The first time I went to Haiti, I was 16 years old. The wanderlust bug hit me early in life, and instead of asking for a car for my birthday, I begged my parents for a ticket to Port-Au-Prince. I had a dear friend who grew up there and I wanted to visit her and see the country for myself. My father happened to have a speaking engagement in another part of the country, so my parents scratched their heads and complied with my request. My father and I flew out together – a quick 2-hour flight from . . .
what we want you to know about same sex families
What I Want You to Know is a series of reader submissions. It is an attempt to allow people to tell their personal stories, in the hopes of bringing greater compassion to the unique issues each of us face. If you would like to submit a story to this series, click here. This guest post is by “Daddy and Papa”. We want you to know that we are just like your family, our children need love, attention, hugs, encouragement, kisses and a shoulder to lean. We want you to know that we, as men, really DO . . .
the biggest first world problem ever: cleaning before the housekeeper comes
Be warned. You are about to experience the most epic, offensive first world whining you have ever head. But here goes. Over the past year I’ve bumped up my work schedule quite a bit, and it’s been harder and harder to maintain my house. I’ve been a working mom still doing all of the stay-at-home-mom duties, and a couple months ago had a come-to-Jesus meeting with myself where I acknowledged that I’m going to have to outsource some of my daily tasks in order to a) sleep, and b) stay sane. . . .
best iphone/ipad apps for kindergarten-aged kids
Last week I shared some of my favorite apps for the preschoolers, and today I wanted to share some of my favorites for my two kindergartners. I’ve found some really great tools for my iphone that help reinforce what the kids are learning at school. At our house, we have an ipad, and we also have two iphones (the one I use as a phone, and an older model that is no longer activated but can still get apps via wifi). The kids are constantly asking to play on them . . . and since we use a timer . . .
Top Ten Annoying Things People Say To Adoptive Parents That, Even Though They Mean Well, Drive Adoptive Parents Up A Tree
My friend Karen Walrond is an adoptive mom, and also a writer, photographer and author of the gorgeous and soul-nurturing book The Beauty of Different. A couple weeks ago she sent me this post she wrote when her daughter was young, to commiserate on the questions we often get as adoptive families. I asked if I could repost it here, and she agreed. I think she is pretty spot-on in hitting the observations that come a little too frequently for adoptive families. I read this . . .
summer photo dump
Thanks so much for all of you who weighed n on my post about summer regrets. It was a great reminder that I’m not alone in these feelings, and that the reality of the daily grind is true for every family, working moms or not. I put too much pressure on myself to have the perfect summer. Next year, I’m going to shoot for relaxing, unstructured summer – and if that means the kids jump around on the trampoline in costumes like they did for most of this summer, so be it. Ironically, I had also . . .
have you googled your child’s teacher?
Over at Babble this week, I’m talking about my (apparently controversial) practice of googling my kids’ teachers: My interest in looking people up online is not so much because I’m looking for dirt. In fact, I’m assuming I’m not going to find dirt. I just want to know more about these people who have been charged with shaping the minds of my own children. What are their likes? What are their dislikes? In Googling my son’s kindergarten teacher, I found out that he attended the same university . . .
on needing a summer do-over: the existential stress of "18 summers"
Last week was our first week back at school, and it was a rough one. I found myself feeling pretty down all week. For one, I think I’ve been in a kind of cheerleader denial over Jafta having to go to a separate school. I’ve tried to put on a happy face and seem fine with it for his sake, but the truth is that it’s bumming me out in a major way. It’s inconvenient, to say the least. . . it is literally impossible to pick him up on time given that the twins get out at the same time. . . .
let’s talk about the downton abbey season 3 trailer!
I was a little late to the Downton Abbey craze – but last spring Mark and I finally caved and watched the first season on Amazon.com, and we were immediately hooked. We ended up blowing through season 1 and season 2 within a matter of weeks. I think it is one of my favorite tv series (Arrested Development and Six Feet Under holding the top spots in my heart). The other day Nish posted a link to the season 3 trailer on facebook and I’ve been obsessing over it ever since. Is anyone else . . .
best iphone and ipad apps for preschoolers
Despite the fact that I’ve taken a Rage Against the Homework philosophy for young children, I do really believe in providing a variety of educational experiences for kids at home. We’ve done our best to recreate a Monstessori environment in our playroom, with a variety of educational toys that our kids enjoy. I have to say, though, that it’s the iphone and ipad that provide the most educational motivation for my kids. I’ve found some really amazing apps for my iphone that help . . .
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