Evening time can often be chaotic, and a bit challenging, with four tired cranky little people (and a tired Mama). To get the wiggles out before bed, we often go for walks and take along a trash bag (and a recycling bag, too) and our “grabbers”. This is a slow way to walk, but keeps […]
Browsing Category: Parenting
Parenting / Social Justice
Shoe Shopping is Not for the Faint of Heart
“Why do you have a girl water bottle?!” I paused hearing this child’s reprimanding voice from where I had just dropped off the littles for their summer camp. Slowly, I turned around to determine if I needed to intervene. Henry, then 4 years old, looked at his pink water bottle and then back up with a […]
Parenting
Re-enchanting the Ordinary
Some days the enchantment is easier to find than others. Amidst the mundane blur of laundry and cooking and tidying and baths, and through the frightening moments of braving the dark of cancer, there are moments of joy, bursts of love, and glimpses of hope. From the outside, it may seem endearing, those endless questions […]
Parenting
Seeds of Consent
Consent. “Permission for something to happen or be done: agreement about an opinion or about something that will happen or be done. (Webster Dictionary, 2018) I have been thinking and thinking and thinking about this concept, this social construct, this skill that I, myself, am still trying to learn while I am also now responsible […]
Parenting
Helping Hands
It all started out with the creative chalk drawings during out outside time. While we were making our grand creations of tracing someone and then decorating them, a man in a wheelchair, along with his dog, rolled past us. The littles immediately noticed him and called out inviting them to play. As with most young […]
Parenting
All Aboard Our Summer Adventure
Many adventures begin with a lot of excitement and a bit of trepidation. This one was no different. Our grand summer adventure included an overnight train trip followed by a six-hour road trip to arrive at our campsite where we slept in a tent for five days before repeating in reverse the same travel trip […]
Parenting
Dinner and Shopping
“Wow! Only two of them?! We can do ANYTHING we want!!” This was my first thought yesterday, as the boys were off getting their haircut and I found that I had an unexpected opportunity for time with just the girls. You see, the planning, or rather the flexibility of navigating the unexpected, that goes […]
Parenting
Laughing Gulls Don’t Laugh
It’s 6:30 pm. We should be getting ready for bed. The routine takes about an hour, no matter how I try to rush it. I vaguely remember when I used to make plans that only just started at 8:30 pm. Toddlers thrive on routine. And they can sniff out parent weakness like a seasoned salesperson […]
Parenting / Relationship
Our Feeling’s Barometer
As I sit and wait and wonder, yet again, in a hospital for my partner to be released from surgery (for her port), I try to hold back the tears, but they fall anyway. The veracity of the cancer hangs in the air. Our love is strong, and although she is fighting against all odds, […]
Parenting / Relationship
Our New Normal
The past few weeks have been busy adjusting to that gut-wrenching news of advanced stages of cancer. Every time I start to write, I end up teary and unable to see the words. Our world has been topsy-turvy as we navigate the recovery from surgery and the preparation for chemotherapy. At our first meeting to […]