Welcome to the January Carnival of Natural Parenting: Learning from children This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared the many lessons their children have taught them. Please read to the end to find a list…
toddler talk
The million-dollar question
During our week home sick together, my son did a lot of whining and a lot of snuggling. But he also came up with plenty of interesting things to say, including this question he asked of me while I was peeing: “When are you going to get a penis?” My response about that he would,…
My legacy
This pumpkin is cheerier than I am these days. Now I understand how my mom must have felt with chatterbox me as a preschooler. My son will not stop talking. Or singing. Or shrieking. Or making vroom noises. Or just plain saying, “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Are you listening to me? Mommy! Mommy! Listen to me,…
Toddlers on Teen Parenting
Here’s a dispatch from the aftercare program at my son’s Waldorf school as told by my 3.5-year-old son from his carseat. Today Emma was being a teenager.She was having a baby with no daddy. (hee hee)She was just having a baby by herself. She didn’t have a husband. Isn’t that kind of drama why I…
Carseat driver
It was as though he knew NPR was about to run a story on texting while driving right after I dropped him off at preschool, or that the next day President Obama would ban federal employees from the practice. But honestly, I was just trying to have some fun. And I don’t think I was…
How much more annoying could we sound?
At first it was kind of cute, my son inserting “actually” into his sentences. And then he started doing it all the time. It has been one of the first verbal habits I’ve started to find pretty annoying, actually. Damn, there it is. At first I thought it was annoying because he was using it…
"Let me focus"
After I washed my son’s boo-boo and rubbed some tea tree oil on the wound, I offered a zebra bandaid, which was not acceptable to His Highness. He wanted a red one and insisted on getting it out himself. I tried to help him open it, but he brushed me away with a most serious…
Baby wants to join a Yahoo group
“Yahoo group!” I could not believe my ears. But then he said it again; my tiny little three-year-old shouted exuberantly and unmistakably, “Yahoo group!” The follow-up question: “Is that for your meeting?” My son asks before he goes to bed if I have to go to a meeting. I either say yes or that I’m…
Hearing yourself in your kid’s talk
After sharing some sushi with his friend today at Whole Foods, my son said, “If you could save one for my daddy, well, that would be great.” Other favorites me-isms include, “Well, I’m just looking for something” while standing in front of the fridge and “Where is the…” (about anything) followed without skipping a beat…
Little Mouth Speaks – a lot! A letter to my loquacious toddler
Today was the first day I’d had any childcare in two weeks. There was snow, then a fever, then my boy’s dad got sick and needed tending. Today’s four hours of babysitting went fast, but when they were over, I had a supremely lovely time with my son. It was a chilly rainy day, and…
My name is…What?
“Look, Mommy! Look! Jessica! Jessica!” My son has taken to calling me by my first name if I don’t respond to my parental moniker when he’s called it out two or three times. My ears perk up and I realize I was ignoring my darling little boy for eight seconds. Yesterday I left him asleep…
Boy, Meet Your Penis
I thought it was cute when my 23-month-old son tugged on his male member and said, several times in a row, “Hi, Penis.” I thought it was funny when he pointed to his father’s post shower noodle and labeled, like he does so many other objects, “Penis.” I did not think it was as funny,…
Little Mouth Speaks
I started this blog with the intention of getting down all the reflections and insights I had as a mom that someday would turn into witty, poignant essays. It was supposed to keep me from feeling like my head was full of stuff I couldn’t get out, to be the in-between repository of ideas so…
Fitting in Fun, by Necessity
I think the only time I really played with my son today was in the basement while the house was being cleaned upstairs. It felt different than any other five minutes. I had to be in a position of no other choice in order to fully be with my child. What was I doing the…