Name Game

Let me tell you about my children’s names. Or, not exactly. When I started this blog I was squeamish about having our identity out there, so I only gave my family members’ initials, and I never included current pictures of the girls’ faces. It’s gotten to be a little bit silly at this point, since … [Read more…]

The Divine Miss M

Last night was Back to School Night for the middle school. M loves middle school. She is delighted to go each morning. Even better, she is unbelievably motivated about homework and studying right now, which is wonderful, because in the past she’s been rather blasé about grades. She did pretty well with minimal effort and … [Read more…]

The Girls Lately

The girls are playing with friends–J’s down the street, and although it’s getting past dark and I should call her in, I can’t quite bear to do it, since tomorrow night will be a (sniff!) school night, so it’s really her last summer evening. M’s been gallivanting all day with several friends. So I thought … [Read more…]

Getting Oriented

Wednesday was Middle School Orientation for M. She’s been super-excited about middle school for months now, and it was only, say, Tuesday night that I actually saw some low-level anxiety. Back in June parents had received the advice that we might want to get a combination lock for kids to practice opening, because kids are … [Read more…]

Yikes

The other day, J asked me to do something that appalled me. And impressed me. And grossed me out. I’ll give you a hint. . . “Oh, no!” you might be thinking. Oh, yes. Here’s  the other end of the string: This was all J’s idea. I wouldn’t do this to a child unless the … [Read more…]

Making Cheesy Eggs

Deep into the summer schedule, I was just rousing myself as Cute W hustled upstairs to take a shower for work. “J wants cheesy eggs,” he told me. Apparently, the spinach-enriched eggs were only a passing fancy. She’s back to plain ol’ cheese and eggs, and she’s back to asking Daddy for them. That’s because … [Read more…]

Damn Kids

My children were driving me crazy today. What’s so wonderful about parenting more than one child is that each child has her own unique personality with her own, special ways to make me nuts. M will argue over the most ridiculous, ridiculous things. She is Orwellian. In fact, I often have conversations with her and … [Read more…]

July 4th was, for us, also The Festival of Popcorn

On July 3rd, J’s palate expander was removed. Since, umm, December, I think, J’s had an appliance affixed to the roof of her mouth, which meant that eating popcorn or sticky items like caramel or Tootsie Rolls was forbidden. J took these dietary restrictions very, very seriously. I had never noticed how much popcorn folks … [Read more…]