Bouncing Babies at Bookmarks

Welcome to another largely plotless episode of the Poppy O. Show.  Poppy and I went to this thing today called Baby Bounce Basics.  It takes place at a branch of the Dallas Public Library called Bookmarks.  This is of course the branch of the library that's in the mall, it still counts though.  Why wouldn't the library be in the mall*?  

There was this nice lady named Kim leading the children and their mothers (clad exclusively in stretchy exercice-wear) in predictably commonplace song including the itsy bitsy spider, twinkle twinkle little star, happy birthday, humpty dumpty, and the like.  Poppy and I went from comfortably numb to apathetic somewhere around the third song – at which point Poppy stopped shaking her egg shaker instrument.  

I got through the second half of this 20 minute gathering by staring at the escalator imagining how funny it would be to have Matt place Poppy on the descending escalator with me down at the bottom of the escalator shooting a video.  

I wonder if she'd sit still on that moving step...

I guess Poppy and I are just spoiled from Music Together where one never hears these cliché nursery songs sung by questionable cover bands.  Nope, at Music Together we sing original songs like Betty Martin, Hippity Happity Hoppity and Round Robin.  Betty Martin is our fave this semester.

http://dallaslibrary2.org/branch/bookmarks.php?

Baby Bounce Basics
When: Monday, June 17, 2013 - 10:30 AM
Where: Bookmarks (in the NorthCourt)
Atmos Energy presents delightful fun for moms/caregivers and infants up to 24 months with interactive music, nursery rhymes and stories! 

Wiggly, Waggly Words
When: Wednesday, June 19, 2013 - 3:30 PM
Where: Bookmarks (in the Storytime Steps inside Bookmarks)
Atmos Energy presents an interactive storytime featuring movement, rhymes, music and books for age 7 and under.

*It makes sense that the baby library is at the mall.  As a modern mom, I am generally more comfortable with material items than I am with babies.  And judging by the sizable stroller crowd at the mall library today, I'm not the only one.  

A Signature Life

I picked up Diane von Furstenberg's 1998 biography whilst shopping at her Soho store last week.  It was something she said in a 2012 Gap Kids campaign video inspired me to buy it:  
'A little girl the minute she is born is already the woman she will be. So to empower a little girl is to empower the woman she will become.'                                            -Diane Von Furstenburg  

'i started as a very young girl with an idea.'

Now that I've read her biography I'm seriously determined to meet this woman.  Her book is interesting for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that she talks about her insecurities.  She also talks about her European parenting style. Here are some quotes that I highlighted:

'I design for every woman: taste is ageless.  Flirtation and seduction are ageless.  Feeling attractive and confident are ageless–and so are many women's insecurities.  Nothing gives me greater pleasure than seeing a woman transformed by the way she looks in one of my dresses.'  

'I would always make a point of treating my children with respect as individuals.  I pride myself now on the fact that I never lied to the children.  We shared our lives, be we were all independent.'




The chapter entitled The Woman I Always Wanted To Be  describes her rationale for taking her 2 children out of their NYC schools and installing them at private schools in Connecticut.  She saw the advantages of a little boredom:  

'Every day was super-managed with one activity after another, leaving them no time to simply be.  I wanted my children to develop their imaginations and their personalities by entertaining themselves instead of always being entertained.'



It was around that time that Diane's home in Connecticut became a hub of happiness for her kids and their friends.  I love her attitude about the untidiness that came with that: 

'I didn't mind the mess the children and their friends made in the house...It was more important to me to know where my children were and to know their friends.'

Here's a post I did last year about DVF's first Baby Gap collection:
http://www.poppyadventures.com/2012/11/why-bad-outfits-shouldnt-happen-to-good.html

Her 2013 collection for Gap Kids is called the Explorers  Collection:
http://www.gap.com/browse/category.do?cid=94065


Read Bazaar's My List: Diane von Furstenberg in 24 Hours:
http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/fashion-articles/24-hours-with-diane-von-furstenberg-0313?click=main_sr#slide-1

'What Are Those People Doing In There Mommy?'

I love those smoking lounges in airports, especially the ones in American airports.  The ones in American airports seem even weirder, even more anachronistic.  Here you have this big room with big windows, and the passersby are peering inside as if it were a museum installation.  All that’s missing is the little sign saying:

‘This is what life was like in the fifties.’

That's what I'll tell Poppy when she asks about these dens. 

older Poppy: 'Wow...real live smokers!'

me: 'No, it's just a 3D exhibit.  People don't really smoke anymore.'