Sophie is lucky. Several weeks ago was Grandparents’ Day at her preschool and she had four grandparents present, including two from Baltimore. I was lucky, too. Most of my childhood was spent with four grandparents present in my life. At the time, I didn’t realize how lucky I was. They were simply a part of [...]
Sophie was whining this morning. I handle crying, screaming, tantrums, arguments, flung food, coloring on things other than paper and about a bazillion other things better than I do whining. I can’t stand whining. I ignored her (but not for long—I can never ignore whining for long, a fault, I know). I told her to [...]
These are the placemats my children use every day, for every meal. My mom made them. They were Valentine’s Day gifts. Each is a laminated Eric Carle print. James gets the very hungry caterpillar (with the big sun) because he out-eats everyone, daily. Owen gets the moon. He loves the moon. And Sophie gets the [...]
Maybe it was the four shots at her 4-year well-child checkup. Maybe it was the understanding that we couldn’t go to the big park today. Maybe it was the fact that James, with his ladybug ride-on toy, accidentally ran over her pink stick-to-the-wall-when-you-fling-it starfish that she picked out from the pediatrician’s treasure box after her [...]
“There are few things so pleasant as a picnic eaten in perfect comfort.” —W. Somerset Maugham
It’s cold tonight. This should feel normal—it’s March—but it’s not normal. Not this year. Sophie’s birthday is Friday. In my very first blog post, here, I wrote about spring. It arrived while I gave birth to Sophie. But this year, it came early. It’s a gift I’ve gladly welcomed. I like winter. I like seasons. [...]
Several weeks ago was Parents’ Night at Sophie’s preschool. We took the boys with us. This was not smart. Sophie goes to a Montessori preschool, although I imagine any preschool has low-lying shelves with lots of little things on them. They boys’ eyes were big, their hands, everywhere. And Sophie was less than thrilled with [...]
This week, we signed Sophie up for her first extracurricular activity/class/sport etc. of her life—ballet at the YMCA. The class meets once a week for 30 minutes and is free with a family membership. She’s been dying to take a dance class, specifically ballet, ever since she went to a preschool friend’s birthday party held [...]
“Winter came down to our home one night Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow, And we, we were children once again.” —Bill Morgan, Jr.
I’ve been reading a lot about the tornadoes that swept through our part of the country Friday afternoon. We spent some time in the basement, as the sky grew dark, but the storm spared us. Houses, and people, as close as a county over, weren’t as lucky. An article I read today talks about a [...]
