Michael and Jaspenelle

Review: Summer Infant Extra Tall Walk-Thru Gate

So I wrote this review once already, Wordpress ate it, but I am stubborn so here it is again.

Until now we have used 2 24″ pressure mounted baby gates (the standard inexpensive ones) on either end of our hallway to keep Damian off the basement steps. Not only are they very steep but they are also open with only one railing (which is out of Damian’s reach.) However Damian is tall for his age and a climber so the low gates are no longer a valid safety option.

Cue the Summer Infant - Sure & Secure Extra Tall Walk-Thru Gate, which we purchased for about $60 at K-Mart. It is a 3 foot tall metal pressure gate that comes with mounting hardware. It is important to mount gates at the top of stairs as pressure gates can slide against walls, creating a big safety issue. The Summer Infant gate has a child-locked walk-thru door too so that you don’t have to be an Olympian gymnast to get down the stairs. Since this gate is both a pressure and mounted one is has a very short bar across the bottom that you have to step over, but that hasn’t been an issue for me. Just use a bit of caution.

This gate should fit any opening between 28″ and 47.5″ and has two extension panels which allow for this. However if you door frame falls between a 1/2″ measurement between each extension piece (32.5″ to 33″, 37.5″ to 38″, and 42.5″ to 43″) it won’t fit without a little modification. In other words it will become an enormous pain to install. Our home is old and the basement door frame is slightly crooked. The bottom of the door falls between 32.5″ and 33″ and therefor just barely too small to fit an extension piece. We fixed this by using an narrow inch thick strip of wood along one side of the door frame, we then used 2″ screws (rather then the 1″ screws included with the mounting hardware) to mount that side of the gate (see right photo above.) Still, if your opening falls in those ranges and you do not have a garage full of miscellaneous wood or the handyman skills, do not buy this gate.

As for what I like about the Summer Infant gate. The gate only swings one way, so that you can install it so that it does not swing above the stairs. The child-lock is well designed but still easy for an adult to operate. The gate itself is metal and seems very sturdy and durable. I don’t see myself replacing it or having any parts failing for a long time (knock on wood!) It is also 3 feet tall which is daunting for Damian but not so overwhelming that Aos cannot jump over it. (If you have a disable, older or obese cat I can see where it’s height might have an issue for the stairs.) With a permanent gate at the top of the stairs I no longer have to constantly trip over step over the two shorter gates in the hallway too, and Damian enjoys doing the house loop now as well!

Would I recommend the gate? I added another one to the baby registry for the deck stairs so I obviously like it, but if your child is average height and not a climber, it is probably not necessary. There are cheaper shorter mounted gates out there. However if you have a toddler who is a climber and tall for his or her age, as well as a set of dangerous stairs, then I would go as far to say a tall gate is not only useful, but necessary. I think the Summer Infant - Sure & Secure Extra Tall Walk-Thru Gate fits the bill fantastically well.

The Baby Bjorn Potty Chair has arrived!

(and the crowds go wild!)

Or at least… this mommy goes wild!

A potty chair might not seem like a big thing to most of you, but it really is awesome to anyone who ECs their baby.

We currently EC Damian by holding him over the toilet:

Which truly wrecks havoc on your back, arms and knees. Damian is also getting a bit to wiggly to like that position too. The potty chair can be moved around to where ever I want it so these problems no longer exists. It also alleviates our other problem of ECing in public.

Our main problem with ECing Damian is that he now HATES going in his diaper and will try to hold it as long as possible. This is great in its own way of course, it saves us a lot of diapers, however it is not so great when we are out. I refuse to kneel on the floor of a public restroom. (Gross!) So he has to go in his diaper, of course this makes for a rather cranky baby at times. Now that we have the potty chair, we can just bring it with us and EC him in the van. I’ll probably eventually make a bag for it so when we go over to friends I can carry it in with us.

Based on first impressions I like the potty. It seems to support him well with some help (he is not old enough to sit on his own yet) and seems to be the right size for his little tushy with room to grow. It also doesn’t get as cold as a toilet seat either which he appreciates. The white bowl pops out super easily and seems easy to clean. All the seams are smooth so I am not worried about him getting pinched. Damian wasn’t sure what to think at first since he is use to the toilet, but he did end up peeing in it and I am pleased to say the splash guard did its job.

The day has come, my son has a throne of his own!
Now to get him some reading material…

This new design

As you have probably noticed (unless you read blogs solely through RSS, like me, or livejournal - if so, visit the site!) Michael has completely redesigned the layout, which he blogged about. He didn’t purposely keep the new design for me, but rather, I haven’t had the time to shoulder surf as he works lately. So the new design almost feels like a surprise to me.

I’ve never been a huge fan of cluttered sites and I love this design because it feels so bright and clean (even though I still need to reorganize the links and blogroll.) I have to admit, in my mommy brained sleep dep mode I couldn’t find the comment link on my page (doh!) but it is in fact right there in the left column, where I looked a dozen times and then twittered it was the right column… (dyslexics untie!) In my defense most blogs I read have it at the bottom of the posts. I like this new placement though.

I love the Twitter feeds under Michael and my blogs on the frontpage too. Damian doesn’t have one, a little young for texting (I usually twitter via my phone.) The “HMOTD” tweet means “Happiest Moment of the Day” by the way. It is one of my daily practices in gratitude. I got the idea from another twitterer.

Damian might not have a Twitter, but he does have a blog now, which is quite possibly my favorite feature. It is underneath Michael’s on the main page. Not that he can type yet, but Michael and I are more then happy to write what we think he is thinking. A lot of his development updates and daily life-with-baby stuff will probably end up there. My sister-in-law has a similar one for her daughter Emily that I love.

Anyhow I am a creature of habit so it will take me some getting use to, but so far I am loving it.

Review: Above All, Be Kind

“Above All, Be Kind” is a fantastic book which I think any parent would benefit from (for that matter I think even people without children could benefit from it.) The author, Zoe Weil, has written a book that is not only incredibly thought-provoking, raising fundamental questions about living humanely with our children, the Earth and each other, but also loaded with practical childrearing advice.

Gandhi once said “My life is my message” and Zoe makes this her mantra throughout the book. She reminds us that we cannot expect our children to walk a path that we are unwilling to venture onto. While Zoe’s idea that living humanely through our every thought and action really resonates with me, it is her matter-of-fact attitude that really speaks to me. She does not get preachy and does not expect you to be super mom or dad. We are the first role models our children will have, but we are human and we all make mistakes. It is up to us to be able to pick ourselves up after them and turn those mistakes into learning experiences though. We need to hold ourselves accountable for our actions.

Zoe does not dictate what we are or are not to do, but rather she encourages us to use our own sense of morality in our choices. She suggests that the most important things to do when considering any challenge is:

1. Provide information
2. Teach critical thinking
3. Instill the three R’s (reverence, respect, responsibility)
4. Offer positive choices

The book is split into seconds dealing with each part of a child’s life from infancy to the teenage years. It also has a hefty appendix full of solid resources (statistics, products, reference books, websites etc) which make the task of start to live more humanely less daunting.

I have a feeling I will be referencing this book many times as Michael and my child grows. (After I buy it at least, I borrowed it from a friend…)

The Golden Compass

What can I say about The Golden Compass (*cough* Northern Lights *cough*)? I loved it, simple as that. Well, I can never be that simple…

I have to say, I was really surprised that at 7pm the day after opening (a Saturday no less) the theater was only 1/2 full. Maybe those boycotts are actually making a dent. I really hope not though, I would like to see the remaining two books made into movies, not flop out of existance

The first 30 minutes of the world was mostly spent describing Lyra’s world and while this might seem pretty dull, they did it in an attractive and captivating way. I adored the actress who played Lyra (Dakota Richards,) she is totally convincing in the role and just how I imagined her character from the book. Even more goes to her credit because of her performance with her daemon, who was blue scened in. I couldn’t talk to a non-existent thing so realistically! (All the daemons were also amazingly done, total kudos to the computer geeks behind that, I thought they might clutter the scene but they seem to seamlessly integrate with their human counterparts.) Dust, the Magisterium, daemons, ice bears, witches, it is all there and all so well done!

I don’t feel the film makers downplayed the dogmatic aspects of the film too much. Yes, they did not emphasis the organized religion/Magisterium link as much as in the book but they still keep its spirit intact and visible. If I had to pick and any part of the movie, it would actually be the music. The grand music sequences seemed ill-fitting for the portions of the movie they were placed in. I also feel they could have made the film a little longer without turning it into a drawn-out bore, I would have liked to see a little more character development, as was in the books.

The movie seemed to skip the last chapter of the book, which is quite important. At first this really surprised me but reflecting on it, the ending is very much a second climax which would be better suited for the beginning of the second movie. It will be interesting to see how they choose to do that.

As a fan of the book, I was suitably impressed. I would see the movie again given the chance and I recommend it to anyone attracted the fantasy film genre.

Into the Wild

On Thursday, after my ultrasound (which Michael will post about) we went and saw “Into the Wild”. It is a drama based on the 1996 non-fiction book by Jon Krakauer about the cross country trek of Christopher McCandless “Supertramp”.

Christopher abandons his possessions and gives his savings account to charity without the knowledge of his wealthy but loveless parents after her graduating university as a top student. He then hitchhikes for two years across North American, finally ending up to Alaska. This movie is a fascinating glimpse into the life of someone my own age but wise beyond his years.

“Into the Wild” stays quite true to the book and was made with the cooperation of Christopher’s family. I can see shades of all the characters reflected in myself and the people who have influenced my life’s path. The main message that resonated with me through the movie is that happiness is only real when shared, but to reach that point of enlightenment you must awaken and live in complete honesty with yourself.

I really loved the movie and really strongly recommend it.

The Pagan Book of Living and Dying

I received The Pagan Book of Living and Dying: Practical Rituals, Prayers, Blessings, and Meditations on Crossing Over by Starhawk and M. Macha Nightmare the other day. It has been really helpful in coping with Sharon’s passing and helping her family through their grief. It has also been a good guide on how to plan her crossing over ritual, which will be held tonight.

This is the first Starhawk book I have owned and I have to say, I really enjoy her frank and upfront style of writing. She doesn’t try to dumb stuff down so much that it feels like you are reading “Dr. Seuss Goes Witchy”. Starhawk also avoid giving “definitive rituals and guidelines” and I prefer that method of inspiration. She touches on almost every form of death, old age, terminal illness, sudden death, miscarriage, abortion; as well as duties of caregivers and family and mediations and prayers for grieving. It even has a little section for nurses and doctors, who work around the dieing. The book has lead me to reflect on my own mortality and though I am not as near as some people are to readily accepting that eventuality in my life, it helps me along the path. If you aspire to be clergy I really do recommend it, it is thoughtful and thought-provoking.

Michael really likes the book because it has sheet music for some Pagan crossing over and healing songs by Starhawk and some others; which is something he has wanted for awhile (Pagan sheet music.) If other Starhawk books have this in them too, I shall have to pick them up as well. I love listening to Michael on the piano and singing. Maybe I will build up the nerve to learn to sing some solo…

The Illusionist

Michael and I got The Illusionist this week through netflix. We watched it last night. It was really good, not just for the special effects and great acting (Edward Norton was a great pick for the illusionist) but the plot was actually decent (which seems increasingly rare nowadays.) We are going to watch it again tonight, it is one of those that you have to watch twice to make sure you didn’t miss anything when the plot twists.

It reminds me of how much I love magic. Not “magick” as in Pagan stuff (I love that too), but illusion magic - card tricks, slights of hand and grand illusion. Cutting people in half kind of stuff. I remember I had a book about magic tricks when I was a kid, I think a lot of my generation did. I am still fascinated by the great magicians to this day, Robert-Houdin, David Copperfield, Dorothy Deirtich and David Blaine (though he is more of an escape and endurance artist.)

Anyhow the Illusionist is a great movie, I really recommend it.

Le Headbang

The Lacuna Coil concert was awesome (if your music preferences lay with European Metal at least.)

There was a pretty cool local opener, Storm something… (edit: Stolen Babies). Then Within Temptation - they are touring with Lacuna Coil! How could it get any better then that!? (Maybe if Nightwish had been there too.) The Boulevard is a tiny venue, 500 people or less. The bands were so close you could touch them. Completely worth $23 a ticket.

I have to say though, as much as I adore Lacuna Coil, (and they were awesome,) Sharon den Adel (picture above) with Within Temptation stole the show. Ice Queen indeed. Rwar.

G’night everyone.

PS: It is nice to have long hair again, huzzah for headbanging!

Gaia’s Awakening Faire

Michael and I went to the Gaia’s Awakening Faire today at the UU church in Spokane. It seemed well set up and all but it was lacking something that left me disappointed. It has taken me most of the day to figure out what bothered me about it.

There was nothing I was really drawn to. Not in the traditional sense that I did not like anything, I did, I adore handmade crafts. But… there was no energy at all in the place or the vendors. None of them seemed interested that there was people looking at there craft work. They almost seemed to be avoiding contact when I said hi and their smiles were weak at best. Only one person truly made an effort to talk with me and not surprisingly as a result I liked her crafts best out of the lot. I had my tarot read which was fun, the lady who did it was passionate and confident, even though it was her first time doing a faire.

Maybe it is just me but I have always been raised of the mind that being passionate about your craft empowers your customers too. Acknowledging their existence is good too. Fine if you are miserable, but if you expect to get sales then perk up, and realize you are selling your crafts, made with your heart and soul, not some junk from the dollar store.

I use to help my grandma at craft shows when I was younger (a lot bigger then the faire today of course and they were only targeted at crafts.) I loved it, I loved the diversity of people and being able to help my grandma sell her jams and jellies. I love people and interacting with them. So many crafts forget how important marketing is, even I do sometimes, but it really is half the battle.

So I may be a vendor other UU events, including the Gaia Faire next year. Hopefully I will not be the only enthusiastic person there. No one else was selling candles which is good for me, there is definitely no shortage of people who love candles. This was a small faire, I assume other UU ones will be too but yet they have enough traffic to probably turn a little profit. More importantly, it would be good to get my name out there to the local community.

Disappointing as this was in the end, it was definitely a positive experience for showing me the power of passion.