From the monthly archives:

June 2009

Home from the Wild

June 30, 2009

Lost: my voice Found: two deer ticks, one on Rio and one on me. Happily, the on site doctor let us know that deer ticks have to be attached to your body for at least two days before they can “do any mischief” (ie: transmit Lyme disease). So we all had a thorough “tickle check” [...]

Tagged as: family, photography, serena, travel

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To the woods!

June 26, 2009

We’re off to the woods for a weekend of wild childhood. Enjoy yourselves and your loved ones – I’ll be back next week with (I’m sure) lots to blog about after our adventures.

Tagged as: travel

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Playing the bad cop at bedtime

June 26, 2009

I don’t do bedtimes. A lot of parents talk about bedtime as some of the sweetest moments they have with their children – sharing stories, favorite books from their own childhoods, little good-night rituals. Me, I am just violently allergic to the whole process. From getting my jeans wet kneeling beside the bathtub to wrestling [...]

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No love, weather

June 25, 2009

Dear Weather, Ever since moving to Seattle several weeks ago, I’ve found the constant vague, chill, gray dampness conducive to lying in bed reading murder mysteries and eating bonbons, but not to actually living my life. Of course, when I decided to live in the Pacific Northwest I… No. Wait. Strike that. I never moved [...]

Tagged as: weather

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Serena's first phone call

June 25, 2009

Today, Serena and I had a rare opportunity to take a nap together, one I eagerly jumped on. Or, more accurately, flopped on. I quickly dozed off with my sweet little girl snuggled close in my arms. Rio and I used to nap together almost every afternoon, and laying down with Serena brought all that [...]

Tagged as: funny, serena

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A Frugal Father's Day Gift

June 24, 2009

A few weeks ago, I was biking when I passed by a field where a lot of old guys* were playing soccer. I stopped my bike and asked a teenage girl who was watching the game what was going on. “They just play here,” she said. I told her my husband loves soccer, because he [...]

Tagged as: family, frugality, holiday, money

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Tips for raising a superkid

June 23, 2009

The Boston Globe today published a detailed, caring essay on What to do if your child has superpowers?, written by an expert in pediatric heroism. While the main goal of the piece seems to be to reassure parents who have recently discovered superpowers in their young children, he does offer some practical tips on the [...]

Tagged as: funny, parenting

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Slumber Party Fail!

June 21, 2009

I have this friend. Let’s call her M. M has a daughter a little younger than Rio, who we’ll call N. M and I like to do a lot of things together, and one of our favorite games is Bad Plan Theater. That’s when we come up with a plan so crazy it just might [...]

Tagged as: parenting, rio

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Kid's allowances: what's the right approach?

June 21, 2009

This post at the Simple Dollar got me thinking about kid’s allowance money. It got me thinking too much for a blog comment over there, so you get to read all about it. Kid’s allowances are one of my most regular cash expenses, along with groceries and gas for my car. All the frugal living [...]

Tagged as: frugality, ian, money, parenting, rio, serena

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Summer Solstice Festival at the Growing Center

June 19, 2009

Tomorrow, I will be leading a Summer Solstice Festival at the Somerville Growing Center, starting at 4 p.m. We’ll be doing sun-painting again if the weather is good. Here’s the skinny on the overall project: A series of family-friendly festivals celebrating the turning of the wheel of the year. Through song, story, art and play [...]