Minefields
Yes, we’ve absolutely entered a minefield,
yet another minefield.
We’ve been walking around in minefields
since the day we begged to differ.
Now we beg to be done with this,
to just all be the same,
accept everything,
except some things.
We’ve been walking around in minefields,
and many of us have died.
We’ve been walking around in minefields
since the day we fell hard upon this earth.
We forget how we got here
and we’re not sure where we’re going.
Maybe the way home is through a minefield.
Maybe we ourselves are mines.
What People Say When I Speak Spanish to My Toddler
A few Sundays ago I was picking Daughter up from the nursery at my grandparents’ church, where we were visiting. The nursery worker let me know what Daughter did while I was in church: she dirtied her diaper, she played happily, she babbled but didn’t say very many words. She seemed a bit concerned about my daughter’s lack of intelligible communication, so I told the nursery worker that some of the babbling might have been Spanish, since I speak Spanish with my daughter.
“Oh, are you homeschooling?” the nursery worker asked me.
“Uh, yeah, there’s a good chance we’ll homeschool her. But she’s just two now,” I responded quizzically.
“Oh, well, you said you were teaching her Spanish.”
“Oh, yes. I do teach her Spanish.”
So there you have it! I am already a homeschooling mom! I take that as a compliment, as I do these other things that people say when they hear me shout “¡Ven aquí! ¡No toques eso!”
- “That’s so cool– you speak Spanish to her!”
- “Wow. She’s so smart.”
- “Wow. You’re so smart.”
- “That’s going to really help her get a job someday.”
- “Okay, so what did you just say? Okay, how do you pronounce that? Am I saying it right?”
- “I have no idea what you just said but it looks like she understood it.”
- “I only know how to say a few words in Spanish! Here, let me say them to you…”
- “My husband’s cousin knew a few words in Spanish but then he forgot.”
Basically, if you know any Spanish phrases, or any words in any language, speak them to your kids. In public. It’s a great conversation starter.
In all seriousness, I have gotten a lot of support from people who have heard me speaking Spanish to Daughter. They usually tell me how neat it is, how they would have liked to do the same sort of thing if they only had the language skills, how it will only improve Daughter’s overall cognitive skills, how I shouldn’t worry so much about speaking perfectly, and how I’ll never regret it. I hope they’re right!
Daughter at Two
Daughter turned two a month ago, somewhere in the week between one of my trips to Illinois for a wedding and the big brewfest that Ryan organized and hosted. Since Daughter’s first two years have been so full of traveling, parents’ projects, and taking one week at a time, we decided to stick with the theme and throw a non-existent party. Daughter, it’s not that we don’t love you, it’s that we just weren’t ready for you to be two yet. Plus, since you’re so young, you wouldn’t have remembered the party anyway, and most of what we do is just to remember it later, right?
At two years old, Daughter:
- tries not to nap and then naps at 7pm.
- sings “Leh ih go! Leh ih go! …anymore!” whenever she’s feeling epic.
- survives mostly on mama’s milk, scrambled eggs (if they’re not overcooked), sweet potatoes, veggie straws, cheerios, almond milk, the tips of cooked asparagus, and her reserves from that time when we went to a Chinese buffet.
- would like to eat chocolate more often.
- sits through a whole Berenstain Bears book or slowly “reads” it herself.
- points out O, A, X, M, and sometimes other letters whenever she sees them.
- calls her dad “Papá” and her mom “Mommy” because that’s how her parents refer to each other when speaking to her.
- loves to wear “tidos” (vestidos/dresses) and “patos” (zapatos/shoes) but is quick to take off her clothes if they are wet or she is warm.
- says a lot of words in English and a lot of words in Spanish but doesn’t make phrases very often yet.
- smiles, waves and says “¡Adios!” when she thinks I’m about to interfere with her disobedience.
So why throw a birthday party when every day is such an adventure? I’ll just blog about the adventures so I can remember them a little longer.
New Family Rule: Don’t Get Sick On Your Weekends
New rule in our house: if you’re going to get sick, don’t get sick on your weekend. (This rule is especially for Ryan, the one who allegedly has weekends.) First of all, Ryan’s weekends are my big chance to get stuff done. “Get stuff done” is always at the top of my list. Second, Ryan only gets two full days off in a row if Jupiter and the third moon of the second planet of the north star align, so he needs to make the most of these rare occasions by getting stuff done along with me. The stuff we need to do together might include going for a walk, talking about the fact that we might be buying a major fixer-upper, or just making sure that one of us remembered to pay the utility bills.
This rule (don’t get sick on your weekends) is very important to the wellbeing of the entire family. If the sickness is a contagious pestilence– which it is this time– it can isolate the whole family just when the non-introverts in the family were gearing up to get out on the town and see some other people. It turns out that most of the other people we know already have family rules about not getting sick.
So if you break this rule, there will be consequences: chicken soup and lots of time in bed. Get well soon, Ryan!
Why I amalgamated my blogs.
As you can see, I have yet another new blog, but it’s really just an amalgamation of my previous blogs. Here’s why:
- I had a poetry blog with potential, a languishing personal blog, an underdeveloped design business blog, and a few posts on a family blog somewhere.
- I had ideas of new things to write about. But now I forget. Oh well, I’ll think of them.
- This way I’ll know where to post new stuff. Here.
- The url rebeccamckeever.com was available, and I’m a domain name hoarder. But when it’s your very own name, I don’t think it counts as hoarding.
- A little WordPress and server and ftp practice never hurt anyone.
So now I’m ready to get back into blogging! Prepare yourselves for a plethora of poems, pictures, and posts both profound and petty. Also know that some posts will be more on the personal side while some posts will be written for the general public (this is the internet, after all). Whoever you are, I hope you like it.
Second World
I wouldn’t have to whine
if the sun would only shine.
But I guess that it does
pretty much all of the time.
That lucky old sun
just keeps rolling around,
so I guess it’s the clouds
that are getting us down.
We think, “If I were homeless,
I could spend more time outside.”
Okay, maybe we don’t think that,
but we think along those lines.
If only, if only,
we didn’t have to strive
as if it’s such a chore
just being here, alive.
We’re sick of first world stressors
but we don’t want third world strife.
Is there a second world that’s just right?
Or do we need a second life?
More Less
I need to write more poems again.
I miss the way my brain worked then.
I also need to play more songs,
design more websites, right more wrongs,
find more clients, make more cash,
do more with my craft-stuff stash,
speak more Spanish, read more books,
spend time proving I can cook,
make more friends, call friends more,
do more with my Etsy store,
give my toddler more of me,
be the best that I can be,
yes, the very, very best–
okay, so what should I do less?
Ways I’ve Used My Second Screen
For a long time I made fun of my husband for keeping several extra computer monitors around. He had given away or junked several older computers but he wouldn’t part with the monitors. I thought it was just the little bit of hoarder in him coming to the surface. But when we got settled in our new apartment and got our desks organized, he set up one of the extra monitors for me.
I really like it.
Here are five ways I’ve been using my second screen within the past few weeks:
1. Watching Photoshop tutorials (or any teaching videos) while working in Photoshop (or any design program) on the main screen. Before I had the second screen, I had to switch back and forth between YouTube and Photoshop, or creativeLIVE and Dreamweaver, and I would get behind.
2. Expanding the media pane of Adobe Premiere Pro so that I can see all the clips I’m working with at one time without covering up my other panes.
3. Putting on an episode of “Bob el Constructor” for my daughter while I get some work done on the main screen.
4. Displaying the current version of a website while I work on the new design on my main screen. That way I can compare the two versions easily and make sure that I design a space for all the necessary content.
5. Keeping chords and lyrics visible while I experiment in GarageBand and Adobe Audition.
I’m sure I’ll be finding more ways to use my second screen in the coming weeks– it is a lot handier than I realized it would be. One of the reasons I was hesitant to use it is that I knew the Wacom tablet would need to include both screens within it’s limited drawing space. I thought that this would make pen strokes much less accurate and make it more difficult to predict where the mouse would end up on the screen, but I guess my brain made the adjustment because I hardly noticed a difference. It still seemed intuitive. Maybe for detailed illustration I would unplug the second screen, but so far it hasn’t been a problem.
How have you used a second monitor in your line of work?
Pretty Good Match
I have been writing poetry lately– actually quite a bit. But it’s all in the form of song lyrics and the songs are still being formed. I finished this one within a day so that I could publish it on Valentine’s Day:
Thanks for watching– there are more songs to come!
Happy Birthday, Business!
A year ago today I sent a quick little message to a family I barely new, congratulating them on starting their own business and asking them if I could help them with any graphic design. They said “Yes!” and my business began.
The “Graphic Design” folder on my computer now contains over 1500 items, including folders of files for over fifteen different businesses or organizations I’ve worked with. About a dozen logos that I designed are in use today, and each of those logos is the result of hours of work and dozens of drafts.
Besides logos, I’ve designed brochures, banners, business cards, greeting cards, profile pictures, posters, flyers, labels, t-shirts, tags, invites, menus, worksheets and wall art. I’ve developed two websites for myself and one for a client. I’ve even done graphics for one temporary tap handle!
What a year of growth and learning it has been– if that was my internship, I can’t wait to start my job!
To follow my work this coming year, go like my business facebook page.