How can our family be more physically active?
Right now we have an active four-year-old daughter. We’re in a bit of a jogging-with-stroller, biking-with-burley rut. We have recently started kayaking but would love to get some other suggestions — especially anything that allows the kiddo to be more than cargo and still gets the adult heart rate up.
Kids in the Woods will help get the whole family out into nature
Shannon’s got some pretty amazing life experiences to pull on — she grew up in Alaska and flew Apaches in the first crop of women attack helicopter pilots. She’s scuba dived on three continents, sky dived on two, and climbed the highest mountains on the North American and African continents. This is all to say, homegirl knows her outdoor time, and Kids in the Woods is a great way to soak up some of those smarts.
A stormy day family photo session at a playground
If you live in or near Seattle and haven’t tried having your photos taken by Jenny Jimenez yet, this family photo session of Offbeat Mama contributor Alissa and her compadres might just convince you to do so. If Jenny’s name sounds familiar it’s because she’s rocked Ariel’s maternity and family sessions in the past.
Crap, it’s cancer: parenting during a health crisis
My husband was diagnosed with rectal cancer in February 2011. He turned 40 only one month before. I’m only 31. We have a six-year old daughter and a three-year old son.
A DIY alternative to a chalkboard wall
I’ve been wanting some sort of chalkboard in my son Jackson’s playroom for some time now — I just wasn’t sure what would work. The room was built to be a living room and has outlets everywhere. We have the baby-proofed, but the placement of the outlets blocked me from being able to just paint a chalkboard onto the walls.
When I discovered chalkboard spray paint exists, I knew just what I wanted to do…
The questions that defined my daughter’s birth
Paloma’s due date came and went. Nine days later I got my bloody show, and within 30 minutes, full-on labor had begun. I got in the pool. I was biting on a towel, begging for ice cubes and asking for as little other stimulation as possible. I couldn’t be touched. I didn’t want to be talked to. My poor boyfriend was trying to keep it together but was beside himself.
How can we explain his brother’s autism to our four-year-old son?
My stepson, A, is 11 and autistic, and my younger son, M, is four. M has just started to question why A isn’t “like his friend’s big brother.” When M asked “Why won’t A play with me? Does he not like me?” it struck us that we really didn’t know how to explain autism in a way that a four-year-old would understand.
A mother and son celebrate 10 years of Harry Potter love
My friend Kim and her son, E, have been long-time Harry Potter fans — as the photo above will attest. They went to the only place in town who still has a cloud backdrop and recreated a photo to mark the beginning, and end, of their HP madness.