Books, Dumb Celebrity Kid Names and Whatnot

I haven't been able to get as much reading done lately as I would like, but I did start a new book last night. It's called Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China. It's the nonfiction story of three generations of women in China during tumultuous times.

It begins with the story of the author's grandmother, who was given as a concubine to a powerful warlord general. That happened when she was fourteen years old. Her father did it to ingratiate himself to the general in order to further himself politically and financially. It also details the horrible and painful "beauty" ritual of foot-binding she had to endure since she was a small child. This was the feminine ideal trait of the time and the resulting tiny (mutilated) feet were described as "three-inch gilded lilies." I'll stick to my Clementine number nines, baby! (Size 8, actually. Quit looking at me like that. I'm not bandaging my feet for your approval, folks.)

I am not even one hundred pages in yet but I already love this book. I picked it up at my local Goodwill on a whim. Some of my favorite books have been discovered that way.

Okay. I was going to talk about some other books but honestly by the time I actually got to sit down and type this I have forgotten what they were. Oops...

I sort of lied a minute ago. I DO get to read more often than I insinuated. It's just that the books I read (over and over) are: Good Night, Baby; The Cat in the Hat; Tom and Annie Go Shopping; and A House for a Hermit Crab.

I may run out of breath by the tenth reading but I am pleased that Violet enjoys books. Oh yeah! Warning- Mommy bragging moment: she has recently learned the alphabet and she recognizes and says all the letters! (Twenty-two months old? Whoa. I didn't learn them until I was like six I think.)

Now to the other topic. Dumb Celebrity Baby Names.

This isn't a new thing by any means. Celebrities have a long history of showing their "creativity" through offbeat names for their (spoiled) offspring. Bob Geldof and Paula Yates may have helped inspire the recent boom in silly names when they began having children almost twenty years ago: Peaches Honeyblossom, Fifi Trixibelle and Little Pixie Geldof. What's in a name. Well, the only news I ever hear of the Geldof girls involves drinking, snogging and snarking. Go figure.

Honestly, I don't care what anyone names their child, as long as they consider that the child will have to live with the name (and possibly shame.) What do you, Reader, think of this bizarre trend?

To me it's like every other lame status thing in Hollyweird. "Yeah well, my baby's name is totally weirder than yours." (Please, Paris, do not breed!) Who can have the tiniest dog, biggest sunglasses, most stints in rehab, and most unusual baby name. Snorrre.

When I started this blog, pre-Violet, I wrote about the name debate Jeremy and I were having. I've always loved the name Violet. a.) I love the color. b.) It sounds cool to me. c.) I knew a little old lady named Violet Canary and just thought she was the bee's knees. d.) It's the name of a song I like. Jeremy, however, wanted to go all Norse mythology on me (which we both love, but...) and name her-

are you ready?

Valkyrie.

Seriously. This was before the Tom Cruise movie came out, but it was being filmed. I told him that besides everything else, people will think we named our baby after a Tom Cruise movie. Why not tattoo Pepsi ads on her while we're at it? Yuck. His reasoning was "No one else will have the same name." Yeah, nor would she run into a classmate named Dogfeathers. Or Arnie Palmer Lite. Or Sassula Spaghetta. Doesn't make any of those a good name for a little girl either!

I suppose that's the price one pays for breeding with a known Dungeons and Dragon player. Well, I think you know who won that one. However he does stand by the idea that he gets to name a boy child, if we were to have one. His pick? Thor. (One good reason Violet is going to stay a single child.)

While we're on the subject: Yes, Violet. No, not "like Ben and Jen." Sorry. That makes me insane when people say that. I feel better now.

waiting...

Still waiting on my baby to make her grand entrance into the world. I believe she is waiting on Friday April 13, which technically is her correct due date, based on the first ultrasound. It has to be at least two weeks off before they change the "official" due date apparently, so that date is still April 18th. I hope that she doesn't wait that long! I am very anxious and that makes me eat more popsicles. Well, that wouldn't be so bad, but then I discovered the delicious fat-laden alternative, the best frozen treat ever in history: Helados Mexico in Rum Raisin. I'm serious. Two boxes, six in each one, gone in less than three days. They say that breastfeeding is really good in helping lose baby fat and I sure hope it's true. Also, I have my Maya Wrap on the way so I can start walking the baby around the park before long.
I don't want to sound so image concious. I'm happy that my baby is healthy more than anything. I think I may just be in slight shock at the suddenness of the weight gain. I didn't show noticeably until a short week between months 5 & 6, when suddenly I blew up. Now I'm in week 39 and feel like my head is the size of a nice pumpkin.
Rather than calling her "the baby" from now on she shall be known as Violet. There was some disagreement about that, but I won out. Jeremy (baby's daddy) wanted to name her Valkyrie. Now, don't get me wrong- I am not a huge fan of convention, what people will think, or any of that shite. I am a fan of Norse mythology, from which spawned the valkyrie. It is even one of my favorite words. I just picture it more as a name for a horse, a plane, a ship, or other masculine institutions- not my baby girl. She will be handmaiden to no one- not even the Norse gods of old!

Val·kyr·ie (vāl-kîr'ē, -kī'rē, vāl'kə-rē) Pronunciation Key n. Mythology Any of Odin's handmaidens who conducted the souls of the slain to Valhalla. [Old Norse Valkyrja; see welsh- in Indo-European roots.]