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I only have two kiddos, right? And one of them can just barely roll over, so I’m a pretty benign baby-household neighbor. And they’re cute, right? Sorta feral looking, but cute. Still, I’m guilty of several of the following indicators that my neighbors live next door to someone with children: 1) You think a feral cat is being attacked by coyotes but it’s the baby protesting (insert any plethora of things here). 2) You feel like you live near a nudist colony but really it’s just that the kids are constantly protesting clothing during the summer, or are mid-clothing change, or are potty training, or are getting their daily vitamin D dosage. SuperBoy was streaking up & down the driveway tonight after running through the sprinkler with his Dada. The neighbors were totally looking (aghast?). 3) You believe there’s a perpetual garage sale of plastic toys transpiring but really it’s just all the stuff that your neighbors just acquired at a garage sale that is now the eye sore of the neighborhood. 4) You hear the same screaming toddler perform the same screams every night no, he’s not auditioning for the local opera company, he’s expressing his feelings about coming indoors and being separated from his precious baseball paraphernalia. 5) Anytime you need to borrow whole yogurt or milk, prefold diapers, or matchbox cars, you know to come to my house because we should own stock in Stonyfield Yogurt (despite my attempts at making my own {Yogurt Challenge}) and Horizon…
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This is part 17 of our Birth & Parenting Series. Our other parts can be found on the front page under “Birth & Parenting Series” toward the bottom, or linked here. Thanks to Liv for this guest post! She shares with us her method of potty training. Yes, you can train your young toddler with determination and the right tools–way to go, parents and way to go, little V. — I’ve had a great time potty training my 19 month old. Yes, I know, “great” and “potty training” are not words often associated with each other. So, for this reason, I feel obligated to share my experience with other parents. Our approach was simple. We put V in underwear. When she peed (or pooped) in her pants, we took her to the bathroom, sat her on the potty if she was willing, changed her pants, and commented on how nice it is to be dry. Within two and a half weeks she would occasionally go in the toilet, and within three weeks she was almost never wet; and more often than not pooped in the right place too! I knew we’d have success sooner than later, but have been more than pleasantly surprised by how soon, and how easy, the whole process has been. As a preschool teacher I’ve seen more than my fair share of two and half up to three and a half year olds still in diapers. Of course, parents have all different reasons for this. They may…
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We’ve all had failed parenting days. We’ve certainly all had failed partnering days. Sometimes we have both. Somedays, like SuperBoy here, we just have to play with a wind chime while clutching our hunting camo hat in hand. See below for six phrases to repeat while parenting & partnering for a better stab at both. I say all of these often. 1) I am sorry. Drop your defenses. If you were rude and impatient with your child, model humility. Ask for forgiveness. If you just sniped at your partner, stop, rewind, and apologize without a litany of excuses. They will understand; they have failed moments too. The child might not understand, but luckily he or she usually has the memory span of a goldfish. 2) I love you. Remind your kiddos you love them multiple times a day. Consciously say it aloud. Tell your partner you love them at least twice, when you wake up and before you go to sleep. Text it to them. Write them a note on the bathroom mirror. You can’t say this enough, in any version–written, sung, spoken, demonstrated. 3) This is coming from a place of love. My sister wisely shared this as a great phrase when communicating with your loved ones, especially if what follows it is an explanation of your hurt feelings, disappointment, or frustration. It’s impossible to sincerely follow this up with a nasty comment. Let your emotions and thoughts truly channel through a place of love. Because even when you…
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This is part 16 of our Birth & Parenting Series. Our other parts can be found on the front page under “Birth & Parenting Series” toward the bottom, or linked here. This is a story of loss, and having to deal with the pain of miscarriage, a terribly common burden on women today but one that goes unspoken all too often. LR writes about her experience here and I hope this can bring some community and understanding around a difficult topic. When your plan for children hasn’t gone the way you hoped, and everyone around you is having children, it can feel isolating. She writes beautifully and poignantly that you are not alone. — We had been trying for over a year, which I mention only to explain my hyper-awareness of anything and everything that could be interpreted as a pregnancy symptom. Over the course of several days earlier this year, I noticed multiple changes that just HAD to be pregnancy-related. As such, a sudden bout with nasal congestion had me in a serious quandary about whether or not it was safe for me to take medication. Though it was still two days before my period was due to start, I decided a pregnancy test was warranted. And just like that, there it was . . . a positive result! Okay, okay, I admit that the result was very faint but a positive is a positive, right? A few days later my period was late and I was ecstatic. It…
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This post is the kick-off to our Domestic Arts Series. I began it when I was 8 months pregnant, and have finally finished it! My sister & Joe have been together forever. Or practically forever. And Joe’s been brewing beer for quite some part of that forever. And we’ve all (except me when pregnant & nursing) been enjoying that beer for all of that part of the forever! I interviewed and photo-journaled Joe about his love of homebrew. I hope this inspires you to do your own! There are now three homebrew stores in the Metro–a good sign that this isn’t just a growing trend, it’s an established pastime. Joe is experienced in homebrew. He originally chose Northern Brewer (with a St. Paul Grand Ave location and a new one open in Minneapolis) as his supplier because of a trusted friend’s recommendation, and hasn’t regretted it a minute. Given Joe and Bridget’s chic downtown living arrangements, brewing completely from scratch isn’t feasible. That’s only for monks in Europe with large monastic grounds, or people who live in houses with basements or garages, or who live in a commune with a commercial sized stove (us). Why brew your own beer? Joe says you get a lot of beer, and a lot of fun. With a little bit of time on a Sunday afternoon, you can brew 2 cases of beer, pretty much cheaper than microbrew specialty beer, or comparable. You get a vast array of options, and you build up a…
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My sister has been here for a week with her adorable baby girl V who is just about 1 year old. SuperBoy and SweetPea are so lucky to have a cousin! It’s been wonderful for many reasons, but most fascinating has been watching the two older children interact, and then also watching SweetPea watch them. It’s layers upon layers of learning. Most keenly I think SuperBoy has influenced V’s language and coordination. She’s added a few words to her vocab, complete with what appears to be a real understanding about what those words correspond to. He’s a real talker at 25 months, full discernible sentences and a highly developed vocab. She says “babeh” and “dahh” for baby and dog now! And she’s really a “cruiser” now, and took two whole steps together toward SuperBoy. Her first two steps! He seems to like crawling toward her and then getting up and running away, to see if she’ll follow suit. Almost, buddy! How amazing to learn from one another, and to learn good things, that is, as many a germ & bad habit have been passed from kid to kid. We all loved watching them watch each other, and celebrating my brother & his fiance’s forthcoming wedding, and just all being together. Family is so precious. Our precious niece, V. SuperBoy insisted on wearing his dad’s purple tie over his own. So yes, he is wearing two ties in this photo. It was that kind of party. SweetPea living it up in…
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