My husband was asked to speak at my son’s elementary school this year for career day. I was a little jealous that what I do all day every day is nothing that anyone wants to hear about, especially kids, but also wondered how many kindergarteners would care to hear from a guy in a stuffy…
Author: heatherphonaker
Though she was born beneath the azalea bushes of south Alabama, Heather Honaker has enjoyed living in Little Rock, Arkansas for nearly 10 years. After over a decade in arts management, she is taking a turn as a writer and copy editor. In her spare time, she can be found laughing with her husband Ben, big boy Jack, daughter Ellie, baby Gus and fluffy white dog Skooart. Only one of them has Down syndrome, but they all think they are special.
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. …
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Ant Bed
I have been washing the same load of laundry for two days. The first time I loaded all of that dirty laundry in the washing machine, I had no idea I would forget to put it in the dryer two times yesterday and three times today. I started the load as a woman full of…
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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…
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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…
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typically not typical 