Sometimes, in my weaker moments, when my three year old (the one going on, like, sixteen) decides now is the time to assert her three feet of independence, I bluff. The trouble is, it’s starting to backfire. Here’s a recent example. “Okay, ready to go? We have to go pick up your bothers and sister at school!” This is an exciting event ninety percent of the time, and she usually hustles to grab shoes and whatever miscellaneous items must accompany her - and there are a lot - but lately, … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: We Suck at Bedtime
Close to a million hits in less than half a second can’t be wrong - bedtimes are important for kids. And that’s a bit of problem around here, because we suck at bedtime. But we can’t be the only ones, right? I mean, with the exception of my one friend who, every single night, spends a good twenty minutes listening and chatting and reading and, you know, just killing the parenting game with one child while her husband does the same with the other - and then they switch - how many parents … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: Kids Are Gross
Last spring, I was soaping up our two littlest in the tub when I felt a bumpy patch on the inside of our then five-year-old’s upper thigh. I took a closer look when I was toweling him off, and saw a group of little red bumps. They didn’t seem to bother him, so I made a mental note and we moved on. But the next time he was in the tub, I felt them again and this time, they were bigger - less like little bumps now, and more like raised, red, pimply-looking warts. Uh, gross. “What are … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: When Kindergarten Nerves Become Kindergarten Anxiety
On the first, second and third days of kindergarten, my just-turned-six-year-old was a champ. He marched right on in and emerged six hours later, triumphantly on day one, and then a little more wearily as the days passed. Then, on Thursday morning, as we waited for the bell to ring, his sister whacked him straight in the face with the tetherball. And the floodgates opened. “I don’t want to go to school,” he sobbed, wrapping his arms around my thighs. “I miss you too much, and it’s too … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: Outgrowing the Tooth Fairy
Our oldest son lost his first tooth the day he turned six. Four years later, I still remember so clearly how that little tooth, so white and tiny, caused such a whirlwind of excitement and emotion. Our son was a mixed bag of thrilled and surprised, flashing his gap-toothed smile around and then asking a little worriedly, “Do other things fall out like this?” His little sister was in absolute awe, tugging his arm and peering into his mouth and sighing about how she couldn’t wait until her … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: Adventures with the Big Girl Bed
We’ve always taken the easy way out when it comes to sleeping. And by easy, I mean whatever involved the most sleep and the least hassle. That’s how we became co-sleepers – it was pretty much born of default, an exhausted mix of laziness and a death grip on the idea that a good night’s sleep was possible with tiny babies. But with our youngest knocking on three, it was time for a change. E had started referring to the spare room, used as a playroom, as “my woom.” When they got in … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: The One With The Puking Kid
You know it’s going to be an eventful day when your five year old wakes up puking. And maybe it’s just me, but by kid number three, we're long past stripping the sheets when one of them tosses his cookies all over the bed. Now, we clean up the crying kiddo, lay down a few towels and wait. Because there’s always more to come, right? Also, I take out my contacts before bed and I’m legally blind when I’m stumbling around at night. I may not be so willing to throw down a towel and call it … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: The Kid Who Doesn’t Eat
The other night at dinner – and I don’t need to tell you about all the work that goes into planning, preparing and serving dinner for six, let alone the legwork involved in actually getting all six people to sit down in one spot at the same time – our two-year-old took one look at her bowl of some shredded-chicken-and-quinoa dish and slapped the entire thing onto the bench, where it fell to the floor. Cue… absolute silence. The three older kids were wide-eyed, forks halfway to … [Read more...]
Parenting Styles: Taking a 2-Year-Old on a 9 Hour Road Trip to Disneyland
Fun fact – our two oldest kids have the same April birthday. Our son was two weeks early, and two years later, his new little sister was a week early. So far, the dual birthday party thing has worked out, but now they’re ten and eight, and I think that window is coming to a close. So this year, we decided to surprise them with a trip to Disneyland instead of a party. My husband and I were extra secretive about our internet research, ferreting out bargains on three-day hopper passes … [Read more...]
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