Cymbeline

I just finished reading Cymbeline by William Shakespeare. I am going to just give a brief review of it, but as the play is rather convoluted, I'm not sure how true that will be. I will note now that while reading this play I listened to the dramatized play on CD that was produced by Arkangel.

Cymbline takes place in Britain and Rome during the time of Caesar. It is about King Cymbeline and how his daughter, Princess Imogen, marries a commoner by the name of Posthumus Leonatus without the King's knowing. When the king finds out, he banishes Posthumus to Rome. The Queen feigns sympathy to Imogen, and promises to appeal to the King for her. The Queen, Imogen's evil stepmother, has personal motivations that involve getting rid of Imogen so her son Cloten can take the throne. Later in the story Posthumus comes to believe that Imogen has been untrue, and convinces his servant to murder her. After lots of confusion and misunderstanding, the whole thing is resolved and Posthumus and Imogen are reunited, and there is general harmony and good will toward all.

That is really only the overriding plot of the play; there are at least three subplots that at first examination seem incongruous. As I alluded to above, there are lots of evil things instigated by the Queen, but also there are Imogen's two older brothers who were kidnapped when they were very young by a Lord who was betrayed by the King, and not told that they were princes until the end of the story. They are later reunited with their family, and are fully reinstated as rightful heirs to the throne. And of course, there is a war between Rome and Britain.

Throughout the play there are many magical elements such as magic potions that make people seem as though they are dead, and an appearance by the god Jupiter (remember this takes place in Caesar's day.) My favorite scene is where the dead family of Posthumus appear as ghosts and sing of his fortune and fate. They beg the god Jupiter for his life, and afterward, when he wakes from this 'dream' he finds a 'book' that in prophetic language his tells him his fate (amazing poetry.) The appearance of the ghosts is entirely sung, and the poetry made me feel like I was seeing though the veils that separates us from the spirit realm.

It is very difficult to give a concise plot summery of the play (as one can probably discern from my writing) and I had a hard time finding any criticism about it. If you have never heard of this play before, that is really not surprising; this play has fallen hugely out of favor during the last century, but I would argue that this is in part because of it's complexities, and also that the tastes of modern audiences desire a more clear and concise plot. To the play's credit Alfred, Lord Tennyson said it was his favorite, and John Keats also admired it as one of his favorites. I encourage those who have read Shakespeare's more well known works, to try reading this play. It is much more complex than a simple overview writing about it such as this can really express. I also highly recommend listening to the play on CD while reading it. It is not possible to watch it on film, so much of the nuances that a dramatic cast can reveal are only possible through listening to it.

Dry Nights

I think we are really to a point where I can truly say that Joseph is potty trained. For those who don't know, we have been doing a method called Elimination Communication (E.C.) You can read more about it here. He has not been wearing diapers during the day for about two and a half months, and about a week and a half ago, I took the plunge and put him in underwear at night too. For a couple of weeks his diaper was dry every morning, and he even woke up several nights to tell me "Potty." So, I decided to just take a chance, and try putting him in underwear at night again. I had done it before, and we even had a solid week of dry nights (he was about 10 months then,) but then he started trying to walk and we had lots of wet nights again. So, I thought this time maybe we can do it, because he was actually waking up and wanting to sit on the potty. The first night was a dry one, and then the second night he peed twice. The next two days he also had lots of accidents, and so we almost put him back in diapers at night. I didn't really want too, but I also didn't want all that laundry! So that second night I asked him if he wanted a diaper or underwear, and he said "diaper." I put it on him, and then about 10 minutes later, when he was lying down to go to sleep, he started to cry 'underwear, underwear.' He was dry that night, and every night since. It is so interesting that he when he cried to wear underwear, he seemed to be making a conscious decision about it all; when it was his choice to wear underwear he took it, and happily uses the potty at night. We still have accidents during the day once in a while, but they are getting farther and farther apart. E.C. is so great! I don't think potty training would have gone so smoothly without it.

Sharing

Sometimes Joseph just amazes me with how well he communicates. I know I am his mother, but tell me if this wouldn't surprise you coming from a 23 month old.
Last Friday I took Joseph to my La Leche League meeting and told him we were going there beforehand. He frowned and said, "Baby take van." He was talking about the last time we had gone when he was playing with a toy van, and a 7 month old came up to him and took it away from him. He cried, and ended up getting it back, but I guess it really impressed him. Anyway, I have been talking a lot about sharing with him, because that is one of the sign language words on our sign language video that we watch with him, and he is just starting to have difficulty with playing with toys around other kids. So back to Friday morning- about an hour before leaving he said he wanted to take along his shape sorter toy that has keys to unlock the doors. I said, "well maybe the baby can play with it too". I forgot about it and then just as we were leaving, he went and got it. I said, "well actually it is pretty big, so we should probably leave it at home, and anyway, they have lots of other cool toys there". He insisted on taking it, and said "Baby take it!" I thought, wow, maybe he wants to share it, but could hardly believe that he could be thinking that. So, when we got to the meeting, he stood by my chair for a while, holding the shape sorter and watching the other kids. One of the older boys came over and wanted to play with it, and Joseph gave it to him willingly (which was unprecedented.) He watched him with it for a minute, and then ran over to get the van. The whole time we were there, the other kids played with the shape sorter off and on, and Joseph mostly played with the van. I think he really was thinking to share his toy, but I am still surprised that he could think about it all in such a complex way. I am eager to see what happens this next Friday.

Sequencing

Last Friday at my La Leche League meeting, the conversation turned toward staying home with ones' children when they are young, and the current attitudes of American society concerning this. Sequencing by Arlene Rossen Cardozo was mentioned by the leader as an interesting book concerning this topic. I took it home and read it over the last weekend.

Written almost twenty years ago, it is interesting to think that much of what is discussed in this book about the issues concerning womens' combining of career and parenting is relevant today. In the first part of the book, Cardozo begins the book with a review of the feminist movement. She also discusses the Superwoman Myth (the women who has a full-time career, family, social life, etc, all while getting enough sleep,) and proposes that women are finding a new way to have it all, and that is through Sequencing their lives. Sequencing, a term coined by Cardozo, is when a woman has a full life (career in her definition, though I would not define it so narrowly) before having children, then takes some years off to stay home with her children, and finally reintegrates career into her life when her children are a bit older. The first part continues with how a woman comes to the decision that she will stay home with her children.

The second part of the book discusses the reality of staying home, from how women cope with a change in identity, to what these women who stay home actually do to make there lives rich. It ends with a chapter that discusses how women make the transition from staying home to reintegrating career back into their lives.

The third part of the book discusses how and when these women go back to work. Cardozo discusses how things like the ages of ones children and field affect the time and type of reintegration of career.

Overall this was a good overview of the subject of mothering and career, and how one can integrate the two in realistic ways. The book is full of interviews with women that give it a feeling a practicality. I would recommend this book to anyone who wonders not only if it is possible to raise children and have a career, but also how; it really can be done, just not all at once.

Snow?

Snow Showers Early

Low 25° F

Precip:		30%

Cloudy with scattered snow showers mainly during the evening. Cold. Low near 25F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of snow 30%. This is the prediction for tonight. And to think, two days ago Joseph and I were at the garden store buying seeds for flowers and vegetables.

Once Upon a Time 2007

I found this challenge though a comment on my blog, and it appears that I am doing it by default. What I mean is that a lot of the reading on my Spring Reading Thing 2007 reading list fits the Mythology and Folklore category of this Challenge, and that is what Once Upon a Time 2007 is about.

I guess I am doing Quest 4 because my books only fit two of the four categorise, Mythology and Folklore. It is funny though, I had originally thought to read A Midsummer Night's Dream, as it would be so poetically fitting, but felt like I didn't want to make my list too heavy with Shakespeare, and Cymbeline was really calling me.

Anyway, here is my Once a Upon a Time 2007 list:
Cymbeline by William Shakespeare
The Odyssey by Homer
Antigone by Sophocles
The Story of King Arthur and his Knights by Howard PyleSelected Poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson


***I've been inspired to add a couple of books to my challenge list. (14, April)
The Annotated Alice by Lewis Carroll
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

Anne of Green Gables

I just finished reading Anne of Green Gables. My first experience with this story was with the movie, and recently I listened to it on CD. I felt like listening to it was the same as reading it, and certainly it was close, but reading it was much richer. I love the wholesome characters of this story; it transported me to another world. Montgomory's descriptive passages are vivid and poetic. It was a great joy to read this in the early spring afternoons, while Joseph slept. So many of the delightful times in the book are during springtime.

I do have some criticism, though. I felt like chapter 33, The Hotel Concert, didn't really fit in with the story. It seemed an unnecessary digression, and was really kind of flat compared with all the other chapters. Also, I didn't understand how when only Gilbert and Anne are doing Second Year work at Queens (enabling them to get a First Class teaching license) that Ruby Gillis and Jane Andrews will also be teaching the following year. Perhaps it is because I don't understand the Canadian Schooling System, but I do find this confusing. If anyone understands this, I would be grateful to know.

I absolutely recommend reading this book if you haven't yet. As far as editions go, I highly recommend the Junior Illustrated Library edition, illustrated by Jody Lee. It is so beautiful, and the illustrations draw one quickly into the beautiful, fresh world of Avonlea.