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…
Tag: motherhood
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…
The Morning Grind
Getting my children, my husband and myself out the door on weekday mornings is not my greatest gift. The person I am in those few hours is absolutely not my best self. I may be doing the next right thing, but I am not very nice about it. Every week night, I go to…
Do more, be more?
My husband has been on me for a while to do less. He says it will allow me to be more.
The Dirtiest Car in the World
Yesterday Ellie was acting weird at school, so I picked her up early and decided to keep her home today to watch her. At school, her teacher said she kept falling asleep throughout the morning and didn’t want to participate in anything. Typically a Mrs. Kravitz, this was a sign that she likely wasn’t feeling…
Implied Happiness
I read a quote online the other day from a woman who was giving parenting advice: Always smile when talking to your children so that they remember you that way. My husband put our daughter, Ellie, in the shower last night to get her clean. Every other time she takes a shower, we have to…
Pinball Wizard
“Can you try to calm down?” Ben asked me. I dropped what I was doing in the kitchen, said I would be back later, picked up my keys and wallet and walked (some might say “stormed”) out the front door. It was 10:30 a.m. Gus had been screaming all morning. Ellie was getting into everything…
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
Ellie has been playing make-believe a lot lately. When she is not watching, I catch her feeding her baby dolls. She gives them bottles and pats them on the back to burp. She talks and reads books to them. She picks them up and hugs them all. And she sings to them too. Sometimes I…
A Study of Contradiction
When Jack was a baby, I rocked him every night before bed while he drank his milk. Ben read to us chapters from novels like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Count of Monte Cristo and did his best to ignore my crying. It never failed; I always got teary-eyed as Jack rested against…
typically not typical 