My son simultaneously wears a Dora apron and fights sexism
It started when my son decided he wanted cupcakes. I figured we’d make cupcakes and take them to work for our friends. I gave him one of my aprons but it was too big. The next week at the local farmer’s market I spied homemade kid-sized aprons. They had some robots and some flowers, but what really caught my eye was, of course, a Dora apron. It is bright pink and lacy but whatever — that’s not something that would register for Isaac.
Where can I find kids’ books that feature children with disabilities?
My two-and-a-half-year-old was born prematurely and currently has a few different disabilities and setbacks that we’re working with. I’m always on the lookout for children’s books that prominently and positively feature children with disabilities. Unfortunately, it seems like I can ONLY find them at hospitals — and we can’t take those home with us.
The 25 most adorable cosplayers at Comic-Con
EEEEP! I am loving this round-up of 25 adorable cosplayers at Comic-Con — it’s the perfect antidote for those of us nursing our “I can’t go to Comic-Con” blues. How can you feel sad when such a cute version of Iron Man exists?! Here are a few more of my faves!
I knew breastfeeding might be hard, but had no idea weaning would seem impossible
I’ve come across the advice “If mom isn’t happy, then do something differently,” but that’s not all that helpful in the long-run. I’ve found a few gentle weaning tips online, but the prospect of a few more months of diligence and consistency seems daunting and exhausting. And my friends aren’t much help, either. While they’re in various stages of breastfeeding, we’re all trying to figure out when it’s right to stop breastfeeding and how to go about doing it.
How do we tell our toddler that we’re breaking up?
My partner of 9 years and I recently made the amicable decision to end our relationship. Though the split hasn’t been easy on either one of us, we are devoted to our almost-three-year-old daughter and are adamant on cultivating a healthy environment moving forward so that she may continue to thrive as we continue to co-parent her in separate homes.
My partner and I speak and sign five languages and are trying to raise multilingual children
As a child of immigrants I ended up bilingual pretty much by default. My parents are from Taiwan and China, so I grew up speaking Mandarin Chinese with them and speaking English with my older sister and at school. Although I dreaded going to Chinese School on Sundays as a child, by the time I left for college I recognized the benefits of being bilingual and I knew even then that I would want my future children to be the same.
My three-year-old associates “dark” with “bad”: How to talk to kids about race
I’ve noticed that if she’s playing a game that involves confrontation her black doll is always the aggressor. I’ve been thinking about the movies we watch (most noticeably Tangled, which features a dark-haired evil witch and an innocent light-haired princess) and am realizing that there’s a direct correlation between bad and dark in many of them.
Oompa Toys: where wooden and organic meet FUN for little and big kids alike
If you follow our shenanigans on Facebook, then you might have already seen my recent freak-out over Oompa Toys. I often get frustrated with toy websites that seem to only cater to babies (or their parents), but happily Oompa has toys for kids between birth and 9 — and we’re talking some seriously cool stuff. There are tons of wooden alternatives to the plastic you might see elsewhere (look at this super cute wooden bus!), and they offer free shipping on all orders over $65.