Mini day-tripping with my little dude: I let my kid skip school and we went to the art museum
While my (almost four-year-old) son was bustling around deciding what toy he wanted to bring to school with him and I was mid-bagel, I asked if he wanted to go skip school and go to the art museum. He was somewhat incredulous at first (we haven’t visited this museum yet) and I was somewhat unsure of how he’d be once we got there (he’s generally well-behaved, but a huge building filled with things to knock over/touch? HARD.), but we decided yes: we were going to do it.
Our child’s medical condition led us to unexpectedly become Attachment Parents
I went in to parenthood prepared. I had a decent amount of baby experience and figured I was as ready as someone can be to have your life up-ended by a tiny human. My husband and I discussed cloth diapering (we wanted to try it), sleeping arrangements (pack-n-play and crib only) and birth plans (unmedicated hospital birth with a doula). I knew that all of our plans needed some degree of flexibility as we figured out what worked best for us. Then our fuss-a-saurus, E, was born.
The world’s best playground might be London’s Diana Memorial Playground
On a good day in London, on our local playground where race, class, school uniforms and linguistic boundaries may as well have been built out of concrete, I was a cynic. Visiting the Diana playground was a most welcome respite from all of that. And, though I am wary of entering the treacle zone, it is a testimony to the spirit of the Lady who inspired it. This playground exists in an unlikely place and it gives some pointers, some idea of what our society could be like. Maybe even our world.
The bright side to a “broken” home
As co-parents we have established a new type of relationship between us and the boys have settled into their schedules. Both of us are now in committed relationships, so new parental figures and extended families have been added to the mix. While we don’t aim to all vacation together or live next door to each other, we can truthfully attest to life and happiness as amicable dual households. Even still, we hit rough patches. It’s hard not to blame every temper tantrum on the transitioning between places or question if your kids are somewhat permanently scarred.
Wonderings on how babies feel about living in foster care
What does a baby think when he sees his biological mother for only the fourth time in his six months of life? Does he feel a connection? Does he realize this is someone special? Does he feel any of the conflicted feelings that his almost three-year-old brother feels? Maybe he just basks in the love.
Being super human for our children
To my girls, right now, I am super human. Flawed, undoubtedly, but they overlook, forgive, and maybe even ignore them. What they see is that superhero my 14-year-old self wished to be. In my girls’ minds, I can accomplish anything. I am defender, righter of wrongs, protector of justice.
Taking a vacation in our city helped get my marriage and parenting focus back on track
Parenthood came with all of its work and exhaustion and then postpartum depression hit and we haven’t been managing those new challenges well. We went from being each other’s warm, safe, place to fall into at the end of the day to adversaries who yell and scream and take out all of our frustrations on the other person. It’s not like this every day, of course, but the grumpy, angry, days are creeping in more and more frequently.
I don’t care if my kids get tattoos, but I do have a few ground rules
My two-year old just learned to say “tattoo”. I have two tattoos, and he’s very interested in them. I’m not sure he understands what tattoos are — maybe he thinks Mommy’s skin just grew these intricate designs, like he grew the mole on his leg that he’s also very interested in. Maybe one day he’ll want a tattoo of his own, and if he does, there are six rules.