Braedan and I just finished Charlotte’s Web, keeping us up much later on the night before the first day of school than I should have allowed. I warned him yesterday that the ending would make me cry, an idea that fascinated him all day, as he waited with breath equally bated for the end of the […]
We went to visit Braedan’s school on Tuesday. We just showed up and got buzzed in, so I could show him around since we did all the orientation/Open House/playdates at Boulevard before we bought the new house. The secretary walked us around, showed us the music room and art room, the gym and library. We checked out […]
While I’m on the subject of cute things Braedan has said, I might as well share the very funniest thing to ever come out of his mouth. This was right after Austin was born, around the time Braedan referred to “Mommy’s milk containers” (I’ll let you ponder for a moment which body parts he was talking […]
We finally got Braedan’s teacher’s name in the mail (Mrs. Murphy) and his assigned first day (Thursday, Sept 3 — the kindergarteners are split into thirds for the first three days for a calmer transition) making this all so real. My little guy, suddenly a big boy about to go off to real school. Wow. It’s funny, as a […]
Every day we know we’re lucky to have Austin. As I’ve said before, I try hard not to hover over him, I push myself to let him be a normal kid, taking risks and falling down and all that. But sometimes, I let him go too far. On Wednesday, after the funeral of our friend’s mother, there […]
And so, another year goes by. July 30, 2007 was the day. The Day that everything changed. A day that started out like any other summer Monday. And ended with me and Mark sitting on a couch in a hospital room, holding on to each other for dear life, unable to finish our sentences, barely able […]
One of the most common reasons I hear for why people choose private over public schools is that they want their children to have “peers.” Now I will readily admit that I don’t want Braedan to be the only white kid in his class, any more than I would want him to be the only boy in […]
Alright, here goes … I have tried to keep myself from writing on this topic because I know it is a deeply personal one for many families, but as the school year draws near, I cannot avoid it any longer. And I know I am bound to offend many people, people I really like and consider my […]
Sometimes I think I can’t wait for the days when Mark and I just send the kids upstairs to put on their own pajamas and brush their own teeth and then we’ll show up ten minutes later for a quick kiss and tuck into bed (it does work like that, parents-of-twelve-year-olds, doesn’t it?). Instead we get a long, drawn-out routine […]
A while back, Real Simple magazine launched a contest where they asked people to write about the most important day of their lives. Not the best day. But the most significant. I broke the rules a little (or a lot) because there are just too many. July 30, 2007: This must be the most important […]