Over the years, I’ve gleaned a few pieces of wisdom from other moms that I’ve learned the truth of firsthand myself now through experience. Two that have particularly resonated: “5 kids is as hard as 4, is as hard as 3, is as hard as 2, is as hard as 1.” My mother-in-law said this …
Before I was a parent, I thought the “Why” stage was funny—I imagined a 4-year-old thoughtfully asking simple yet profound questions (“Why aren’t there always rainbows after it rains?” “Why do I have hair on my arms?” “Why do your shoes have heels and mine don’t?”) that would give her parents pause, make them wonder …
If I’m being honest, parenting books make me wary–I’ve so often found that at the same time they give me concrete strategies that I can put into practice, they also give me a guilt complex that I’m not doing everything I should be doing to be the best parent I can be. True, I have …
We are now almost two weeks into this whole parents-of-two business, and one thing is for sure (at least in our experience): The transition from one to two has NOT been quite the smooth sailing experience that everyone seemed to tell me it would be. Ever since I started paying attention, it seems that the …
Something I’ve been thinking about more and more as the time gets closer for Baby #2’s arrival is that we are quickly nearing the end of our comfort zone as we currently know it—a comfort zone that’s been solidly in place for around a year, if not more. With my daughter’s whole first year of …
Whenever I thought about becoming a parent, potty training was always one of the things that freaked me out the most. I mean, how on earth do you train a toddler to go from wearing diapers constantly to knowing how to tell you that they need to go to the bathroom? And when I …
Upon embarking on any venture in life, most of us have some kind of expectation attached to the outcome of that venture. I decided to make cookies yesterday…I expected they would be delicious. (They were.) I went to a kickboxing class last night…I expected it would kick my butt. (It did. I can barely …
I think sometimes people (myself included) forget that even though you might have an “easy” (or a “happy” or “good-natured”) child, that same child is still entitled to her fair share of hard moments, toddler meltdowns, and general whiny-ness. And that those moments are okay. They are normal. They are part of growing up. As …
