The first week with The Kid
My first week as a stay at home dad passed relatively easily for two reasons: First, Miz Becky was only planning to work half days anyway, and second, she was sick Tuesday and Wednesday, so I was only alone with the kid half of Thursday and Friday.
I think overall it's going to be easier for me to be home with the kid than it was for Miz Becky. Partially that's because she (the kid, that is, not Miz Becky) is getting progressively more aware and interactive and less binary, sleeping/screaming. Partially it's also because as the dad I don't have the instinctive mommy responses and I don't take it as personally.
One thing that's definitely more difficult is feeding. Whereas Miz Becky only really needs to know the two-to-five-minute warning signs of hunger, I really need to figure out what the twenty minute warning signs are. That's about how long it takes me to get some milk out of the fridge, put it in a bottle, and warm it to the temperature that Herself has come to expect it.
We have a project we'd like your help with. We have five frames we're planning to fill with photos of strong, smart, inspiring women role models for the kid's room, and we're looking for suggestions to add to the list. NOTE that this is not a vote; the final five will be based on our autocratic and capricious choices. However, if you know of someone who should be on the list for consideration, we'd love to hear about her.
Here's the list so far:
Amelia Earhart
Ann Richards
Aretha Franklin
Aung San Suu Kyi
Bessie Smith
Elizabeth Cotton
Georgia O'Keefe
Grace Hopper
Gro Harlem Brundtland
Harriett Tubman
Julia Child
Katherine Hepburn
Margaret Bourke-White
Marie Curie
Martha Graham
Maya Angelou
Meryl Streep
Mother Theresa
Queen Liliu'okalani
Rachel Carson
Rosa Parks
Sojourner Truth
Tina Turner
Ursula K. LeGuin
Vim Wright
Virginia Woolf
Zora Neale Hurston
GeoGeek, on Sunday, October 29, 2006 at 7:31 PM:
That's a great list! I'd add for consideration Ms. Gloria Steinem.
Kerry, on Sunday, October 29, 2006 at 7:41 PM:
Jane Austen
Mary McCarthy
Isabel Allende
Yoko Ono (that one is from Caleb)
Uncle Vinny, on Sunday, October 29, 2006 at 10:59 PM:
Willa Cather
Flannery O'Connor
Are you going to have biweekly burnings of a Laura Bush effigy?
Jay, on Monday, October 30, 2006 at 4:17 AM:
Ayya Khema
Our chancellor, Angela Merkel, also meets your criteria but I would not recommend voting for her because her politics and personality do not agree with me.
Ani's room has photos of her when she was (more of) a baby, and she finds them quite inspiring. At 18 months she is primarily preoccupied with enlarging her ego. A great time!
Savannah, on Monday, October 30, 2006 at 4:49 AM:
Belva Lockwood (ran for President in 19th century)
Victoria Woodhull (ditto)
Dorothea Dix
Clara Barton
Florence Nightingale
Boudicea
Bessie Coleman (first African-American woman to get a pilot's license; this one courtesy of my daughter)
Laura Z, on Monday, October 30, 2006 at 7:27 AM:
You've hit a lot of the ones I would have suggested, but here are some others for consideration:
Margaret Sanger
Emma Goldman
Wangari Maathai
Joshua Edelstein, on Monday, October 30, 2006 at 10:27 AM:
Indira Gandhi
Golda Meir
Whoopi Goldberg (I'm serious--her story's amazing)
Heather, on Monday, October 30, 2006 at 12:36 PM:
Elsie MacGill
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/05/0509/050950/05095006_e.html
Bobbin's middle name is in honour of her specifically, because I wanted her to have part of her name dedicated to one of the many strong, intelligent, and compassionate Women of Canada's history.
Heather, on Monday, October 30, 2006 at 12:41 PM:
I meant to add - the link above is just a short list of her accomplishments. Her personal story is truly inspiring. I have a book if you're interested.
Sarah, on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at 5:05 AM:
It's interesting that Elsie MacGill designed aircraft and Bobbin has such a fasincation with planes.
As for the list, I would recommend
Fanny "Bobbie" Rosenfeld - one of the greatest woman athletes in history, won medals in a number of both track and field events (100 m, 110 m hurdles, discus, shot put, to name a few)
Rosalind Elsie Franklin - without her cyrstallographic images, Watson and Crick never would have come up with the double helix; she died of cancer in 1959 before the Nobel prize was awarded for the discovery
Ben, on Wednesday, November 1, 2006 at 6:02 PM:
Oprah Winfrey? She has a great rags-to-using-your-talents-and-overcoming-all-odds-to-riches story.
nocklebeast, on Friday, November 3, 2006 at 6:43 PM:
um... is it too late to suggest Xena?
Laura Z, on Sunday, November 5, 2006 at 7:53 AM:
I second Xena!
David Adam Edelstein, on Sunday, November 5, 2006 at 9:41 PM:
Apropos of nothing, I'll just reiterate here that this isn't a vote. Apropos of nothing.
Sheryl, on Monday, November 6, 2006 at 7:15 AM:
Great idea! As a nod to my current home country, I nominate the always controversial Hirsi Ali, and as a nod to my ethnic background, Corazon Aquino. :)
Oh and of course Susan B. Anthony (poorly designed coin ('It's not a quarter, it's a dollar') in her image be damned!)
Stacy, on Wednesday, November 8, 2006 at 5:08 PM:
Hey, these are all great choices...but don't forget a mirror..so she can love her self and so you can all three look in it together and see the cool family looking back at you!
Love,
Aunt Stacy in Texas
Sunfriday, on Wednesday, November 8, 2006 at 9:04 PM:
Jane Addams
Elizabeth Blackwell
Aaron, on Thursday, November 9, 2006 at 5:22 PM:
In person recently, I suggested:
Emily Dickinson
Janeane Garofalo
And Amanda suggested:
Eleanor Roosevelt
Hildegard of Bingen
ogglieBooglieBoo, on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 6:05 PM:
Elizabeth, or Bessie Coleman
first african american women ever to get her license, i really need to find out the names of hr family too!!!!