still a hold upon us

I remember the ultrasound when I found out my youngest child was a boy. Mixed in with the joy of seeing his tiny feet, the quick birdlike heartbeat, the tender curve of skull and comically unmistakable flagpole, was worry. Worry that I wouldn’t know what to do with a boy, how to connect with him. [...]

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thinky thots thursday

It’s been a while, but returning now in all their, uh, effervescent splendor, thinky thots from my offspring:
“I didn’t fart! It was the pumpkin.”
“Scuse me. There’s a ghost in my butt.”
“Everybody poops. Even Spiderman.”
“Is that a bra for your butt?”
“Hey, sweetheart rhymes with eat fart!”
And, slightly off-topic but refreshingly so:
“Hey. Pretend I’m a woodchip…”

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my secret heart

Last night, Shriekeur, in all his 3-year-old glory, was up every two minutes needing something. You know the drill: water, tissues, potty, nightlight, blanket, and so on. Quiet but insistent calls of “Mom? Mooooooooom” wafted into the living room just frequently enough to ensure I never quite sat down, despite my intention to watch House [...]

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the best of times

Driving around with my daughter at sunset, windows rolled down, stereo cranked up, singing at the top of our lungs to Paul Simon’s “Late In The Evening” and laughing like loons. Oh my god, what a blessed and pure DAMN-I-love-my-kid moment. So needed that.

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thinky thots thursday

More gems from my genius offspring:
“How ’bout dis, Mama? YOU get a shot, and I NOT get a shot?! Dat would be AWESOME!”
“Why do they call it a ‘popsicle’ anyway? They should just call it “frozen sticky stuff on a stick’.”
“I not a cuddlebug. I a stinkbug!” *rips tremendous fart*
“I just didn’t feel like choosing [...]

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in great aims and in small

I totally botched the school drop off today. I took an extra two minutes to finish my coffee, then proceeded to get stuck behind a lumbering garbage truck for an equal two minutes. So far, ok. But then I hit a couple of poorly-timed lights, one of which completely flummoxed a driver trying to make [...]

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thinky thots thursday

If you spend a lot of time with your kids, you learn how to adjust your filters so that most of the whining and complaining goes straight to the Junk file. The nuggets of hilarity, however, are immediately captured so you can email them to your husband, or, you know, post them on your blog:
“Is [...]

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great expectations

Yesterday our house was a supernova of misery, with me struggling to get work done, the kids struggling to make the world’s largest umbrella out of popsicle sticks and tape, and my husband struggling to not lose every last shred of patience in his possession. The rain keeping us all inside plus the few hours [...]

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the application of a fork

It’s a fact that children cannot live on starch alone. My daughter, however, has not received the memo — in fact, I’d say she’s blocked it altogether. Although she at least loves her vegetables and fruits, she doesn’t go in so much for the proteins, particularly the kind that can easily be packed in [...]

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love is in all things a most wonderful teacher

President Obama made me cry. And I don’t mean in a “how could that pinko commie be allowed to brainwash our children” kind of way.
No, I mean that I was so relieved to hear him talk to our kids in such a real, earnest, non-condescending manner, acknowledging their challenges and difficulties while also making it [...]

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