Belly photos and a bit of love for The Parent's Journal

Here I am with my 30 weeks pregnant belly. It's still at a size which is fun, rather than too big... but I can see how it's going to get too big before it's over. I'm really enjoying the attention and enthusiasm from friends, family and strangers. The belly touching by strangers still hasn't manifested for the most part.

I have a feeling that I send a kind of standoffish vibe which only the most effusively affectionate are likely to overcome and decide they should touch me anyway. I don't intentionally cultivate this, it's just the way I roll. (Did I really say that? Funny thing is I just imagined my daughter reading this as a twelve year old, cringing at the old fashioned idioms I use(d). Sorry dear!)

I've been listening to some quality content on the iPod these days. I'll talk about hypnobabies another day - today is the day I want to give some love to The Parent's Journal. It's a radio show on NPR which on my affiliate is on at a crazy time on Saturday mornings... so I like to load their podcast onto my iPod and listen to it in the afternoons when I'm walking home from work. 

Each week, the host, Bobbi Conner, interviews a series of parents, pediatric or obstetric health practitioners and others with interest and expertise in child rearing. Her interviewees largely seem to have written books and I suspect the show is sort of a stop on the book tour for many. However, I really like what a lot of them have to say. 

Many seem to have a fairly relaxed view of parenting - often somewhat in line with Lenore Skenazy is trying to convey with her Free Range Kids movement. I listen to it all, topics ranging from raising resilient toddlers, to childbirth options, to being a good parent during divorce. Like a lot of other things, I take it all in, and spit out the stuff I think is hokum, such as the folks who say that eating peanuts during pregnancy will cause a peanut allergy in the child. 

The show covers a wide range of topics and I find each segment usually has something that might be worth filing away for the future.  Sometimes when Conner is interviewing someone over the phone, I find the audio frustrating to listen to on my headphones. Her voice ends up being a bit too loud and the interviewee's voice a bit too soft. But that's really my only complaint. It's a great source of ideas and things to think about. 

Of course, when it comes to applying these suggestions to reality, we'll see how it goes...