Check this box for ALL blogs for parents and professionals – including Grandmothers.
This is IN ADDITION to checking the box for the sub-category (i.e. Grandmothers, Parenting, Pro Blog)
For the under-5 set and their families, getting used to the academic calendar comes with growing pains. Just the concept of an academic year “ending” has undone many a young child who thought school would go on forever with this teacher in this room.
From the perspective of young children, summer becomes a time of missing what we used to have, and worrying about what comes next. August is anxious as we ready for new things in September.
September is a time ...
Read More →
13
JAN
2025
A gift I didn’t know I needed:
I had a dream that Carol and I and the baby (Lightning Bug) were walking to our car in a grocery store parking lot at night. We saw a figure across the lot under a streetlight. I picked ...
Read More →
6
JAN
2025
Well, we waited ’til the tail end of winter, but Lightning Bug finally had her first sledding adventure.
She was nervous and excited about it – her only references were books where characters loved sledding, but the idea of hurtling out of control ...
Read More →
30
DEC
2024
Lightning Bug and I are looking at lovely delicate Christmas balls that my cousin gave us. Each ball opens up to reveal a scene that moves as music plays, like a music box.
The first is a train moving through the ...
Read More →
5
DEC
2024
It was Christmas morning. As the family sat around the little tree, under which was a modest pile of wrapped gifts, Nina could not contain herself.
She ran to the tree, pulled her gifts away from the others and distributed them; one for Poppa, a couple for Mommy and Daddy, and one for Grandma.
She then stood by and watched, wriggling and grinning as they were opened. She was almost 4 and her babysitter had helped her make a card for each ...
Read More →
5
DEC
2024
We’re still deep in the “Why?” phase of childhood, which is charming and frustrating depending on how many times the question is asked in a row:
(We’re on a walk, pretty far from home)
Read More →
25
NOV
2024
November 24, 2022
If you’d told me a couple of years ago I’d be spending Thanksgiving morning in my kitchen cutting up bananas for a 19-month-old who insists on dancing to the Bollywood song “Zoobie Doobie” over and over again … I probably would have believed you, but I wouldn’t have seen the path to get there.
Today I see the path.
Feeling grateful.
Read More →
19
NOV
2024
October 31, 2023
You kinda can’t tell ‘cause she’s always in motion, but Lightning Bug is dressed as The French Resistance tonight.
She’s totally in character: When I ask her at each house to say “trick or treat“ she says “no.” When I ask if she’ll say “thank you” after receiving candy she says “no.”
Read More →
29
OCT
2024
Tantrums – appearing as early as 1 and as late as 42 – are part of a stage of emotional development the caregiver would like to be able to move the child through as quickly as possible. They most often occur in public places such as supermarket check-out lines and shopping centers. They are characterized by out-of-control screaming and thrashing, and if the caregiver starts screaming and thrashing herself matters only get worse.
The caregiver would like the child to be able ...
Read More →
21
OCT
2024
