Dear Sebastian, A week ago Sunday, as I was making black raspberry cobbler for your 12th birthday, I realized something. I thought back to the day of your birth, and your first and second birthdays, and how impossible it felt to “celebrate” the day back then. I could not conceive of making cake or blowing up…
Tag: parenting
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…
Raising a Daughter in Scary But Hopeful Times
Recently, I had the chance to catch up with an old friend whose family was expecting their third child: a daughter, after two sons. [Actually, I started this post more than a month ago, and as it happens, said daughter was born TODAY, early this morning! So read on, in honour of wee baby EC’s…
Barely Managing + Constant Guilt = Modern Parenting??
When you’re a parent, discussing parenting is what you do: the easiest way to find out what you have in common – and also to gauge how you’re doing at the parenting gig, and whether you/your kids are normal. I can’t help but notice a trend among the parents I talk to with young kids – one that…
#NaBloPoMo, Day 10: Walking
Today, I’m grateful for the ability and opportunities to walk. This morning was one of those mornings I’m not proud of, as a parent. I woke up at the normal time. AB, as has become her custom, came into my bed right around the same time, and we had a really nice little snuggle. When…
#NaBloPoMo, Day 5: My Hubbibi
Whew. Just weathered a Mammoth Meltdown (one of many in the last three years, but this was definitely in the top ten), courtesy of my three-year-old. The better part of an hour of screaming/crying, along with intermittent hitting/kicking. All this – at least initially – because I wouldn’t let her put the cap back on her toothpaste….
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,…
Anti-Rape Training Begins at Birth
My firstborn son E is an extremely cuddly kid. He has always wanted snuggles and hugs and kisses, in good times and in bad. It’s great for me, as his mom, to know I can calm him by taking him in my arms, even now that he’s five; and honestly, I’ll be heartbroken when he…
Dear Five-Year-Old: I sure love you, even when I don’t like you much.
Beloved E, I started writing a blog post in your honour just over two weeks ago, when you turned five. Part of the reason it didn’t get done in a timely manner is because your birthday happened to fall between two disparate weeks of insanity. The other reason is that I wanted to write something…
Unqualified
Lovely Di-hards, I know you know that feeling of being in over your head. I’ve had it many times over the years, lots of “what have I gotten myself into” moments. Teaching has provided more than a few. So has cooking at Camp. Of course, the biggest moment like that, for many of us, is…