From the monthly archives:

August 2009

Grateful for public libraries! (aka: first library card!)

August 14, 2009

Rio got her first library card today. Yesterday we were biking home from somewhere, and she said “Mommy! You and Daddy have a lot of books for you, and for Daddy and for other people, but you have not bought enough books for me and Serena.” We own, for the record, over 500 books for [...]

Tagged as: reading, rio

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My daughter the Dalek

August 13, 2009

The girls are having a pretty one-sided conversation since Serena can’t really talk yet. Suddenly, Rio breaks into a creepy robotic voice and starts saying, “YOU WILL BE REMOTED. YOU WILL BE REMOTED. YOU WILL BE REMOTED.” Serena freezes somewhere between terror and curiosity and just stares at her. “Are you a …Dalek?” I ask [...]

Tagged as: funny, rio, serena

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Taking back childhood

August 11, 2009

I’ve been reading Taking Back Childhood, by local author Nancy Carlsson-Paige. It’s a lovely guide for the attachment parent who is moving beyond baby care, with clear, specific advice for practicing gentle discipline and clear communication with school age kids. In addition to exploring specific situations as a way of teaching her readers how to [...]

Tagged as: attachment parenting, books, parenting, reading

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Simple gratitude for play

August 10, 2009

I’m not posting my gratitude here every day; I’m using my Twitter feed for that. But I want to post them occasionally, and here is one. Today I’m grateful for all the play in my life. I spent the day playing at the edge of a stream with my kids, on a playground with Serena, [...]

Tagged as: gratitude project, play

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Personal finance software, why are you so annoying?

August 9, 2009

Managing my personal finances has become something of a hobby for me, something I spend at least a few hours a week paying attention to. As a result, my household’s financial health has gotten a lot better. But like any hobby, it’s tempting to keep playing and tweaking and upgrading my toys. For the past [...]

Tagged as: money

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Small girls vs. The Ducks

August 8, 2009

When we went to Maine a few weeks ago, we stayed at a friend’s lake house. The first morning, we went down to the shore and saw a lone duck swimming in the water. The girls threw it some bread crumbs, and it nibbled them up and swam away. “I bet she’s going to get [...]

Tagged as: nature, rio, serena, vacation

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Night weaning, continued

August 6, 2009

Serena, not a baby anymore. She ran most of the way home from Davis Sq. today, while I trailed behind her pushing an empty stroller. And she’s ready for the night weaning, even if she doesn’t like it. Since I first posted about night weaning: Ellen helpfully pointed out that Serena might be getting her [...]

Tagged as: breastfeeding, nursing, serena, weaning

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Local Mysteries

August 6, 2009

This plaque is nearly buried in the grass at Powderhouse Park, a short walk from my house. The park is full of memorials to pieces of history. There’s a plaque commemorating the Massachuset campsite that was there in the 1600s and a bronze statue of a lamb to mark the former site of a farm [...]

Tagged as: nature, somerville

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Grateful for my mom

August 5, 2009

Today’s gratitude: my mom. I was driving down the road today, thinking about my mom and how I never see her these days. She’s busy with work and I’m busy with the kids and somehow our lives just don’t overlap much, even though she lives not far from me. I wish we had more time [...]

Tagged as: family of origin, gratitude project

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Saying good-night to nursing

August 4, 2009

Today’s gratitude: I am grateful that for five years, my body has produced abundant, healthy, apparently delicious milk for my kids. I’m grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to nurse them each for the first years of their lives. I’m grateful for the rocker my mother gave me to nurse in, and the nursing clothes [...]