Potpourri of the Week #2

As usual my brain has been jumping all over the place this week and most likely driving my husband crazy. Potpourri of the Week is an opportunity for me to share with you where my brain has been - websites, blogs, books, outerspace, etc.  So let's get started....

1.  First up, I downloaded yet another free book to my Kindle with plans to read it in, oh say the next five years.  I realized that I have over 300 books now on there!  While skimming through the titles, I found Raising Kids With Love and Limits by Julie Barnhill.  A certain little someone has been making me question every "method" and "tactic" I have in my parenting arsenal lately; so I dug into this book.  So far, it has been - funny, heartwarming, useful, blunt, and convicting.  The honesty is refreshing.  I love this quote:  "So how to explain feeling (dare I admit, even looking) like a complete moron while standing in the middle of Target and trying to coerce a kid smaller than the circumference of our right thigh to listen and obey when we say no?"  For mommas of young ones who are constantly overthinking their parenting skills, I highly recommend this book.  And I've not even finished it yet!

2.  Next, along the same lines as it seems my brain (and heart!) have been consumed with mommyhood lately, I happened across this thought-provoking post by Rachel at Finding Joy.  "Where Did the Delight Go?" is a challenge to mothers everywhere to get back to enjoying their children instead of just viewing them as more work.  I don't think any of us consciously would label our children as work, but it is incredibly easy to get caught up in all the doing that children cause - laundry, messes, discipline, teaching, feeding, etc.  It becomes humdrum and ordinary and sometimes can make us resentful of the ones we were once so excited to mother and nuture.  But, Rachel says it a whole lot better than I do; so go check out her post.  I promise it's worth the read. 

3.  It has been over a month since our family embarked on the Feingold Elimination Diet.  Since then, I have been researching and studying food dyes, artificial flavors, and the preservatives that mess with my autistic child's brain and cause him to have such terrible meltdowns and space-outs.  The more information I uncover, the more I am appalled and ashamed that I allowed all of my children to ingest these terrible things for so long.  I am thankful in a way that my son's issues forced us to consider this radical change to our diet, because quite honestly I don't think I would have done the research otherwise.  Even if the elimination of petroleum food dyes and artificial flavors had not made a significant difference in the Beast's behavior, we cannot turn back now.  I cannot give these poisons to my kids, knowing what I know now.  Blogger Rebecca at Die, Food Dye devotes her energy to informing the public about these dangerous chemicals in hopes of making a change in America.  Read her recent post on who's doing it right and who's not in the food and medical industry.  I guarantee it will stop and make you think. 

4.  As always, I like to end on a light-hearted, not-so-much-deep-thinking note.  This post had me laughing hysterically yesterday.  The author's story and pictures resonated with me, as I have experienced something very similar with my boys.  I will warn you that there are potty words and anatomy words involved;  so if that kind of thing makes you uncomfortable or nervous, skip this one.  Otherwise, read on, and may I recommend not reading it at work or lunch or anyplace you may  be liable to distract everyone with your loud giggling. 

Carry on, everyone!  Have a great weekend!