This morning I was walking on the treadmill while checking in with my boys via Tivo.
I’m no fan of Barry Manilow, but he was on the Colbert Report on Monday, and he and Stephen sang a duet. During Stephen’s bit I noticed that the treadmill had slowed way down. I looked down at the cardio […]

On the way to church/preschool, with NPR playing in the background
C: Mommy, he said “killed.” Who’s being killed?
RM: switching off the radioSome people in another country far away from here.
C: Why are they being killed?
RM: Well, the United States is fighting people in a war.
C: Why are they fighting?
Hell if I know!
RM: Well, the United […]

I.
So little she-who-is came to work with me this morning–she seems to feel OK, just a little puny with a low-level fever. So I brought in a couple of videos that she watched while I had a meeting or two.
We walked in first thing this morning and ran into the preschool director. Mrs. S greeted […]

Little she-who-is has a 102.5 fever.
We discovered this just minutes after she threw up on the kitchen floor.
I’m doing a happy consolation dance that the kitchen is hardwood, but that sound you heard was the other shoe dropping!

I am preaching the world’s most boring sermon tomorrow. Really! It bites. But in the immortal words of my sister Will Smama: “If you got a dog, walk it proud.”
The divine miss m is feeling much, much better. She’s just about back to her normal grinning self–nighttime sleep is not quite back to normal though. […]

Tuesday night, 7 p.m. The divine miss m goes to sleep after much cajoling, rocking and Benadryl.
10 p.m. RM and the Mr. go to sleep.
11 p.m. M is awake again and manages to settle down for 10-minute stretches–just long enough for one or both of her parents to settle back into their own bed. Then […]

(it’s only fair)
3 1/2 years
37 pounds
2 braids
20 teeth
2 bruised-up shins
1 dimple
437 questions a day

Spent the weekend on retreat with the twenties and thirties group from church. We were in a large house on a lake, and we did very little. My head of staff would be appalled with me for not planning something structured, but 1) it’s not really my role with that group and 2) people didn’t […]

C, in the car earlier:
[doing the hand motions]
“Here is the church, here is the steeple,
open the door and see all the people.”
C: What’s this? [folding fingers under]
Me: The church.
C: What’s this? [pointing index fingers]
Me: The steeple.
C: What’s this? [turning hands upside down]
Me: The people.
C: What’s this? [pointing out the window]
Me: I don’t know.
C: [in duh! […]

R is out grocery shopping with M so I have a few moments…

There are times in life and ministry when one just has SO much to do–and it’s ALL urgent AND important–that it just becomes laughable. I actually prefer those phases to the times when I could, theoretically, get it all done if I just […]

three pairs of shorts and shirts; one dress
three pairs of socks, underwear: two princesses and an elmo
elly doll and one of her two nuggies
visor made from craft foam with her name on it
the santa brush (stocking stuffer from last christmas)
toothbrush with the suction cup on the bottom
winnie the pooh toothpaste
purple bathing suit with flowers
swim “googles”
two […]

on the far side of the lake
a carousel churns its white horses,
a train cuts a red gash in the field,
a rainbow tube slide spits out toddlers;
but on the banks she chose,
brown, green scrapes the sky,
white shoes wallow in the muck,
and the hem of an orange sherbet dress
melts into the water.

The divine miss m, at the ripe young age of 7 1/2 months, can walk while pushing a chair along in front of her. I am nonplussed. I am aghast.
A reminder to parents of babies new to solids: green peas are a legume… a painful gas-producing legume.
Little she-who-is seems to be working out fears. She’s […]

The divine miss m is seven months old today. To celebrate, she slept from 7:15 p.m. to 6:15 a.m. with only a brief snack at 5:30. Blessed be. Of course she just finished her morning nap, which is often 90 minutes long; this morning it was maybe 40…
When asked to explain herself, she replied, “Ba […]

little she-who-is
On the way to swimming lessons this evening:
RM: [eating a bagel energy bar]
[to C] Wanna bite?
[C takes a bite, passes it back]
RM: Do you want another bite?
C: No.
[a little later]
RM: Wanna bite?
C: No.
[a little later]
RM: Wanna bite?
C: No! Mommy stop asking me!
RM: OK.
…Hey guess what?
C: What?
RM: You wanna bite?
C: No! [smiling]
[a little later]
RM: Hey […]

twenty-eight
twenty-nine
twenty…
a confused pause, a quick conference
with a deeper voice—
thirty,
and i crouch behind the brown chair,
head bowed but neck turned, eyes wide on the place
where she will appear.
my whole life, i have hated this part, the
breathless silence after the counting, the
frantic beating in the brain, the stalking,
swishing tip-toe of socks, the pouncing,
never-knowing-when—the
unpredictable inevitable.
but the way we […]

Random stuff
• We came home to no Internet, which is why the blog has been dark for several days. Bah! Obviously, it’s back now.
• Speaking of blogging, check out this Post article about clergy-blogs, featuring one of the RevGals!
• I’m thinking about growing out my hair.
Vacation Wrapup
• We left Maine Saturday morning at 7:30 […]

Busy, fun day—in short, we went to City by the Sea to visit with Songbird while others went shopping; also visited the rocky coast and watched the tide crash in. We’re on our way to see fireworks in a few minutes.
Last night both girls were fit to be tied—neither got much naptime during the day […]

Another unedited piece. Little she-who-is took her first boat ride yesterday–a little fishing boat with small motor. I wondered what it was like from her point of view.
first, i put on a vest
that framed my face in orange.
nobody else did this.
then, i sat on a cushion,
which i gripped with two sweaty hands,
between my parents:
daddy […]

It’s 9:30 p.m. and I will be asleep soon. Yes.
The divine miss m plays with her hair while falling asleep–twirling it, running her hands through it. Aww.
She is cutting the second tooth so she’ll have a matched set. Her cries activate my flight reflex. I can’t do anything for her beyond what I’m doing, and […]