My sister-in-law visited this past weekend and, in the midst of chatting about important things like the kids, plot developments on Grey’s Anatomy, and her new puppy (I’m not a dog person, but this little guy? Cute. Very cute), we got to talking as we often do about our short-term, long-term plans – where we see ourselves in [...]
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Last week I was talking on the phone with a friend who recently moved away from our small Midwestern town. We were catching up on the start of the school year and her family’s adjustment to life in a new place, sharing stories about the different customs that seem to be attached to different communities. [...]
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Lately I feel like my life consists of piles. On the ledge next to the staircase: triaged mail. Thank you notes to write, bills to pay, correspondence that needs attention. On the kitchen counter: child art work. The preschool apple unit, the bear unit, the pumpkin unit. Worksheets with handwriting practice. The number 1, the [...]
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I see her every time I run. While on the homestretch of my workout, I see the woman on the bike approaching from the other direction. Sometimes I even hear her before I see her, the sound of her slender wheels cutting through the water on the trail announcing her approach. Her chin-length hair curls [...]
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I’m running again. After a multi-year layoff during which I had my kids, I started running about a month ago, with the support of my husband, my sister-in-law, and the geniuses behind the Couch-to-5K running plan. I love the way I can be in the moment when I run. I notice the dappled sunlight on [...]
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Too bad no one on the “experience” staff of Little Einstein Learning Center took time to proofread their Yellow Pages advertisement. Alas, it seems that bad grammar is plaguing our nation’s preschools. (For more evidence, check out this post by Jana.) But not to worry: the Correctionists are organized and ready to right these wrongs, one [...]
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Baby Sister is teething and the eruption of tiny peaks through her gums has caused her to take a hiatus from her usually stellar sleeping habits. Last night, after I nursed her back to sleep, I found myself awake and restless so I started flipping through the Styles section of Sunday’s New York Times. There [...]
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I’m lucky. I know that. I really do. I have three lovely, healthy kids, a wonderful husband, loving and supportive parents, financial stability, great friends. So why do I find myself in a lingering “Mom Funk”? I think it has something to do with time, and my slowly sinking realization that there are, in fact, only [...]
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We had a party on Saturday morning in honor of Stage 14 of the Tour de France. We ate croissants and crepes, drank mimosas and cafe au lait, and paid half-attention to our children as we watched dozens of skinny men drag their bodies and their bikes up the Plateau de Beille. I’ve written before [...]
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Do you ever picture me in your mind as a graceful, poised individual? Please allow me to disabuse you of that notion. A constellation of bruises typically dots my legs, battle scars from such heroic feats as emptying the garbage or watering the garden. Although I’ve hit my head many times, my forehead has two main [...]
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I’m old, Gandalf. I know I don’t look it, but I’m beginning to feel it in my heart. I feel…thin. Sort of stretched, like…butter scraped over too much bread. I need a holiday. A very long holiday. – Bilbo Baggins, from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring I’m feeling worn out lately. That may [...]
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Hello. My name is Kristen. As a very little girl, I was called “Krissy,” a name that my mom’s brothers and sister still use for me and which never fails to make me giggle. I then became “Kris” and remain so to my parents, my younger brother, Husband, our extended families, and a few good [...]
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Sometimes I think Americans must have invented the exclamation mark – it’s their state of mind. – Monika Kochhar, new American citizen* Happy Fourth of July to you and yours. Exclamation point. What do you think of Kochhar’s suggestion? Any other favorite quotes or axioms about Americans? What’s your favorite punctuation mark? (I’m partial to [...]
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Last night after the boys were in bed, I was sitting in the glider nursing Baby Sister when I heard the familiar siren song of the ice cream truck as it circumnavigated our neighborhood. But instead of feeling that jolt of adrenaline that normally sends me running for my wallet, ready to dispatch a dollar [...]
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I have dirt under my nails. And that’s remarkable for two reasons: 1. I have nails. I have been a lifelong nail biter. My nails are usually bitten down to the nub, my cuticles a tangly, scraggly mess. But the happy occasion of my beloved sister-in-law’s wedding two weekends ago – along with the help [...]
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A lovely surprise arrived in today’s mail. It was a letter. A genuine, hand-written letter on lined white paper, the sort of which I had forgotten existed in this age of e-greetings. A letter from an old teacher and mentor whom I haven’t seen in years. This letter was from my former basketball coach. He [...]
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During our trip, I was reminded once again that I don’t live “at home” anymore. Four years ago, five months pregnant, Husband and I picked up and moved to a new state. I’ve thought many times along the way that this new place has become home – that any place that houses my man and [...]
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After 17 days on the road with 3 kids under 4, we are back home, grateful to see our beds, our toys, our books, and the 6 succulent strawberries that were ripe, ready, and waiting for us in our small garden patch. On our trip we visited 6 states and slept in 10 different beds. [...]
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I’m looking for your opinion today, friends, on the truth of an observation I made recently: It seems to me that people who are happy are happiest when others are happy, while people who are unhappy are happiest when others are unhappy. What say you, loyal readers: agree or disagree?
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One of my favorite movies as a kid was National Lampoon’s Vacation. You know, the one where the Griswold Family hops in their “Family Truckster” and ambles their way to Los Angeles’s “Walley World” theme park, leaving a dead aunt, a petty crime spree, and a scantily clad Christie Brinkley in their wake. As much [...]
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Today is Memorial Day in the United States, a holiday when we honor our war dead and, more generally, our deceased loved ones. (And when, less poignantly, we kick off the summer travel season with barbecues and beer.) I’m spending today with Husband and the kids. We’ll probably take in our town’s parade with its [...]
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You’ve probably gleaned from previous posts that I have a good relationship with my mother. The truth of it is that I have a great relationship with her: I value her opinion like no one else’s; I trust her moral compass; I never want to disappoint her; I want to someday have a relationship with [...]
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Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) – Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself,” with thanks to Lindsey for the reminder For the past few weeks the idea of contradictions has been stuck in my head. I’ve been writing in my journal about the ways in which [...]
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I was at book club the other night, enjoying the usual rhythms of our post-book chat, cozy and content inside as the skies prepared to blanket us with snow overnight. I found myself in conversation with a lovely new friend. She and I were comparing our geographical histories, parts of which saw us living in [...]
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The other day a good friend showed up for a playdate dressed beautifully; her hair was done and she was even wearing a touch of make-up. “Wow, K! You look great!” I told her when she sat down next to me. “Who, me? Oh, no. No way. I just had a function to go to [...]
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According to CNN, about 100 million Americans make New Year’s resolutions each January. From resolving to lose weight to promising to quit smoking, many of us take advantage of changing the calendar to try changing our ways. The problem? Only about 20% of us stick to our resolutions. And the reason for that, according to [...]
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So I know a lot of you are taking some time off to be with family and friends over the Christmas holiday. And I also know that grown-ups aren’t really supposed to make a big deal about their birthdays. But the kid inside of me – and, okay, maybe the grown-up part too – wants [...]
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I know lots of women – and a few men – who have issues surrounding food. But I’ve never really been one of them. That fact, I suspect, is, like most things: a combination of luck and choices. Luck in that I come from good metabolic stock: tall, slim people for whom most sins of [...]
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If you’re a regular reader of Motherese, or if you’ve ever had the experience of dining with me in person, you won’t be surprised to learn that I have a sweet tooth. Check that. I have a whole mouthful of sweet teeth. I love candy. I love cookies. I love cake. I love chocolate. I [...]
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As I use most of my remaining synapses to figure out how to make lemonade out of some pretty sour lemons, I decided to borrow an idea from Lindsey and Denise and offer my answers to one of Vanity Fair‘s monthly questionnaires. So, here goes, folks. I solemnly swear to return to our regularly scheduled [...]
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