Bryan made mention of “his son” last night, and I noted we’d have all kinds of new phrases to throw around after this baby’s born. I told him that I still remembered how remarkable it was the first time I said, “I’m Ava’s mom,” as I walked into the NICU the day after she was [...]
Archive for the ‘Parenting’ Category
20 Jan
“I can’t even carpe fifteen minutes in a row, so a whole diem is out of the question.”
My friend Lori shared this brilliant parenting article by Glennon Melton—it’s the perfect answer to the common refrain of “Enjoy every minute of this, it goes by so quickly.” Turns out, my (silent) response of “THANK GOD” is not entirely inappropriate. A few excerpts: “Every time I’m out with my kids — this seems to [...]
5 Oct
“We’ve got spirit, how ’bout you?”
Nope. No spirit here. Each year, the KU spirit squad hosts a fundraiser. For about fifty bucks, you can send your little cheerleader down to the sidelines to cheer on the Jayhawks during a football game. One of Ava’s sitters cheers competitively at the high school level, and she invited Ava to participate. I thought [...]
29 Jan
Parenting is hard, but also kind of awesome
A special edition of “Overheard,” as it pertains the previous post: — Olivia’s preschool teacher, Karina: “Your daughter is doing really well. She’s so sweet and well behaved, and she is very obedient.” Me: “I’m Rebecca, Olivia’s mom.” Karina: “I know….” Me: “Oh! Right. Great, then.” — Me: “Ava, don’t you remember the conversation we [...]
27 Jan
Parenting is hard, part 312 of 1,290.
I think, honestly, I am good at a lot of things. Unfortunately, I am not sure parenting is one of them. Especially between the hours of 7-8 am and 5-6 pm. Not to mention bedtime… Any tips from parents who found ways to make these parts of the day a bit easier to manage? How [...]
16 Oct
Guilty as charged
An article about toddlers and iPhones landed on the New York Times’ homepage this morning, and despite the adorable headline—”Hi, Grandma! (Pocket Zoo hold)“—I was reluctant to read it. I already know Ava and Olivia spent way too much time with our iPhones, and Olivia is pretty sure Bryan purchased the iPad for her use [...]
26 Jul
The backlash against overparenting
When Ava was a baby, I worried about EVERYTHING. I think my exhaustion as a new parent was due primarily to this stress—even more so than relatively sleepless nights. I’m not completely reformed, but I do remind myself of two things quite regularly: People are generally good, and my children will be fine. This mantra [...]
12 Jun
Potty training in one day
After months of flak from Bryan, I decided to get serious about potty training Olivia. Ava was fully trained at two years and three months (after one horrible week in which we decided to do away with pull-ups cold turkey). Olivia is two and a half, and so it seems she should be ready. I’m [...]
22 Oct
Then how will they hear me?
An article in the New York Times claims “for some parents, shouting is the new spanking.” I distinctly remember being in Target shortly after Ava was born. She was sound asleep in her carseat in the shopping basket, perfectly still and angelic, and I was completely, helplessly, impossibly in love. As I shopped, I saw [...]
3 Aug
Troublesome teething toddler
For the past few days, our normally sweet toddler has been holding us captive, torturing us with her most powerful tool of terror: sleep deprivation. Instead of snoozing soundly for 11 hours a night, she’s waking multiple times, screaming so loudly I’m surprised we haven’t had a visit from the city police. Apparently, she’s cutting [...]
