The calendar declared that spring had arrived weeks ago, yet the snow kept falling every few days. Temperatures hovered well below freezing, dancing temptingly close to breaching zero every so often, before scurrying back down to miserably cold. Happiness that the snow no longer stuck so firmly to the ground was tempered by the realisation […]
Category: Parenting
Entering the apartment with two kids after being out in the snow is no small feat. First, I have to get the stroller through a narrow and heavy door before it swings shut. Then I haul bags of groceries up the steps to the inner door. Followed by carrying the wriggling toddler. The real bottleneck […]
There is something about this precious in-between time. Hovering at the edge of daytime duties and the slow fall into sleep. Something you only truly appreciate when you have young children in the house 24/7, and are never ever alone. Those few short minutes when the entire house has gone to sleep, except for […]
“Mammy, my tooth is moving!” announces the five-year-old one evening. “Oh,” I say to this latest proclamation. Knowing that it may or may not actually be true upon further investigation. “Did you bang your mouth or anything recently?” “Um… yes,” he says. I start to be a little concerned. “You banged your mouth and your […]
By the time it’s all done… Everyone has been fed their breakfast. They’re both scrubbed clean of peanut butter smears. Porridge cement scraped off the tables and chairs. Floors swept of debris and crumb trails. Dishwasher unloaded into cupboards, then reloaded with dirty dishes—removing the toddler as he attempts to climb inside or steal a sharp […]
He struts alongside me – on the alert for airplanes, insects… or sticks. You can never have enough sticks. I’m struck by how tall and lean he has become. A young boy. Not an ounce of baby chub remains. Every week he stretches a little closer to the sky. He wanders along with a running […]
“What did you do today at camp?” “I was drooling”. “Drooling? Um, ok.” … “Oh wait, do you mean you were drilling things?” “Yeah, drooling! I was drooling today. Like I said!” My eldest child is caring, smart, curious, stubborn, strong-willed, persistent and highly entertaining. He has the potential to be an amazing adult as […]
Finding your tribe. It’s something you hear mentioned often, particularly when it comes to motherhood. Because ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, as the old saying goes. We all have our tribes, whether familial or otherwise. We get comfortable amongst them. The task of finding a new one is daunting, to say the […]
It’s somewhere between 8 and 9pm. For the second time in half an hour I unlatch my baby. His head lolls back, limbs flopping towards the ground. I carefully lower him to the bed. One. Two. Three… He grunts, kicks his legs out, rolls over and is crawling before his eyes are open. He’s like […]
There’s so much controversy over breastfeeding that a lot of attention in the media is focused on debating whether it’s breastfeeders or formula-feeders that are put under more pressure. The simplest answer is that both are under different kinds of pressure that they don’t want. The underlying issue we should be debating is enabling women […]
