When I took Mary Virginia to get her hair cut a few weeks ago, she sidled up to me and asked, “Mommy? Can you ask him to make my hair yellow and flat?” YELLOW AND FLAT?? Of course, two-year old daughter! That’s what I was going to ask for anyway! But we have to hurry because we don’t
A few days ago a good friend asked me for tips on how to baby proof a house. I told her, you have to prioritize. Stop what you’re doing right now and put your Cheetos out of reach. After that it all sort of falls into place. For us, baby proofing has happened naturally. They sort
If Thomas could talk and you asked him about his family, he would probably tell you that he has a brother, a father, and two mothers. These two mothers are mysteriously, constantly at odds. One is best described as a doting bully. Very attentive, but also, quite frankly, dangerous. The second mother spends most of
As holiday celebrations go, we had a very low-key Easter this year. Easter baskets on table, hard-boiled eggs and jelly beans for breakfast. Simple, and still, we were positively scrambling out the door to get to church on time. At some point in the chaos of getting seven people dressed and out the door my
Last fall I took the kids to get new shoes before school. I went to a particular store in Richmond, one that has a reputation for how well they measure and fit shoes for children. Because of this reputation, I consciously ignore their high prices and the 47 other shoe stores I pass while driving
Last fall we were struggling to get in the flow of the preschool schedule. It’s a lot — getting all three kids and myself fed, dressed, and out the door with all their bickering and necessary bags. Plus, Thomas was still very new, and I was spending much of the night awake with him. The year
When it’s cold, I cook exclusively in the oven. I’m not kidding, I scour the house looking for things I can bake. Cookies, bread, pizza, roasted chicken. Pancakes? Can you bake pancakes? WORTH A TRY! The house just feels so much cozier when there’s something in the oven, doesn’t it? This is completely unrelated to
David started preschool over two years ago, just a few weeks after his second birthday (Mary Virginia was barely three months old). Back then he wasn’t potty trained, had no hair, and was barely speaking in sentences. And, he didn’t have an opinion about what he wore so I was able to coordinate his clothes with the
Last weekend Tom took Mary Virginia to a Father Daughter Dance. As he was getting ready, I encouraged him to put on a suit instead of a sport coat. “Some of the dads will be wearing tuxes, Tom. And come here, look. Elizabeth Phillips has already posted photos. Come look at what Sloan’s wearing.” Tom didn’t even
Sometime after Christmas a particular virus hopped on a bulldozer and drove straight into our cozy happy house. The fever and cough started with Mary Virginia, a few days later Thomas got it, then just hours after Thomas’s fever broke, David sidled up to Tom and asked him to put him to bed. The next day, David’s fever climbed,