From the category archives:

parenting

Can’t Sleep Without A Princess

March 5, 2010

Serena’s been a bit of a bedtime rebel lately. She’s mostly sleeping through the night, waking up only briefly to pee and get a glass of water around 2 a.m.
But she just not falling asleep at bedtime. She goes through the whole bath-book-bed routine with her dad and sister. Rio drops off to sleep like [...]

Tagged as: ariel, barbie, bedtime, belle, childhood, disney princess, distracted, dolls, fall asleep, princess belle, princesses, serena, sleep, sleeping, sweet girls

Read the full article →

Sleep Training: Cruel or Kind?

March 3, 2010

Sleep has been the albatross around the neck of my parenting life for the past six years.
I have a piece up at Strollerderby this week about sleep training.
Seems that parents who feel OK about letting their babies cry it out are more successful at getting their little ones to sleep. I am not that parent.
Before [...]

Tagged as: baby crying, beds, child abuse, child rearing, childhood, co sleeping, cry, family, ferber method, human development, human interest, infancy, infant bed, infant crying, night nurses, parenting, sleep, sleep train, sleeping

Read the full article →

Why I Quit Everything

March 2, 2010

Last September, when my five-year-old started kindergarten, she also went to swimming lessons twice a week, gymnastics class once a week, music class on Saturday mornings, and a weekly play group at the community growing center.
My toddler had a lighter schedule, comprised of only swim lessons and a weekly playdate at the library. I had [...]

Tagged as: family, free-range parenting, frugality, gymnastics class, kids, kids love, kids running, parenting, playdates, quits, rio, serena, simple living, slow parenting, swim classes, swim lessons

Read the full article →

US Airways: Polite, Still Not Helpful

February 17, 2010

I had a long talk with a very nice woman from US Airways customer relations today. Cynthia offered me a Very Nice Apology, and empathized with my situation. She’s a mom too, and appreciates how scary and stressful it can be to have someone try to separate you from your kids. She said that having [...]

Tagged as: parenting, travel

Read the full article →

Road to Nowhere

February 15, 2010

My dad’s ‘neighborhood’ is getting civilized. At the bottom of the rocky hill, still half a mile from the nearest paved road, they’ve put a street sign at the intersection between his private dirt road and this dry streambed.

Tagged as: family of origin, photography, travel

Read the full article →

Hide and Seek

February 11, 2010

The girls are playing hide-n-seek in my bedroom. They are taking turns beautifully. This is how their game works:
Rio: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25, 26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50, 51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75, 76,77,78,79,80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89…uh…um…Mama, what comes after 89?
Me: 90.
Rio: Oh! yeah, 90. Well, sometimes I need to think for a long time about what number comes next and then I remember but then I get confused [...]

Tagged as: family, parenting, play, rio, serena

Read the full article →

Words, words, words

January 31, 2010

Serena: Don’t bite mine shoulder.
Me: I didn’t bite your shoulder. (true fax. My teeth, her shoulder, they were nowhere near each other)
Serena: You no bite my shoulder? You just nibble me, actually?
Me: uh, no
Serena: I like it you nibble me on my shoulder. Nibble my shoulder!

Tagged as: serena

Read the full article →

A Possibly Perfect Saturday

January 23, 2010

It’s been a pretty chaotic week, with everyone finally (!) settling back into normal routines after all the holiday madness. Last night I went to bed staggeringly tired and emotionally burned out, wondering how this whole “life” thing was ever supposed to work.
It was supposed to work like today. The kids slept beautifully through the [...]

Tagged as: family, parenting, serena

Read the full article →

A Little More Love In The World

January 21, 2010

I’ve seen a meme floating around the Internet today inviting people to share a little extra love with each other today.
I could certainly use it. And happily, I have some to give. This tiny visitor made my day with her smile!

Tagged as: baby, love

Read the full article →