Scent of A Child, Part 2

Yesterday I said my kids stunk. And they did, yesterday.
Today they are fantastic.
Big surprise. Isn’t that how parenting, families, go?
Here’s what happened. After a day filled with the usual ups (Ellie swam solo during her Parent and Tot class) and downs (Ellie redesigned a new slipcover with her safety scissors), it [...]

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The Scent of a Child

Forgive me for repeating myself. My kids stink.
Not literally, of course. At least I don’t think so. I was so irritated with them I put them all to bed without bathing. Their stinkiness today is more of the Pig Pen type, with cartoon lines wavering in the air above their bodies, [...]

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Nightmares

I had a terrible dream last night, the kind of dream that scares parents more than any other, and the dream that most of us have at one time or another. The dream came in the last sleep cycle of the morning, after my alarm had rung twice and I ignored it twice, settling [...]

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Memorial Day

What a long weekend it was! A birthday party for the cousins up north joyfully claimed our whole Saturday. I was in bed all day Sunday, nursing an icky cold. Today we played outside all day while Ray finished some yard work. Then we enjoyed a cookout with neighbors way past [...]

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Slow Thursday Afternoon

Today is a wonderful slow day.
It didn’t start that way. I was up at dawn to have some coffee before Mitzi and Ellie sprang out of bed. A quick shower (and my weekly pre-swimming lesson leg shaving), then off to battle thirty minutes of rush hour traffic to get to the eye doctor. [...]

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A Sad Kindergarten Lesson

A Mom friend was over last week with her youngest child, Ellie’s first playdate. While the three year olds played near each other (A-plus to my sister, who knows this is called “parallel play”), we Moms sat in the kitchen, talking the way Moms do.
This Mom is a nice woman, probably the first Mom [...]

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Food, Glorious Food

I don’t fight with my kids about food any more. I used to, until pretty recently. Back then, I’d get upset that no one but Cooper would try anything new, that everything had to be dipped in ketchup, that cucumbers and frozen corn were the only vegetables palatable to the girls. I [...]

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These Are the Days

I wish I had something new to add these days. We are happy spring his here. We are happy to spend 7 hours a day outside rather than inside, sniping at one another. Tee ball and soccer seasons have begun. Gardens are planted, tilled, contemplated. Seven weeks remain until summer [...]

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