This morning my 2-year-old daughter told me I’m her best friend. I know she has no clue what “best friend” means, and I probably wouldn’t make the cut if she did. But it still warmed my heart to hear her say it. But it also made me a little sad because I know that as [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘Parenting is Fun?’
May 4, 2009
Bored, Boring, Blah
Yesterday was a boring, rainy day. We watched cartoons, played with toys, watched more cartoons, tried to clean the house and watched more cartoons. I suppose we could have made granola bars together, but we were also trying to clean the house, not make more messes. Play-Doh has been 86′d from our house until Emma [...]
April 29, 2009
Swine Flu – to worry or not?
I tend to think all this hysteria over the swine flu is, well, hysterical. More than 35,000 people die every year from the plain ol’ flu. That seems more like a serious epidemic than this swine flu, and flu happens every year. The U.S. doesn’t declare a national health emergency every year during flu season, [...]
April 3, 2009
What Creates a Brat?
I’ve really been struggling with the balance between lavishing attention on Emma and trying to steer her toward independence, as well as the balance between letting her get away with some typical 2-year-old behavior and cracking down on bratty outbursts. I want to raise a well-mannered, nice kid, and I think the way to do [...]
April 1, 2009
Smelly Memory
I love the sensation of smelling a faint scent that sweeps me away to another place and time. Like when I smell freshly cut grass on a slightly foggy day – that takes me back to Eureka and Saturday football games. A certain Suave shampoo takes me back to junior high summer camp, and mango-orange [...]
March 24, 2009
Bring on the Pain
I try to use creative discipline with Emma, not punishing her for every little offense or she’d always be in trouble! But when time-outs don’t work and threats of no TV or no dessert bounce off deaf ears, I pull out the big guns: spankings. I don’t like to spank her (what parent does? I [...]
March 7, 2009
Bonding is a Gas
Abbi looked up at me as she nursed and paused, gazing peacefully into my eyes. She pulled away and relaxed in my arms, quiet and content. I savored the moment of calm and looked back at my child in awe – a sensation I don’t often have time to appreciate.
Then Abbi did the thing that [...]
