A Baby Elephant in the Matrix
Orlando and I were walking together (on our date!) and we came to the elephants at the zoo. We read a sign about all the ways elephants use their trunks. One of the ways a mama elephant uses her trunk is to guide her baby with it. Instantly, Orlando said, “Pretend I’m a baby elephant [...]
My Favorite Thing
The picture on the left is of houses, trees, mushrooms, and clouds, drawn by Orlando. The triangle shapes above and below are jets, drawn by Mica. The kids each signed their own names — Mica’s is the two rows of letters on the bottom right. Orlando drew the hearts on the envelope. My other favorite [...]
A Peaceful and Vibrant Solstice
We are creating our family traditions for solstice… I am looking forward to seeing how things grow and change (and stay the same). This year, we spent some time on Saturday painting watercolor paper and then cutting out stars, a moon, and one giant sun. We hung everything but the sun on the branches of [...]
Playing Peter Pan Is Perplexingly Pleasing
Who can resist Peter Pan? He’s so sneaky. He’s such a trickster and a braggart. He can fly! He has a sword! And a feather in his cap! I ask you, what six year old boy can resist him? Orlando’s eyes light up whenever he thinks about Peter Pan, especially about Peter Pan tormenting Captain [...]
Not Doing It Alone
I seem to have been often operating under the mistaken impression that I am alone… devastatingly, totally alone, almost all the time. It was a feeling deep inside of me; and even when I was really upset about something, I could sense the disconnect between reason, But you’re not alone! What about your friends? What [...]
In the Sandbox
Here is this week’s {W}rite of Passage challenge… a piece of short fiction. Steven thought they’d go to the park. It would be good to get out of the house. See some people, chase Stevie around and watch him laugh. He started getting himself ready while Stevie zoomed his little cars across the floor. That [...]
Not Forgetting Ourselves
Last week, my friend Debbie and I were I were talking about how change doesn’t happen overnight, that there is effort and practice, and so much support, involved in becoming the people/parents we want to be, and I realized that there was a companion post (or two) to Not Doing Everything waiting to be written. [...]
A Regular Mom
Friday was one of those of days. Those days where I want to crawl into some private place deep inside me and be left alone. But young children don’t understand this. They want you out in the wide open, right there, with them, all the time. Even so, the day wasn’t horrible-terrible, it was more [...]
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