Monday. Ali woke up singing. I let her sing a for few minutes until her song began to downgrade into a whine, then I went to get her. She was holding a bunch of her stuffed animals… “Good morning!!! What were you singing about?” “Well, I was singing a song about flowers and love to […]
The Ingenuity of Bedtime.
I’ve always been glad that Ali’s never been a fit-pitcher about bedtime. But what I’m starting to realize is that by using sweetness and toddler-logic, she’s WAY more conniving than that… It starts early, as she senses that the time of bed is approaching. “You’ve got five more minutes on the trampoline, okay?” Her wheels […]
Styling of a Curly Haired Toddler, Self-Styled Edition.
The saga of styling Ali’s hair seems to be ever present in my mind and blog, a dreadfully boring subject to at least 70% of you, I’m sure. However, all of my mornings of attempting to spray and scrunch her hair so she didn’t look like a mangy dog despite her desperate attempts to get […]
Living with an OCD Child.
When Chris and I were dating, he let me in on a little family secret. They were all obsessive/compulsive. In a major way. They all had their own special OCD quirks… His Grandmother saved every piece of mail, letter, card, newspaper, or magazine she ever received. In very nice, neat, orderly, and organized stacks and […]
The War On Embarrassment.
Ali’s a pretty shy little kid around people she doesn’t know, so I figured that she wouldn’t be one of those that was constantly embarrassing me by making loud observations in front of strangers. And I was right, at least about the “constantly” part. However, we have definitely entered the stage of embarrassment. It all […]
Parenting and the Art of SpellTalk.
SpellTalk (n): A language that parents use to hide the most important parts of conversations from their kids. Unfortunately, kids eventually learn this language so that they can spy on their parents, so parents must find a new and original way to secretively communicate. When do you use SpellTalk? 1. When you’re talking about something […]
When Daddy’s in Charge.
While I was having fun making pottery last weekend, Chris and Ali had some Daddy/Daughter time, which is always ripe with a few good tales. So today, Chris is guest blogging to share a couple of short stories from their day. It Takes Guts To Be a Parent. There are sensitive subjects that you have […]
The Magic of Mommyhood.
It’s been a long week. My normally very emotionally stable and logical three year old has for some reason found the need to have multiple and quite sudden breakdowns. And for very little cause, such as the one about her best friend AJ, which, through tears, she told me tragically, “But she told me to […]
TeenToddler.
There’s a bit of romantic drama going on in Ali’s life right now. She’s got two boy friends who are claiming to be her boyfriend, a term I’m pretty sure I had no idea what it meant at the ripe age of three. Her two friends seem to be taking different strategies at winning her […]
That’s Because Daddies Fix Everything.
It’s amazing how differently the same three-year-old logic can sound based on the situation they choose to apply it to…and how completely oblivious they can be at the things they say. And really, that obliviousness is a very, VERY good thing. As I’ve complained about mentioned before, we all know that Mommies get no privacy. […]