I try very hard not to overreact to medical issues with my children. In fact, I usually under-react. Twice now, during well-child exams, the pediatrician has discovered ear infections. Cue the oh-so-that’s-why-he-has-been-so-cranky-and-tugging-his-ear-and-this-cold-never-seems-to-go-away-I’m-a-terrible-mom response. I will never be one of those mothers insisting on antibiotics unless absolutely necessary (largely because I’ve now had c-diff for a […]
I don’t know what’s worse. Using my legs and arms to pin Owen against myself, a nebulizer mask over his mouth and nose while he thrashes and screams, feeling him soften every few moments only to say, muffled and between sobs, “all done, Mommy, all done.” Or looking at the look James gives me at […]
The kids decided to make a train. Clever and cute, right? They did this to the playroom in order to make it. “That’s what children are for—that their parents may not be bored.” —Ivan Turgenev
Sophie: “Mommy, did you know there’s something on TV called a PackIt?” Me: “What’s that?” Sophie: “It’s for when you go on picnics and if the PackIt is cold it keeps food that needs to be cold really, really cold.” Me: “Oh?” Sophie: “And guess where you keep it?” Me: “Where?” Sophie: “In your refrigerator.” […]
“You cannot help but learn more as you take the world into your hands. Take it up reverently, for it is an old piece of clay, with millions of thumbprints on it.” —John Updike
Andy was out of town. It was a Saturday. I wanted to be out of the house. So I mustered up some courage, strapped all three kids into their car seats, loaded the stroller and drove to the zoo. The weather? Beautiful. The number of people at the zoo? Insane. Still, I was determined. I […]
The kids loved playing with Paw Paw’s pool table, even though the boys kept insisting it was “baseball.” James loved the table so much that he drew on it. With red crayon. (I’m still so sorry about that, Paw Paw. James is, too.) Sophie wasn’t too fond of Jake’s (their beautiful new lab) kisses. So […]
At dinner. Owen: “Knock knock.” Me: “Who’s there?” Owen: “Joke.” Sophie: “Did Owen just say, ‘Knock knock who’s there joke?’” Me: “Yes.” Sophie, laughing: “That’s funny.” “Family jokes, through rightly cursed by strangers, are the bond that keeps most families alive.” —Stella Benson
Sophie and I had a rough night tonight. One of my failings as a parent is to threaten and then not follow through. For example: “Sophie, if you scream like that one more time you lose dessert after dinner tonight.” Sophie screams. “Sophie, I mean it. If you scream one more time you lose dessert […]
