You know, it’s turning into one of those weeks when I realize I have absolutely nothing interesting to say. I had a brief moment of weakness ( or extreme strength, depending on how glass-half-full you are these days) when I thought, “Hey, I’ll just make something up!” but all I could come up with was…
Since Aura started reading illustrated books on her own a while ago, Adam and I decided to start reading her chapter books at bedtime. It’s been an…enlightening experience. I have much to say on the subject, but for now, allow me to cast a modern parenting eye on four classics from my childhood. The Chocolate…
Aura had her five-year physical this week. I’m not sure why I always get a touch anxious when it’s time for one of these things. It doesn’t help that the entire experience always starts with a stint in the waiting room during which Aura cagily eyes all available toy options and then beelines for the…
Forgive me holiday enthusiasts everywhere for saying this, but: Well, thank GOD that’s over. I’m not sure when Halloween became the Holiday Second Only to Christmas, but honestly, it seemed a bit out of control this year. If it wasn’t the Main Street trick-or-treat, it was the dance class where you had to dress in…
Welcome to the end of October, renowned for one very important thing: candy corn. [I hear that you can actually buy the stuff year-round, but I choose to ignore this and maybe doubt it a little. I could look down the candy aisle, say, in March, but I need to hold onto what illusions I…
As a parent, it is gratifying to see your child march to the beat of her own drum. Oh, super. I have to pause this post already because, for the first time in my increasingly longer life, it just hit me what a wildly asinine saying that is. No one wants a kid who marches…
When you are the proud owner of an only child, you also find yourself the proud owner of many board games. Granted, this is mostly because playing a board game is infinitely preferable to that “imaginative play” child psychologists are always crowing about, right before they go home to their child-free houses that practically echo…
I have just now brushed off the old soapbox to bring up a subject that for some reason keeps bothering me: McDonald’s Happy Meals. Oh, wait. You probably think I’m going to talk about how unhealthy they are and how the sodium is through the roof and how the chickens are brutalized and LALALALALA I…
(It’s been a long, long time since I’ve done this. Humor me, please.) When we last visited the Great and Talentless World of Pop Music, we bemoaned Taylor Swift’s assertion that your heart beats in your elbow, as well as Ke$ha’s fervent dislike for the letter “S” and spa nomenclature. I hate to be the…
Recently, I feel like Aura has been left holding the short end of the stick. To be sure, I really don’t know what the short end of a stick entails besides being short, but in this case I think it might involve less playing with your mother and possibly a dab of boredom. There have…