Category Archive

Weigh in: 10.5 inches and 10.5 ounces of “solid baby-miracle goodness” (as one website put it) Big picks this week: bones continue to ossify and strengthen, finger and toe pads are finishing up. The limbs have reached their relative proportions, the eyelashes and eyelids are visible… the baby is really looking like one of us (at one eighth of its … Read More

Ah, parenting. Isn’t it so nice to bask in a good lesson that you invent in a tight moment; your child absorbs the lesson and beams up at you with gratitude just for taking the time to teach her so well? …Until, of course, time passes and suddenly that lesson backfires. The basking: When we are coloring and a long, … Read More

This is my first year without out-of-our-home work and I am loving it. I love the changes that have had to occur in my accomplishment-addicted mind and in my definition of “worth.” I love that all of my time and energy flows into one man and two little children. And I love these people; I enjoy their company; one of … Read More

Vivienne quickly learned her full name, address, and phone number through playing “Doctor’s Office.”  When “the patient” (played by Vivienne herself) comes into the office, “the nurse” (played by me) uses a notebook to record all of her information in “her file.”  Then as I check her heart, lungs, throat, eyes, and nose, I sketch each body part and write … Read More

Tonight, we were eating pizza at a little place in Boalsburg. Viv spotted a slot machine on the floor; the buttons and levers were at just the right height for her and it wasn’t plugged in, so we let her play with it while we finished our dinner. When I knelt down to find out what she was playing, she … Read More

My thoughts after three weeks of homeschooling my spunky 2-year old: *  A 2-year old can be a fantastic learner, but is not a young adult (‘learned that on day 1). *  What I do today will influence the tone of our home as that 2-year old grows into that young adult *  That’s why I have to default to … Read More

* Giving Vivienne time to sort the silverware by herself. (This provided the relieving opportunity of cleaning out the plastic silverware tray that had collected those pesky silverware-drawer crumbs and encouraged V to work on a project by herself.)

My mom passed along the idea of reading during Vivienne’s meals as soon as she was sitting up in her little booster chair at a couple months old. By the time Viv could munch on some finger food, she was listening attentively to several books and nursery rhymes; now, at age 2, she loves to read at the table or … Read More

* because I woke up super early, mostly in a panic that my intended-for-humor comment on a friend’s blog might have been misunderstood. I don’t know why it took me 24 hours post-comment to realize that my solution to her morning sickness (especially the nausea she feels at the scent of her toddler’s hair) could be offensive, questionable, and insensitive. … Read More

Vivienne is in love with Mary Poppins. So much so, that her medical advice is straight from the movie… Case in point: Last night, Ryan was suffering through one of his allergy sneezing spells. V waited patiently for him to tuck her into bed as he sneezed and sneezed and sneezed… Amongst Ryan’s hearty ACHOO’s, I heard a sweet little … Read More