Something happened the other day. It didn’t happen when I was around. My husband was the one who witnessed it. “I have something I want to tell you, but I feel like I shouldn’t,” he said. Of course, he had to tell me then. There was no way I was going to let it go….
Anxiety + Hope
“Don’t you have a kid with something wrong with it?” I was asked this week by a person I hadn’t seen in a while.
I wanted to roll my eyes and leave while waving my middle finger in the air, but I caught myself.
Little Girl Hearts
“Do lizards have hearts?” My youngest kid is very curious about the most random things, and so the “yes” I said in reply came out with a smidge of apprehension. I never know what follow ups will come next from him. Turns out, the questions were pretty easy to answer: “Do buildings have hearts?”…
The Platinum Rule
I have knowledge of many things, but none of that knowledge is deep. I am used to using elementary language to settle battles and am constantly strategizing to stay one step ahead of the small tyrants around me who fight to rule the world, but I seem to find myself running step behind the rest…
Christmas Caroling
A few months ago, my husband told the younger two kids that Santa would bring them a real dog if they started using the potty. A switch flipped in the youngest’s head and he has been diaper free – except for nap and bedtime – ever since. Ellie is still working on it, but is…
Seasons change
The weather turned this weekend, and we had our first cold snap. Luckily my mom always sends one outfit per kid right before each season change just so I am not caught off guard. Their clothes were fine for the lower temperatures, but one warm jacket for one cold August Benjamin Honaker was lacking. …
Them and Us
“We’ve got one of them at home,” a man I had never met told me while Ellie and I were waiting for a haircut one sunny afternoon. That, or a slight variation of that, is something I have heard many times. It is the honest truth when I say I can’t take Ellie anywhere without…
Below Average
At 3 a.m. about three weeks ago, I realized that my daughter, Ellie, is 4 years old. Next year she will be 5 years old. At 5 years old, she will be old enough to start kindergarten. I’ve been wondering how this happened ever since. “Sometimes I really don’t like being Ellie’s mom,” I said…
Best-Case Scenario
“Once she was born I was never not afraid,” said writer Joan Didion about her daughter. Children make me nervous. All of them, and they always have. Even my own. One, out of all of the children in the world, terrifies me. She strikes a physical fear reaction in my body. Because of her, I…
typically not typical 