Here we are! The fresh (2-week-old) new year of 2022! Off to a roaring start with Omicron. A friend of mine on Facebook was reflecting this New Year’s that at the end of 2020, we were so happy to see the year finish, full of hope for an end to the pandemic. Then, 2021 crushed…
Category: Kidlett’s Quotations
To My Firstborn, Age 12
Dear E, You’ve now been twelve for three weeks. It has been a long time since I managed to post about you for your birthday, because funnily enough, it always falls at the busiest time of year. I am determined to write – and finish – this post, so that someday (if you ever read…
Family of Word Nerds – Gratitude Day 21
I’m grateful to be able to say that my children have inherited my penchant for interesting vocabulary. AB is relishing the lessons they’ve been doing in her class on adding “juicy details” to one’s writing. Yesterday, E correctly (and metaphorically) used the word “begat” in a sentence. More on their lexical prowess later. For now,…
The Dilovely New Year Questionnaire for 2018
So, my lovelies. Happy New Year or something! It’s only January 16th. It’s a super-reasonable moment to post a 2018 questionnaire completed in time increments of 20 minutes or less over the course of three weeks. 1. What did you do in 2018 that you’d never done before? Me, Sean: Hiked Niagara Glen Trails in…
Tragic Follow-Up to a Five-Year-Old’s Birthday
You know how everything old is new again? How marketers realized that all the kids of the 80s are having their own kids and will pay good money for things that make them go Aw man, I used to have one of those!! Well, I didn’t, as it happens, have any of these particular items,…
Crossing the Border into the Kids’ Bedroom
Recently, my kids got all excited about creating signage. E was the instigator in this, so these – the six most important things to keep in mind at the border – are his handiwork. They can be found on the shared bedroom door. So watch yourselves, folks. There are no border checkpoints, but I’m sure Big Brother…
Dear Kids: For the record, you adore each other.
Our kids are like most siblings: they play together, and they fight together. Sometimes, the screaming is pretty horrifying. And then there are those moments – and those little games and traditions they invent – that warm you right down through to the sub-cockle area of your heart. {For example, there’s this one funny procedure whenever…
Quotable Moments From My Toddler
I was reminded by my family last weekend that I haven’t yet shared the weird pearls of toddler philosophy that my daughter has been imparting to us since she learned to talk. Frankly, I haven’t written down nearly enough of them, because life is too busy and my memory for details is shockingly short. Another reason I haven’t…
Possibly The Randomest Book You’ll Ever Read
On one of E’s earlier works, Daddy helped him with a short author bio in which it was conveyed that E’s goal is to make 100 books. He is barrelling toward this goal, let me tell you. He’s kind of obsessed with my stapler. Here’s a creation from this past week. I love how he’s unencumbered by the fetters of…
Kindergarten Quotables Variety Pack
I realize it’s been ages since I talked about the cute stuff my kids say, and it’s not because they don’t say cute things. Okay, sometimes it’s because they don’t say cute things. At five and two years old, respectively, my son and daughter both have a tendency to freak out about seemingly minor incidents,…