In order to make these six weeks sans husband fly by, I just knew that I was going to have to book up the family’s social calendar. So it’s been a long string of play-dates and barbecues these past two weeks. It’s been a lot of fun, somewhat exhausting, and totally delightful to feel such [...]

Love & Logic? Jim Fay? Foster Cline? I love you. So much. So very, very much. The past couple of weeks, taking Pea to camp, have been brutal. A place that she loves and by her own admission has so much fun at has become, apparently, some kind of torture for her. Starting first thing [...]

During my first pregnancy with Pea, I was reading every book under the sun about pregnancy, childbirth, parenting, etc., I was always reading about this intense urge to nest that was going to come over me, presumably in my third trimester. But it never happened. I was pregnant, and then I wasn’t. There was no [...]

So this is going to sound cliche, I’m sure, But cliche? Not so bad if it’s actually doing something good, right? Here goes… I’m trying so simplify life over here. Yes, you read that correctly. The ultimate consumer is on a down-scaling binge. It’s too much. There’s just too much stuff in my home. In [...]

I can’t remember exactly how I found out about the online magazine Sprig. I know it was via Meredith, but I can’t recall if I saw a link to it on her site or if she emailed me about it. But however it was, it was a really great find. I am in love with [...]

After I wrote last about my passion for Love & Logic, I received quite a few emails asking me to go into further detail about what this theory of parenting entails. And now that it’s been about one month since my last post on the topic, I can say with delight that it’s really working [...]

Just a little caveat to today’s post about pulling Pea out of her current summer camp and sending her to a new one. When I picked her up this afternoon? She walked out of the room. Sucking her thumb. This child has never, a day in her life, sucked her thumb. And so, if ever [...]

There are currently two programs on our TiVo record list for Pea. Both are recorded from the channel Noggin. One is “Dora the Explorer” and the other is “Max & Ruby.” Yes, she’s still in love with Dora. And now, I hear her counting more often in Spanish than I do in English. I’m not [...]

My mother-in-law once told me, during a rather heated discussion on organized religion, that if I “didn’t stand for something, I’d fall for anything.” She was implying that I was a heathen, apt to be led down the “wrong” path, because I did not have religion in my life. Believe me, I know this is [...]

I thought I should write a little follow-up regarding the Love & Logic class that my husband and I are taking. Because I had such high hopes for it. If you recall, I had already ordered the book, which has spent, more or less, the last month lost in a huge stack of books on [...]

My husband and I have been struggling here and there with how to discipline Pea. She’s one month shy of three. She’s intelligent, clever, beautiful, funny, loving and all of those wonderful things we want our children to be. Are you sensing an oncoming “but?” I hate to use that word, it’s as if it [...]

I am always in a rush. Always. And impatient like no other. Horrible traits to have. Just plain horrible. It is intense, trying to get out the door with these girls. I get… for lack of a better word… crazed. There is no time for slow-pokes. Nope. Gotta’ go. And I hate this about myself. [...]

Do you hear that sound? That would be me, obsessively knocking on every inch of wood within a six foot radius before I write what I’m about to write… Coco is sleeping through the night. She is sleeping all night long. Going down at 7 and sleeping through until 7 the next morning. This is [...]

We’ve been working really hard at getting Pea to address grown-ups as “sir” and “ma’am.” As in, “Pea, did you have a nice day at school?” To which she will (hopefully) reply “yes, ma’am.” I think it’s cute when kids speak this way, although I’m not as dedicated at making this happen as my husband [...]

I love TLC. As in The Learning Channel. Although a little tender loving care never offends me, either. But TLC has pretty awesome family programming, in my opinion. There are always several shows making the rounds on my TiVo at any given time. Programs I can watch while my daughter is in the room with [...]