Really living the Continuum

Ok, this is going to upset some people. I've been thinking a lot about how much we're really living in a way true to our human continuum and how we can reconcile it with the society we live in without having to move to the wilderness (although I'm often tempted). So a few days ago on a continuum concept inspired facebook group there was a suggestion that we have a get together for a summer break. Great! I immediately said we would go. Many comments later I realized that it would mainly be the mothers and this children with the partners not interested in going. Maybe I'm just lucky in the sense that my partner is very much a part of a continuum family unit, he sleeps with Mr Baby and carries him as well as being interested in all the books I have read and wanting to experience a different type of parenting from the one we had. We were keen to see how other families were doing it and were very surprised to see that, at least in the UK, it just seems to be the mums doing it. But doesn't that defy the point? A big part of the book was that women should not bring children up in isolation, so if women in the UK are still being left at home alone all day, it's great we're breastfeeding, babywearing and co-sleeping but shouldn't we call it just Attachment Parenting? Saying that we are Continuum families is just not correct. That probably applies to me as well, even though I have a like minded partner we are still a nuclear family (the rest of my family is in Italy and my partner's in Sussex) so my children are not part of a supportive tribe.

Stone age babies

I read something that really touched me this evening in Three in a Bed by Deborah Jackson. Namely that we have come a long way, women now can go for the jobs they want, there is no shortage of childcare arrangements, we live in a modern age. Except for the fact that we give birth to stone age babies whose instincts ask us to hold them close (preferably all the time) day and night and who want to sleep between the two bodies who gave them life in the first place.
This reminds me of when I was reading The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and I realized that our genes are possibly millions of years old, evolution takes a very long time and our babies will be born expecting the same treatment as if they were born in a jungle, a cave, whatever... So to them being alone means that their life is in danger, no wonder they want to be kept as close as possible.

Disjointed

Feeling very disjointed today, we've all been ill a lot and my two little ones wake up a few times in the night so I'm not sleeping properly. With this being Christmas week I feel I should be doing all these wonderful things like baking and decorating and arts and crafts with the kids but in reality I'm pretty much tired all the time and am behind with the laundry not to mention my Universtiy course... I feel rather alone (but not too much as my partner is wonderful, but when we're ill or need help it's just us...) and miss having a big family around me.

New carrier!!

Done it again! Got a new baby carrier, arrived in the post today and we absolutely love it! It's the best one yet. It's an Ergo (organic fashion range) and is softer than the Oh Snap but more structured than the Connecta, so we're all happy bunnies.

Co-sleeping little ones

Amazingly they never woke each other up!

Research against controlled crying and cry it out

Found a facebook page with lots of links on articles and reseach showing how and why cc and cio are harmful (if it wasn't obvious... more than a few seconds of mr baby crying and I feel like crying myself)

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=51979053447&topic=8773

Co-sleeping definition

Sorry for pinching your cartoon Heather, it was just too good!!!