Dana Daily

When I logged onto www.barnesandnoble.com a couple weeks ago to choose a few new books to add to my reading wish list at the library, Black History Month was splashed across the page. I wondered why February is Black History Month. Why not January? After all, that's when we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday. So, I asked around. As it turns out a friend of mine knows someone who teaches Black Studies and here is our answer. February is Black History Month since Carter G. Woodson choose one week in February for Negro History Week because both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass had birthdays this month. It was then expanded to Negro History Month and now we call it either Black History Month or African  Heritage Month. In honor of Black History Month, Barnes and Nobles recommended (among others which made my list, but with the start of graduate school, I did not have time to read. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel W...

I've never considered myself a gadget-hound. If I must read instructions to figure out how an electronic works I am simply not interested. I spend 30 hours a week writing instructions, do I really need to read them in my "off" time too? I think not, or maybe I should say, I  thought  not. I want, no, NEED an eReader. For those of you that don't know, an eReader (as defined by Wiki) "is a portable electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital books and periodicals". This is what they look like: Velocity Micro Cruz Reader     Prior to beginning my research tonite I had only heard about the Nook, Nook Color, Kindle, and the Ipad. My friends, this is just a select few of many available. I was drooling over the selection at Borders this evening. Available with a wide range of features (or not, some are simply for reading) and prices, this is technology I can get excited about. I quickly decided t...

What is "rhetoric"? Now, before you roll your eyes and "x" out of my blog, just know that I spent my Saturday morning developing a response to this very question so that you don't have to (all together now - YAY). Bear in mind as you read this that I'm simply sharing it here because I love this "stuff". Language, particularly in its written form, is exciting to me. Formulating a response was actually "fun" and challenging, the perfect combination. Oh, and this is just my response based on my research. It shouldn't be accepted as "the" definition of rhetoric. All clear? Excellent. As a science , rhetoric is using language (written, spoken, and body) to obtain results from the audience. The ability to do this well is the art of rhetoric. The science is in knowing which words and parts of speech to use and how to structure them to obtain the intended results, essentially understanding the theory behind language. The a...

Oh I realize that it's still almost a month away, but I've already been getting Sarah and Emily excited about warmer weather, lighter jackets, robins, flowers, and leaves on trees. At the ages of 2 and 3, I often wonder how much they actually comprehend. There's one bookshelf on which the librarians place books pertaining to a particular subject. Spring was the highlight this week. Here's Emily with our selections: It's Spring written and illustrated by Jimmy Pickering is a rhyme about Sally and Sam discovering all the fun things about Spring. "The flowers are blooming and dancing around; Tulips and daffodils cover the ground.  In Spring you may find yourself pulling up weekds And tilling the soil For the planting of seeds." The illustrations are cute and whimsical; definitely appealing to little girls. Of the two books shown, this is the one the girls ask to read over and over again. The other book we chose is Spring's Sprung , written by Lyn...

This morning when I dropped the girls off at school, Emily immediately ran to the art table. A teacher provided her with some paper and a basket of markers. Before I left, I stopped over to give Emily a kiss good-bye and to see her masterpiece. I glanced at the markers and realized they were of the scented variety. Blue (blueberry) had always been my favorite. I picked it up, took the cap off, and sniffed. I was immediately transported back in time. For a brief moment I was sitting at a child-sized desk in fourth grade art class again, drawing rainbows and flowers and stick people. I saw the room with the teacher’s desk in the front corner, art supplies haphazardly stacked on bookshelves, desks arranged in groups of four, prior weeks projects hung by clothespins on a white cord above the blackboard, children sharing stories about their work. It was all there, just like it was yesterday and I was lost in the memories. Then, breaking my reverie, Emily said, “Here Mommy, smell the black [...

I mentioned in a previous blog entry that theater is one of my hobbies and it all started in my hometown of Franklin , Pennsylvania with Franklin Civic Operetta Association. My dad’s cousin, known affectionately as “Aunt Judy” to my siblings and I, often worked backstage on shows and when she deemed me old enough, she brought me into her world. I helped with many productions (which featured some amazing local talent), props and spotlight mostly, but my absolute favorite was 1776 (a nod to my love of history). Sadly, I gave theater up for a few years, but with a trip to New York City this past November I saw Rock of Ages on Broadway. In a word - fantastic . My love for theater was resurrected and I couldn’t resist buying a ticket for Rock of Ages in Pittsburgh (performed by Broadway Across America) which starred Constantine Maroulis of American Idol fame. It wasn’t New York City , but it was awesome. In January, Sarah and I enjoyed a mommy-daughter evening and saw the Broadway ...

Grandma and Pop-Pop gave Sarah and Emily a subscription to Highlights High Five for Christmas. The March 2011 issue arrived last week with a recipe for banana bread in it. Sarah's been asking to make the bread the past few days and we finally got around to it this morning. Sarah stirred and Emily added ingredients: Once Emily added the flour, it was a little hard for Sarah to stir: Emily helped clean up ;-) Recipe for Banana Bread vegetable oil spray 1/3 cup butter 4 ripe bananas 1 egg 3/4 cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1 1/2 cup flour (optional: handful of nuts or chocolate chips) Spray a 4x8" loaf pan with vegetable oil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 1/3 cup butter. Peel and slice the bananas into chunks. Put them in a large bowl and mash the bananas. Stir in the melted butter. Crack the egg into a small bowl. Beat the egg with a fork. Add the egg, sugar, and vanilla to the banana mixture....

My sister invited Sarah, Emmy, and I to Pittsburgh's Children's Museum. It was their first trip to the museum and my first since elementary school. A lot changed in 25+ years, as you can imagine. That's probably a good thing. Our first stop was Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Here are his shoes. I was surprised that he had such large feet. Here is the infamous neighborhood trolley. Next stop was the infant/toddler room where Sarah and Emmy played in a sandbox. In what I thought was absolute genius the "sand" was actually bird seed. As the girls rode this teeter totter it made bubbles in the "glass" between them. Then we hit the water table/area. This was the highlight of Emily's day. After lunch Sarah and Emily flew in an airplane. We should have tried for group pictures at the beginning of the day rather than at the end. Here I am with two uncooperative children.

In only 2 weeks time this blog has become much more to me than I expected and perhaps, it’s even gone in another direction. Only time will tell. It was supposed to be about moving forward, about Sarah and Emily, and our misadventures. I guess now it’s going to be a little bit of everything. At first I thought maybe I should apologize for so much of it being about me or maybe I should even change the name since it’s entitled “Two Little Girls” (clearly Sarah and Emily), but then I decided no. In order for my “two little girls” to be “walking in the wide, wide world,” I had to walk there first. Walk with us.

That’s right. I am pursuing a Master’s in Professional Writing with a concentration in web content development through Chatham University . Every time I mention to someone that I’m going back to school, I hear this song playing in my head: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdpkFPKo1o4 . What a fun movie. I should re-watch it while I still have some time to call my own. Classes start February 23. Wish me luck (I’m going to need it).

A photographer friend of mine challenged a few of us to take one picture a week for an entire year with our children. The idea is to get moms out from behind the camera and into pictures. To celebrate Valentine’s Day, we went to Eat-N-Park for breakfast. Sarah and Emily cooperated in exchange for smiley cookies.

Sarah, Emily, and I are beating the winter blues with a few Valentine's Day projects. I asked the girls to tell me what they love. . . . . .then we decorated our "Christmas not Holiday Tree". They also made Valentine's Day cards for Grandma and Pop-Pop: They worked on Valentine's Day treats for daycare friends. We read lots of Valentine's Day books. Here are their favorites: They received valentines from Grandma and Pop-Pop and Aunt Kathy and Uncle Ron.  We hope you have a special Valentine's Day!  XOXOXO

I had an eye appointment this morning and as I was waiting for the optometrist to see me, I thought about Sarah and Emily’s first eye exams. Shortly after Sarah was born I learned about a vision program available to children between 6 and 12 months of age. InfantSee is provided at no cost to parents by members of the American Optometric Association in partnership with The Vision Care Institute of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care. The exam is simple. The optometrist begins by asking about family history and any whether or not there were any complications during pregnancy and/or delivery. The optometrist will also ask if the parent(s) have noticed any issues or have any concerns. During the exam the optometrist checks visual acuity (an infant fixates on, and can follow, an object), eye movement, eye alignment, and eye health (structure of the eye etc). The optometrist’s findings can then be sent to a pediatrician and becomes part of the child’s medical chart. My own vision history...

–noun 1.       The power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc. after being bent, compressed, or stressed; elasticity. 2.       The ability to recover reading from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyancy. Elizabeth Edwards wrote a wonderful book entitled “Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities" . I sort of followed her through the years from her husband’s campaign for the vice-presidency, to his “indiscretion” after her diagnosis of breast cancer, to hearing of her death this past December. She interested me because she always came across as “real”. In hindsight, perhaps I was drawn to her subconsciously because someone knew that one day I would need her words. Kevin and I separated in July 2010, but it had been a long time coming. It was clear that our marriage was not healthy for anyone and that no amount of “work” was going to fix what was broken. The guilt that...

I would be remiss in blogging about my two little girls walking in the wide, wide world if I didn’t mention their daycare, officially known as “Little Achievers”, but affectionately referred to it as my “Support Staff”. I shed the guilt of putting my children in daycare long ago and view Sarah and Emily’s teachers as partners, not substitutes or replacements, in my parenting adventures. I found Little Achievers by googling local daycare centers when Sarah was barely a fetus and I must say my first “big” decision as a parent has served us well. I’m not a teacher and know to leave “book learning” to the professionals. Case in point: I sat down with Sarah a few months ago thinking she might be ready to learn capital letters. She humored me for a bit as we started the alphabet and then scoffed “Mommy, I know my letters” and then proceeded to point to each one and name it correctly. In an attempt to throw her off I started selecting letters at random and again, she knew them all. Emily, a...

Since reading is my favorite hobby, one could surmise that I have other hobbies as well. I do. . .and in no particular order they are: SHOPPING. for me. for the girls. for the apartment. MUSIC. listening. not playing. THEATER. backstage. in the audience. not onstage. WRITING. blog. journal. not work. TRAVELING. domestic. foreign. car. plane. WATCHING THE STEELERS. win. not lose.

I enrolled Sarah in a "Mommy and Me" swim class when she was 2.5. I saw it as a chance to spend one-on-one time with her. As you can imagine, or know firsthand, having two children 18 months apart doesn't give a person much one-on-one time with either. This child is a fish. From day 1 she took to the water and was often times the instructor's assistant when they demonstrated a new skill. She is fearless. Frighteningly fearless. I'm glad she's under the watchful eye of a certified instructor. Sarah advanced to Preschool Level II this session where they will work on developing actual swimming motions with the arms and then later on coordinating arms and legs. Preschool Level I taught her breathing skills and how to float on her back. Level II will obviously review and make suse of those skills as well. Today was Emily's first "Mommy and Me" class although she watched Sarah last session. . .with big tears streaming down her face, pleading with...

. . .just one of Laura Bennett's many gems in Didn't I Feed You Yesterday: A Mother's Guide to Sanity in Stilettos . I actually took notes, well maybe not notes per se, but I did jot down page numbers as I was reading so I could come back and share these tidbits with you. I'm hoping these are just as funny out of context as they were when I read them. "If you see me misty eyed at a promotion ceremony from kindergarten to first grade, it’s probably only because I couldn’t defer my appearance." "Why on earth would a complete stranger ever ask you whether you breastfed or not? I might be a throwback, but I think who sucks on me and how often in the privacy of my own home is my business." "All my kids' therapists say they are very well-adjusted." If you're a mom, just trying to get through another day, this book is for you. Laura will help you not only get through the day, but you'll actually laugh along the way. Grab the book, ...

I read. . . a lot . Some may even say I’m obsessed. That’s okay. I can think of worse obsessions. I’ve enjoyed reading since I was a kid. I invested a small fortune in The Babysitter’s Club, Sweet Valley Twins/High, Choose Your Own Adventures, and so many others. The highlight of Christmas and birthdays was adding to my personal library. (I’m just waiting for my daughters to be old enough to enjoy all my favorites themselves and it’s no lie when I tell you one of my first thoughts when I found out I had given birth to a daughter was that I could share all my books with her. Oh yes, I have boxes and boxes of books to pass on, to not one, but two little girls.) I digress. To further whet my appetite for books my mom gave me her complete collection of the original Nancy Drew mysteries, Boxcar Children, The Bobbsey Twins, and Little House on the Prairie. This was all in addition to weekly trips to the library. Here is the library in my hometown: (www.franklinpa.gov) I us...

Breaking News: Punxsutawney Phil Predicts An Early Spring I went to Groundhog Day once. Yep, February 2, 1999 . Exactly 102 years after the first trek to Gobblers Knob for this same event. Anyway, it was the last Groundhog Day of the last century and that’s pretty much the only reason it’s noteworthy. I’m not sure why we went. It seemed like a good idea at the time. For those of you who don’t know, the official groundhog (I think there are a few copycat. . . um “ copy-groundhogs ” out there) resides in a hollowed out (fake) tree stump in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (say that three times fast) and it just so happens that a friend of mine grew up not far from Punxy and so three of us piled into a car and set out for the backwoods of PA. After being bused to the field where Punxsatawney Phil makes his prognostications, we waited for hours in a cold rain/drizzle for the festivities to begin. Or rather, the main event. There was plenty of entertainment beforehand although all I really re...

Last year February broke the record for being Pittsburgh ’s snowiest month ever , or at least the snowiest one since records were kept. That’s a dubious honor and certainly one I hope isn’t repeated this year. I’m over it. Snow that is. So, let’s talk about LOVE. Most adults swear off Valentine’s Day (and the Month of Love) as being a Hallmark Holiday, cheesy, and say “if you’re in love, shouldn’t every day be Valentine’s Day?” However, for those adults who have kids Valentine’s Day (and the Month of Love) takes on a whole new meaning and soars to new heights. I’ve been excited about Valentine’s Day 2011 since I turned the calendar to January 1 and realized it was just over a month away. Sarah and Emmy are the perfect ages to do-up Valentine’s Day (and the Month of Love) in the most fun way ever. I have a few activities planned: ·         Cut paper hearts from construction paper and each day, February 1 to February 14, write something each of them “...