Fear and Loathing in the Doctor's Office
"Don't touch a single thing."Words from my mouth upon entering the doctor's office for my children's annual check ups.The whole "state of fear" that our media and government has got us in has jaded me, altered my way of thinking, changed me forever. I no longer leave the house without a hefty supply of hand sanitizer in my purse. I check the kids' backpacks to make sure they have plenty of it too and, after reminding them not to lick their hands after using it (you'll get drunk!), I remind them to use it liberally. As in, every time you touch anything.Since our pediatrician shares a space with the walk-in clinic, I was especially freaked

Fortune Teller
"6 will be better. 6 will be better. 6 will be better." I'm repeating this mantra each hour until her birthday in a few days.Not that 5 has been horrible, quite the opposite. 5 is fun. 5 is adventurous and silly and taking time to enjoy every little thing that crosses her path. 5 is riding a bike without training wheels and winning a three-legged race with her best friend. 5 is trying new things, swimming like a fish and learning to read. 5 is loving and kind and still so very sweet.It's also a lot of work...still.Ever since she walked in on a cheesy and completely ridiculous "scary" movie that the boys were watching a few weeks ago, I've had a sleeping b

Happy Dance
I slept most of the day.The rain pounding outside and the wind trying to rip every single shingle from our roof made it all the more enticing to slip back into the covers and pull the sheets up around my neck. With the leaves swirling this way and that and the lights flickering, a cozy bed was the only place I wanted to be. It also passed the time until the doctor's appointment.Nothing like hiding from the world when you are about to face something you'd rather avoid.It's the best coping mechanism I know. Well, besides drowning ones' sorrows in a bottle of Grey Goose...but that isn't really too conducive to parenting now is it?The kids scribbl

Grab the Broomstick, Hide the Scissors!
Katie is in that in between stage.Ladies, you all know what I'm talking about. That stage of hair grow-out that is most frustrating of all: the bang grow-out.Last month right after school started, Katie had asked me to "please, please, please mommy - cut my bangs!"And so I did.Although she had been growing them out for quite some time (they were almost past her nose), I had been growing weary (tired, bored, frustrated) with the constant braiding, head-banding, and making them disappear with the magic of a clippie process that we had to go through each and every morning. In short, it wore me out.Nobody ever mentions the difficulty o

New Rules
If you're a fan of Real Time With Bill Maher on HBO, you know that at then end of each program he gives his "New Rules," a funny, crass, honest and often offensive to some list of "rules" in which to deal with the news and current events of the previous week.This is kind of like that, only in mommy time, not real time.New Rule: No more reading the Twilight series books before bedtime. I know it's wonderful that you, a brand-new 11 year old, is attempting to finish book 3 before Christmas, and that's commendable. BUT yelling at your mother that you "will not sleep on dead bodies" when she comes to check on y