No less than four dozen times a day, my daughter will do something amazing. Maybe she’ll make up a little song about her baby sister in mommy’s belly, or line up all of her stuffed animals and read them a story, or, like she did the other day, wake up from her nap, still half-asleep and say “Big, big nose. Big beard. No, little beard. So fun, so cute. Daddy!”
I will think to myself, “Man, I’ve got to write that […]
My whole life, I’ve felt like I was obtaining random skills and taking up random hobbies for just my own pleasure. I am one of these ever-curious people who likes to try new things, learn new languages, make new circles of friends. I like the liberal arts approach to life, reading Gray’s Anatomy one week, a graphic novel the next, and splicing my Paul Krugman/ Malcolm Gladwell with Jane Austin fan fic.
I always thought that my lifestyle put me at […]
It’s not until you have kids of your own that you realize how DIY this whole child-rearing thing can be. Parenting just seems so simple in theory (love them enough and they will turn out fine) and so ridiculously complex in practice (should I let her hold the pen for a few minutes while I watch her, or should I preemptively pull it from her hands for fear she might sprint off with it and have it lodge firmly in […]
I have an old shoebox I keep close at hand these days, and I pull it out when Quinn is self-entertaining for a minute or two, or when she is asleep and I’m not. Inside is a needle and thread, tiny jinglebells, gold glitter, a red felt stocking, and felt shapes that I drew and cut out. I am a terrible sewer: I usually just wear a coat with a button missing rather than repair it, and I couldn’t even […]
When Quinn was just a newborn, we brought her out to my parent’s cabin in Lake Chelan. One day, we went to visit a neighbor (and dear family friend) who was having a terrible week: His mother, who lived across the country, was dying, and he was getting painful hourly updates from family members at her bedside.
None of us knew exactly what to say, but we slogged along anyway. At some point in the conversation, he reached out for Quinn. […]
I was in a local consignment shop the other day, checking out the clothes in the 12-18 months size, when I came across a T-shirt that read “Big Sister.” Did I mention that I was in the 12-18 months section?? I was like, Et tu, Carter’s?
It seems like as soon as the fog of new parenthood clears just slightly, I mean just enough so that you can see your hand in front of your face on some days, the entire […]
A few weeks ago, I watched in amusement (and horror) as Quinn reached for our T.V. remote (the one we’d de-batteried and left within her general reach), cupped it to her ear, and said “Hieee?”
Had she really seen me on the phone that much? No, I had been careful about not talking too much, or at least talking when I thought she was otherwise engaged, or at least talking for only very very short conversations. Hadn’t I?
But the reality of […]
The other day at the park, I met a mom who told me her little girl was 29 months old. It took me a while to do the math and figure out that she was almost two and a half. I don’t know what the statute of limitations is on counting babies’ ages in months, but I always thought it ended at two years.
I mean, I’m sure that the months still matter, and I will probably want to eat my […]
When Quinn was three months old, my husband gripped my arm one day and told me solemnly “We are already 1/72 of the way through Quinn’s childhood living with us. Isn’t that so sad?”
At first I laughed a little, but then the significance hit me too. We couldn’t believe that any measurable chunk of time had already passed, that we would only have 71 of the same little chunks of time with her and then–bam– she would be off to […]
When Q was a teensy tiny little newborn, she had this amazingly endearing cry-sigh-laugh that would turn my heart into raspberry jelly every time I heard it. She would start with a crying “Wah!!” then gradually move on to an uncertain “Wahh??” and then a sort of calm “Wahhhh” before she ended with a content, sighing “Whahhhah.” All of this would occur in the space of about 10 seconds. It was SO cute.
She did it no less than 20 times […]