Book Review: Polly Petunia Finds Her Place

Polly Petunia Finds Her Place
Written and Illustrated by Katie Rogers
Kokomo Books, RRP $18.00

This sweet children’s book was sent to me by Katie Rogers of Kokomo Books who both wrote and illustrated the book. It tells the story of Polly Petunia, a headstrong doll who as been abandoned by her owner for a new bicycle. With the help of her friend Twitch the fantail, Polly moves to the city of Wellington to find her new place in the world. The book details Polly’s adventures, from playing dress-ups, going to the zoo, eating ice-cream, and visiting the library. For those parents who want books without the usual gender stereotypes, Polly also likes “creatures,” practises “karate,” jumps in “puddles,” and pretends “to be on safari.” The moral of the story: “just be you!”

Many kids will relate to Polly’s adventures and see themselves in the pages of the book. The illustrations are also colourful and interesting. Constructed out of fabric off-cuts and paper dolls (Polly Petunia originally started with Katie telling stories to her daughter using a paper doll), the pictures are quirky and crafty. The book itself would be a good starting point for children to make up their own stories and pictures, and will definitely appeal to crafty mums and dads. While some of the story is a bit laboured, and the wiggly layout can make it difficult to read, I applaud Katie for self publishing her stories. Further installments of Polly Petunia are planned for the future.

Polly Petunia Finds Her Place

Sam reads books

Photograph by Matt Bialostocki

The thing I want most for Sam (beyond his health and happiness) is a love of books. This photo was taken last week in Unity Books by my friend, writer, and bookseller, Matt Bialostocki. I think it perfectly captures the moment, and our engrossment in a book where dinosaurs drive diggers. We bought the book and took it home. I think we’ve read it an average of five times a day since.

Seeing things as new

Wellington is one of those cities that slowly reveals itself. I’ve lived here for almost a decade, and I’m still discovering new places. Our house looks out over the Karori Cemetery, but I’ve never explored it, so today I went there on my walk. It’s huge and gothic. Some sections of the cemetery made me think of a dormitory of concrete beds.

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Last night I was one of the readers at the Hue & Cry National Poetry Day event. The reading took place at The Moorings, which is an historic house in Thordon. While ten people live there, parts of the house are in a state of decay. The main tenant (the grandson of the family who owns the house) said they need to make it watertight before they can restore the house. We had our reading in the old billiards room.

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Quite often in the afternoon, Sam and I visit the Michael Fowler Centre. He loves climbing stairs, and I find the building an interesting space to explore when it’s empty. Here’s Sam having a quiet moment.

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Winter

Botanic Gardens, Wellington

Wellington Harbour

Moss on a treet

Sam in pom pom hat

Winter is one of my favourite seasons for running and walking. It’s quiet, and the shapes of things are revealed in winter. I enjoy my body being warm while the air is cold, and the smell of burning wood and things decaying. In winter, you notice colour that you don’t in spring or summer.

Top to bottom: A plant in Wellington’s Botanic Gardens; Wellington Harbour on a Sunday run; three shades of moss; Sam and I collect a bouquet of sticks.

Montessori Crafts

Over the last month I’ve become interested in creating a Montessori style household for Sam. We were already doing a lot of the Montessori ideas, but one idea I’ve found useful is to separate Sam’s toys into baskets and activities (before they were all in a heap in his toy basket). It’s much easier for him to get to his toys, and easier for me to model how to put them away (and encourage him to do so!). Last month Sam started counting, so I wanted to make him a counting activity that was multi-purpose. I made him these counting bean bags, which are a very easy sewing project.

Counting bean bags

Each bean bag has a different fabric on the back, and I hand stitched the number on the front using chain stitch and a dark blue embroidery cotton. They’re filled with rice so are good for throwing, but don’t hurt if they hit another person or cat. We got the bowl from TradeAid. These are some of the games you can play with them:

  • Memory. As each bag has a different pattern on the back it will be easier for a child than traditional memory. A variation on the game is just turning each bag over and naming the number.
  • Name the number / throw the bag in the basket. This is our favourite game at the moment. We pick up a bag, name the number, and then throw it in the basket.
  • Putting the bags in sequence. Sam’s too young to do this at the moment, but we put them in sequence and then count down the line together. He also like to dance up and down the line of bags.
  • Putting objects by the bags. For example, if you have the number two bag, then put two objects by the bag.
  • Basic maths. When Sam is older I will make plus, minus, equals, and division bags so he can practise his maths.
  • Hitting the bags with a hammer. Maybe that’s just Sam!

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On Motherhood: Our Parenting Philosophy

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Sam turns two in just over a month. Even though it’s his birthday, I think I will buy myself a present. Mothering is hard work. Recently, though, I feel I have a bit of hindsight, and it seems a good time to blog about my experiences so far. This one is about our parenting philosophy.

How we parent

When I tell people I have a parenting philosophy they seem a bit confused. I don’t think that it’s that uncommon, though, its just that most people wouldn’t phrase it that way. Obviously our ideas have changed as we’ve learned to parent, but having a philosophy before Sam came along helped us be confident in our decisions. It also meant Jim and I were mostly on the same page, which meant we could be consistent. It also (mostly) avoided middle of the night ‘discussions’ about what we should do with the wakeful child. That is why I am sharing this, I suppose. It might be helpful to someone else. Also I feel really proud of the way I educated myself, and the energy and love my husband and I have put into raising Sam. I think it’s worth sharing.

Jim and I practise attachment parenting, which is a developmental / biologically based style of parenting that fosters emotional attachment between parent and child. Being an academic, and slightly obsessive, I did a lot of research into how I could best parent Sam. If you want to know any of the rationale behind our choices, drop me a line. I could write a whole thesis on the topic. The sources I used most were Kelly Mom, Aha! Parenting, and Ask Moxie.

While we did base our approach on research, it was also based on our gut instincts, and on the personality of our son. Sam is a very active and curious child. He has my active brain, which has made sleep hard for him. Infant sleep is probably the most dividing and controversial topic facing parents, and one I feel passionately about. Being prepared meant it’s been easy to stick to our guns (on everything, not just sleep) when faced with criticisim from friends and family, and sometimes strangers on the street! I’ve also had support of other mothers who parent in a similar way, which has been invaluable. Everyone has an opinion on how you should raise your child. So please note, other equally valid parenting styles are available, but this is the one that works for Sam. Our philosophy is pretty simple:

Be emotionally and physically available at all times, night and day. Trust that Sam knows what he needs, and validate his feelings. Treat Sam as we want to be treated, which is as an equal and individual person.

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This is what our philosophy has meant in practise:

  • We use gentle settling techniques (songs, cuddles, rocking, feeding) that are appropriate for his age. For example,  Dr KarpDr Jay Gordon, and Elizabeth PantlyWe’ve never left Sam to cry himself to sleep, and over the last two years he’s learned to go to sleep by himself and self settle, and has developed a positive relationship with sleep.
  • Safe co-sleeping to let Sam breast feeding on demand (which also lowers the chances of SIDs). Even though he sleeps most of the night in his room, he usually ends up in our bed by morning. We like the closeness of sleeping together.
  • Baby wearing when he was an infant to keep him connected to our bodies. We used a Baby Bjorn although some research says this style of carrier isn’t the best.
  • We don’t practise traditional discipline, but instead do positive parenting, which is about setting boundaries and acknowledging the child’s emotions, instead of using punishment, time-outs, redirection, or distraction. I have found this incredibly effective.
  • We raise our child, not carers. In a 24 hour period, Sam’s never spent more awake time in daycare than he has with us. This was one of the most important goals for me.
  • Baby led weaning (mostly). That means I breast fed on demand until Sam was 22 months, when we encouraged him to give up his final feed. In the end he had too many teeth! When he started solids (6 months) we let him feed himself with his hands and eventually a spoon. We tried not to spoon feed him, but to let him do it himself. We had a big plastic mat.
  • No solids before six months. Kelly Mom has the reasons why.
  • Allowing Sam to have mastery over his body. This meant not forcing things on him (e.g. jackets!), no highchairs (after the first month of solids, when it was pretty necessary), and a floor bed from 11 months. This also means going at Sam’s pace (‘toddler pace’ it’s called) so he can discover the world.
  • Montessori style house environment, where everything Sam needs is at his height so he can easily access it. We also have Sam-sized real objects (rather than toys) for him to play with (whisks, hammers, screwdrivers, knives, combs, bowls and so forth) on activity trays that he gets out when he wants. My friend Kim inspired me to use Montessori.
  • Toys are limited and rotated. We have tried to get him toys that focus on imaginative play, and have a one toy in, one toy out policy. We have A LOT of books, though, and try to read with him every night.
  • Observational learning, which means letting Sam learn without help or instruction. I am terrible at this, but I am getting better!
  • Cloth nappies, and recently signing up to the disposable nappy recycling service for the few disposables we use.
  • Baby sign language from 6 months old. This really helped him manage frustration because he could communicate with us before he could talk.
  • No television until 18 months old, and then limited to advert-free YouTube clips for twenty minutes, twice a day. He mostly watches Curious George.
  • All standard vaccinations as well as flu and Chickenpox vaccines.
  • A rule that one of us will always be available when Sam is around. This means we can’t both be using our smart phones at the same time!
  • Focusing our days on fun, kindness, and togetherness.

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That, in a nut-shell, is it. Of course we don’t manage to follow our ideas all of the time. There was one infamous morning when Sam ‘accidentally’ had over an hour of Curious George because we were both so tired. I think I’ve yelled at him twice, and the look on his face was crushing. But, overall, I think we’re doing a good job because each morning I wake up to a sweet, loving, independent, and confident little boy.