Every morning, Thomas starts his day by slipping out of bed and silently making his way through the house. When he gets to my room, he opens the door without a sound and tiptoes to my side of the bed where he whispers, “Hi, Mom. Do you want to Beyblade with me?” That’s how I
One of the things I love about having a blog for this long is that on any holiday or season, I can easily look back and see how my family has grown and changed through the years. Easter egg dyeing is a great example. This is a tradition that dramatically changes as your kids get
After Anna’s speech therapy evaluation, the therapist told us that she would probably have a “language explosion” in the next few months. That was a little more than a month ago, and while I think we’re still waiting on the explosion, she’s definitely had a speech…spark. Her pronunciation is still her weakest area, but she’s
I’ve mentioned before that Thomas doesn’t know colors. Actually, let me rephrase. Thomas refuses to conform to the names society has given colors. Instead of using the names of the colors that you and I use, he came up with his own. For example, instead of red, green, blue, and yellow, Thomas would say David
Most families don’t talk about this, but there is usually one family member that takes up most of the energy and patience. Sometimes it’s the oldest, sometimes it’s the toddler, sometimes it’s the mom. For the past month, it’s been the almost-two-year-old. It happened out of nowhere. One day I was talking with Tom’s mom
Anna is 22 months old, but I’ve started telling people that she’s almost two. When David was Anna’s age he had a baby sister, was about to start preschool, and was running for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. Anna’s almost two. It’s high time all you people accept that she’s not a
A week after the big kids started back to school, Thomas started preschool. He didn’t want to hold his bag like I asked; he wanted to hold this plane instead. FOUR! What a difference a year makes. Thomas went to school wearing the same shirt David wore to the first grade, and hand-me-down Crocs with
A lot happened this month, but few things are more monthly-update-worthy than international travel. After flying with a 20-month old I can confidently say, zero out of five stars DO NOT RECOMMEND. It’s not that she screamed the entire time, it’s just that she didn’t stop moving, not once. She seemed like she was in
Last weekend Tom’s grandmother’s neighborhood had a little carnival with a petting zoo, face painting, balloons, and vendors passing out plastic trinkets. Actually, “carnival” might be overstating the event. But since my kids haven’t really been to a true carnival, we’re sticking with it. Carnival or not, this sort of thing is a kid paradise,
A few weeks before the end of school I started packing little treats in the kids’ lunches. Nothing too over-the-top — just things I don’t normally pack, like fruit snacks or cookies. I also started a very lazy alphabet countdown. In the morning I’d announce, “Today is O day! What should we do?” Then the