to acknowledge the actual cost.

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2005/12/children-books.html

Cloth vs. disposable?

It's a very common question, but it almost seems rhetorical these days: will you put your baby in cloth or disposable nappies (aka diapers)?  We live in a disposable culture, so it's hardly surprising that the vast majority of people (well, Americans and Australians anyway) choose to use disposable nappies without a second thought.  The question also implies that one must use one or the other, ignoring the possibility that it might make sense to use cloth during the day and disposables at night.

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2005/12/cloth-vs-disposable.html

Wandering the streets for peace and quiet

I took my son to his first session of child care this morning so I could get some work done outside of his naptime.  However, since the session was when he normally napped, I had to wander the streets for an hour pushing him in his stroller to get him to sleep before the childcare session started so he wouldn't be too grumpy to survive the whole 2.5 hours.  The irony was not lost on me.

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2005/11/wandering-streets-for-peace-and-quiet.html