From the monthly archives:

April 2009

More Bad Money Advice

April 21, 2009

I have continued reading the Tightwad Gazette, mostly while supervising Serena in the bathroom. It’s great for this, because it’s full of short articles that I can read in about 30 seconds, and each page has one or two little cartoon line drawings on it that thrill her no end and make her sit still [...]

Tagged as: money

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Dog Stories

April 20, 2009

The family and I were at a friend’s house today. Our friend has a dog. He used to have two dogs, but one of them died several months ago. I called the remaining dog by the other one’s name tonight, ‘causing some wistful sadness, confusion and this conversation: Rio: Did Taiko die? My friend: Yes. [...]

Tagged as: funny, parenting, rio, serena

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Mattress Commercial features home birth

April 17, 2009

This is definitely my favorite television commercial of all time. It’s also a genuinely moving birth video. Enjoy! [vodpod id=Groupvideo.2385924&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] more about "Mattress Commercial features home birth", posted with vodpod

Tagged as: news

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Rio conquers the Fire Pole

April 16, 2009

fire pole, originally uploaded by MzMuze. Last fall, Rio would climb up to the top of the climbing structure and then call me to help her down the fire pole. I’d put my arms up and gently lift her down, supporting her slow glide as she held on loosely to the pole. Yesterday, she just [...]

Tagged as: parenting, play, rio

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An almost perfect day

April 16, 2009

The weather today was bright and almost-warm, and the whole day just echoed that sunshine and springtime and freshness. We had our homeschool morning program. All the kids enthusiastically made Nature Journals, which we took to the park with us. On the way, they had to stop several times to crouch down on the sidewalk [...]

Tagged as: homeschooling, nature, parenting, rio, serena

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Mother/child stories

April 15, 2009

Being a mom in fiction is a rough deal. If you haven’t been killed off to make way for the Evil Stepmother, you’re probably wasting away with illness. Or hopelessly out-of-touch, like Coraline’s mom. Or, like Eloise’s, simply absent from your child’s life. There’s a good reason for these tropes. Much great literature for children [...]

Tagged as: parenting, reading

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New words

April 14, 2009

Serena, lying on the floor: “Lalalalalalala. La la la. la la la.” (roughly to the tune of Ba Ba Black Sheep) Rio: “Mama! Serena said “update”! She said update while she was singing that song.” Me: “uh…”

Tagged as: funny, parenting, serena

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Two Conversations with Rio

April 13, 2009

1. On the drive up to my mom’s yesterday, I speculated about what the Easter Bunny might have left for the kids. “Mama, you know the Easter Bunny is NOT REAL.” “Oh. Why do you say that?” I am not invested in her belief in fairy tale beings, but as far as I know she [...]

Tagged as: humor, parenting, rio

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Happy Easter!

April 12, 2009

Candy!, originally uploaded by MzMuze. We’re not big Easter celebrators in my house, but we do love any excuse for a party. Today, courtesy of our friends and family, we had the most conventional Easter I can recall since my own childhood living with my Catholic grandparents. Our day started with church, followed by an [...]

Tagged as: family of origin, holidays, parenting

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Farewell theater

April 11, 2009

Rio has recently developed this cute/annoying habit of saying good-bye FOREVER when either of her parents leaves the house without her. She waves, she hugs, she kisses, she cries, she says cute little poems and rituals. She needs to follow us out into the street to continue waving and shouting after us, “Good-bye! I love [...]