[The room-sharing is going very well, by the way.]
So this morning C didn’t want to get dressed—cozy bed and all that—so I suggested she get dressed under the covers. I told her about getting dressed in my sleeping bag while camping and how the sleeping bag kept me warm in the chilly tent. She […]

So after getting C’s room in order to welcome her little sister, and having a perfectly uneventful bedtime, complete with pictures and stories and drifting easily to sleep…
It was the night from hell.
M woke up at 11:30 screaming NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! Over and over. Lather, rinse, repeat every 20-30 minutes for the […]

who had the divine miss M by the hand as I was rushing around trying to find her*:
I was too relieved to say thanks, so, thanks. A lot.
*longest 90 seconds of my life

photo from here

Here are some of my favorite words the divine miss M uses:

gah-gen: water (I don’t quite get that one but it’s cute)
duck: stuck (when she can’t get down from the chair)
dah-dah: MaDear
ah: yes (I actually think that’s “yeah”—I know, I know, but I say it all the time)
tiss: tissue
peep: anything that happens in her diaper
wah-woo: […]

I have no idea where this came from. Other than the fact that my girls get the hiccups a lot.

There was a little princess; Little-She was her name,
She had a sister M, who was a princess just the same.
They’d play and giggle all day long, and splish-splash in the tub,
Until the fun was interrupted with […]

“For My Daughter, Who Insisted on Being Rocked to Sleep Two Days before I Leave for Scotland”

Thank you.

(That’s half birthday)
The divine miss m is 18 months old today.
You are our trickster child, our joker, our adventurer who stands on wastebaskets beneath open second-story windows, who has already been to the ER, who makes messes and blows kisses. You were the one who kept me guessing in the last weeks of pregnancy, with […]

There’s a rumor that persists in sermons and churchy articles that Nelson Mandela said the following in his inaugural address as president of South Africa: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure…”
It’s actually a nice enough sentiment, but friends, he did NOT […]

We just spent our first evening in urgent care with M. I forgot to ask for my frequent flyer card before we left.
I had back-to-back commitments this evening and discovered a voice mail on my cell as I was driving to meeting #2. (Damn vibrate mode!) M fell down the stairs at bedtime, hitting her […]

“Na-na!”
That’s M’s name for little she-who-is.

So I’m home with M today since she does, indeed, have another you-know-what. Oh, bah. And we had gone so long without one!
On the upside, I’m glad that her crankiness and restlessness at night can be attributed to something.
So I was feeding the two of us lunch today—she was eating chunky soup and yogurt, which […]

hand in hand,
it takes you five steps to realize—
wait, there was something;
you retrace. it’s a rock?
a wedge of terra cotta,
and you grab it.
further down the hill
you see it: fat dandelion!
you pluck it smartly
with the other hand,
put the fuzz to your mouth,
and puff
ffff-ffff
through your nose.
five cottony seeds grab your lip;
still you shuffle on,
a stalk of lazy […]

hi
bye
kitty
daddy
mama
elmo (meh-muh)
book
potty
diaper
uh oh
all done (ah dah)
balloon (boowoo or boo, my favorite)

clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp
clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp
clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp
point
Bee-ah dah! clomp clomp clomp clomp
stop
Bah! Bah! Hi!
clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp
clomp clomp stop crouch
clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp
Uh-dah? Dah? Bah! Hi!
wave
clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp
.
..
…
clompclompclompclompclompclompclompclomp
i was […]

We had a big meeting at church on Saturday so C&M spent the night at MaDear’s. It didn’t go quite as smoothly as last time. M was up throughout the night for some reason. Could’ve been teeth or the teething fever she had; she might have gotten overtired from only having two 30-minute naps the […]

We’re in trouble.

I’d like to keep the poetry format going but I’m not feeling inspired in the least.
Tomorrow is my oral surgery. I’m getting the first of two installments of gum grafts and have no idea what to expect. I’ve read every variety of experience, from Not That Bad to The Worst Experience of My Life. I’m […]