I realized this weekend that I am not cut out to be a single parent. Husband was away for four days (that’s right, including Valentine’s Day; who said romance dies after marriage?) and I faced my first nights alone with the boys. That’s right (again), I am embarrassed to admit that, until Friday night, I [...]
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Welcome to the new, and hopefully improved, Motherese! What do you think? While you’re here, take a look around. See something funny looking? An entire post filled with HTML gobbledygook? Please let me know! Before you go, please take a moment to subscribe to Motherese via an RSS feed or e-mail. You wouldn’t want to [...]
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I think a lot about the ways in which spending so much time online might compromise our relationships with the people we know in real-time. But what about the people we don’t know? The larger community of mothers with kids who could use a seat, or strangers carrying trays full of hot coffee? During some [...]
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And now another selection from Kristen’s Little Shop of Metaphors… I told Husband recently about Anne Lamott’s metaphor (suggesting that writers carve out space to write just like woodpeckers drill holes in trees to make their nests) and the post I wrote about it. His response? “Don’t woodpeckers peck to pick grubs out of trees?” [...]
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Because 13 nights away from home over Christmas just wasn’t enough for this vagabond family of four, we’re off again. In just a few short hours, we will be flying south, heading for the Happiest Place on Earth. No, not Denmark. (Hi, S!) Nope, not Costa Rica either. (Hi, Gwen!) That’s right, boys and girls, [...]
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My beloved Big Little Wolf e-mailed me yesterday to ask: “‘Tiny Baby’ isn’t that tiny anymore, is he? When he turns one, what will you call him online?” A provocative question indeed, especially since Tiny Baby has never been all that, well, tiny. In fact, “Tiny Baby” was a nickname given to him – perhaps [...]
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I am a big sports fan. Part of my morning routine includes watching a snippet of SportsCenter while nursing Tiny Baby. This morning I learned that Washington Wizards superstar (and popular blogger) Gilbert Arenas has been suspended indefinitely after bringing guns into his team’s locker room and, allegedy, drawing a gun on a teammate. (Arenas [...]
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Husband and I were recently talking about time. How it passes both quickly and slowly. How “the days are endless and the years fly by.” How we wish we had more of it. More of it for ourselves, at least. I reminded him then of my theory of time. I was reminded of it myself [...]
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Two weeks of family time over the holidays got me thinking about birth order and how it affects us as kids and as adults. When I was pregnant with Tiny Baby, I spent some of my weeks of bed rest reading uniquely unhelpful books about birth order, gender, and age spacing between kids. These books [...]
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In this week’s edition of Six Quick Picks, I bring you some highlights from my own personal 2009. 1. January: Big Boy and I traveled to Orlando, Florida with my parents. It was on this trip that his language skills really began to explode. He started naming everything in sight. We started having conversations. At [...]
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Because a holiday season packed with Hanukkah, my birthday, and Christmas just wasn’t enough for Husband and me, we decided to get married, six years ago today, on New Year’s Day in the city where we met, fell in love, and lived for several years – both as students and as adults. I knew then [...]
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At my last teaching job, I was also the coach of the varsity girls’ basketball team. I hated every minute of it. I hated the time it took away from my teaching and from Husband. I hated the unreasonable expectations placed on me and my players by their parents. But most of all I hated [...]
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Last week, the witty, wise, and altogether wonderful Big Little Wolf gave me my first holiday gift, the Sugar Doll award. This prize comes with the bloggy equivalent of a required acceptance speech. And so, as part of my Holiday Hiatus, I give you the first installment in this Very Special Ten Part Mostly Silly [...]
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Friends, think of me on an airplane. Think of Big Boy, hopefully docile. Hopefully enraptured by our new portable DVD player. Think of Tiny Baby, hopefully asleep. Hopefully sound asleep. Think of Husband, hopefully multitasking contentedly. Think of the people – hopefully patient, hopefully child-loving – seated in front of us. Think of their kidneys [...]
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Another Wednesday, another opportunity to tell you about how Husband and I spend many evenings – side by side on the couch, each with a laptop, paying half-attention to a days old episode of The Daily Show. On the episode we watched last night (and we are quite behind), Stewart was mocking Fox News anchor [...]
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Yesterday morning I opened the utensil drawer in our kitchen and a shiver went down my spine. Whisk intertwined with spatula. Cookie cutter collided with slotted spoon. A cacophony of kitchenware. A mess. I extracted the measuring spoon I needed and then closed the drawer quickly, turning my back on the clutter and resolving to [...]
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That’s right, friends. It’s time for another installment of Wednesdays with [Judith] Warner. (Click here for last week’s look at the balancing act between our pre-motherhood and post-motherhood selves.) This week’s topic? Wonderful husbands. This Thanksgiving week, the theme of gratitude is everywhere – we’re grateful to have a bountiful meal to set before our [...]
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