In kindergarten, I was sick on the day that my class went to the circus, and I missed out on seeing the unicorn. (Or “unicorn” if you prefer.) I was absent so many days in first grade that I could have been retained. One year my extended family had to do a second holiday gathering [...]
Categories: Family,General,Intentional Parenting
1. When your son asks what you are doing, tell him that you are going to exercise. Try not to get too upset when you realize he has no idea what that word means. Mentally calculate how long it’s been since you last exercised. Quickly abandon that advanced math. 2. Set your laptop up in [...]
Categories: Family,Funny Stuff
When I decided to have a (vaguely) Muppety party for Atticus, I thought it would be a good idea to put the words “Muppet party” into Pinterest. It was not a good idea. I wanted things like guaca-wokka-wokka-mole, but instead there were elaborate parties with details I could not hope to duplicate. It took a [...]
At the end of each Sunday morning service, the acolyte snuffs out the candles on the altar, but not before lighting the wick on the candle-lighter to symbolically carry that light back out into the world. A reminder that we carry God’s light with us wherever we go. When we take Atticus anywhere, the question [...]
Categories: Family
(Picture by Mark File.) Does every mother believe that her child is exceptionally musical? My kid loves music. He dances around strumming his blue guitar and he requests certain songs and he pretends to sing into a microphone. On Sunday, we had an idea that we could maybe keep Atticus in the service with us [...]
Categories: Family,General,God,Intentional Parenting
Atticus and I have been walking the streets of our neighborhood, counting political signs and dogs and (of course) trucks. He cranes his head to look for airplanes from the comfort of his stroller. We talk about his day. We watch the leaves fall. Mike made a playlist that features songs we think Atticus can [...]
Categories: Family,Introspection,Music
Yesterday, we had my grandpa’s service, and my mom and her sister and brothers spoke about my grandpa. We sang hymns that I remember singing while standing next to him in the pew. It was a lovely time with family. But something was missing. And that something is the story I am going to tell [...]
Categories: Family
When my mom went back to teaching, my brother and I would stay at my grandparents’ house after school. Grandma would have a snack and the comics page of the paper ready for me. We would play in the carport or ride bikes and then do homework. I read the books on the shelves and [...]
Categories: Family
I’m not afraid of the dark when the sun goes down And the dreams grow teeth and the beasts come out and cast their long shadows Every time they start I’ll be right here with you, I’m not afraid of the dark. -Josh Ritter Atticus has been waking between 4:00 and 5:00 am and needing [...]
In my mind, surely placed there by a thousand ad campaigns and television shows, the working mom stood by the stove, frazzled, while the kid cried his face off nearby. This was the image I had of what our home life would be like when I went back to work. I was shocked and pleased [...]
Categories: Family
My feelings about Atticus were complicated before he was born. We hadn’t met, so even though I cared about and for him, it was difficult having a stranger living inside me. Not to mention that he was (and is) an active boy. When I was pregnant, this meant that he constantly kicked me. It was [...]
Categories: Family,Intentional Parenting,Music
When you are a little girl, your older cousin seems impossibly cool. He has cable at his house, and he has two older brothers and an older sister. They have cats. He teaches you about different things throughout the years: The Hobbit, REM, They Might Be Giants. You use your Fisher Price tape recorder to [...]
Categories: Family,How to save a life
Dear Atticus, You are eighteen months old! One of my students constantly asks how old you are and then says, “Why do you say it in months?” I don’t know. That’s just what you do. Around fifteen or sixteen months, I lost track of how many months I was supposed to say. And what does [...]
Categories: Dear Atticus,Family,Marriage
It amused me, at my brother’s wedding, to be reminded of how different he and I are. Mike and I had our ceremony and readings set early, and one of the things I cared most about was having nice bulletins. At my brother’s wedding, they didn’t set the ceremony until the week of the wedding, [...]
(Or, the liturgy of bedtime.) The Call to Bed Atticus, it is time to watch
Categories: Family,General,Intentional Parenting
When left to his own devices, Atticus happily climbs on top of the table. On top of the couch. On the windowsill. On the bookcase. On the toilet. Mike and I are learning which silences actually mean RED ALERT. We have had our share of bumps and bruises, but Atticus is undeterred. Climbing is so [...]
Categories: Family,General,Intentional Parenting
Atticus and my grandma. When I was 14 or 15, I was handed a copy of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King. I have written about it several times, so all I will say here is that reading about a girl my age who could mentally keep up with Sherlock Holmes was a game [...]
Categories: Family,General,God,Intentional Parenting,Introspection
Two Sundays ago, I picked Atticus up from the nursery and we went out the back door of the church, heading for the car. This was a bit of a miscalculation, because it meant that we had to go by the playground, but I decided not to fight it. He loves climbing up the slide, [...]
Categories: Family
For the next few months, my mom is watching Atticus three days a week. I could explain the reasons to you, but what is really important is that Atticus is getting extra Grammy Time. He still goes to his school two days a week, and other than Monday’s meltdown (which was not repeated on Thursday), [...]
Categories: Family,How to save a life
Atticus has not yet thrown himself down any staircases. He pauses, slightly bent at the waist, at the top of the stairs. Usually. If he is looking. He can climb down using the railing, and he can scoot down on his bottom. But his preferred method is to wait, hand in the air, until someone [...]
Categories: Family,Intentional Parenting