Now that Sweet G is almost three, 95 percent of the time I spend caring for him is allotted to explaining the workings of the world, the mind, and the body. It rains when the sky fills up with water. Your mind is the part of you that fills up with thoughts and ideas. We poop when our butts fill up with the food our body doesn’t need. It amounts to some of the best conversations I’ve ever had and some of the most acute stress I’ve ever felt. Sometimes I end up worried that I’ve skewed my son’s worldview so drastically that no one—not even the therapist I’m inadvertently pushing him toward—will…

Each year, during the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, I envision my family sitting around a big table feasting on turkey and pie as we take turns giving thanks. To my dismay, however, that vision has never been fully realized. None of the Thanksgiving feasts I’ve been part of—even the ones I’ve hosted—have featured a slow, deliberate, public giving of thanks. In fact, as my husband and I made our rounds with our kids visiting family and friends this year, I noticed that many of the conversations ignored thankfulness and, instead, focused on greed. I want, I want, I want At our first stop, …

I am not exaggerating whatsoever when I say I have not slept for longer than two hours at a time for over nine months. There are nights during which Baby T wakes up 10 or 15 times per night. My sleep is so poor in quality that I rarely dream. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not asking for pity (unless it comes in the form of a latte or a foot rub). After all, this is the kind of sleeplessness I signed up for when I decided to bear two children within the span of two years.  I only mean to say that I’m tired. Really, really, really tired. So when I was offered a full-time university-level teaching …

A few years ago, a love song came on the car radio. “I’ll stand by you. I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you. I’ll stand by you,” Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders promised an unidentified lover in a sweetly sorrowful tone. Five months pregnant, I quickly crumpled into tears as my future life as a mother flashed before my eyes. I saw myself cradling a newborn, holding the chubby hand of an infant, catching the fall of a wobbly toddler, guiding the bicycle of a school-aged child, and collapsing under the weighty hug of a taller-than-me teenager.   Caught up in the music and imagined …

After having been a student for 21 years, I can, without hesitation, describe my dream school. It’s a happy place where the curriculum, hours of operation, and pace of learning are determined by and personalized for each student. As for the dress code, it allows, nay encourages, leisure pants. You might be thinking that I might as well stay home. Come to think of it, the description does sound an awful lot like that of a home school. And, in fact, if my both of my parents hadn’t worked full time jobs during my elementary and high school years, I would have begged to be home schooled. There …

Not too long ago, my sister-in-law started a conversation by expressing frustration over her daughter’s first trip to the dentist. Already anxious to take my son, who’s due for his first visit, I expected to hear a tale full of kicking, screaming, maybe even biting. But, to my—and my sister-in-law’s—surprise, the appointment actually went off without a hitch. Three-year-old Sylvia allowed the dental team to examine, floss, and clean her teeth without any fuss. Tantrum avoided. Challenge met. Rite of passage reached. But, just when my sister-in-law thought she was in the clear, Sylvia’s newly …

Now that summer’s here, it’s time for morning-till-night outdoor play. Whether the kids will be at camp or at home with you or a babysitter, prepping the house, the car and the diaper bag can save time and omit last-minute hassles.  Stocked up on sunblock? Got a spare sun hat? Use the following checklist to double-check your summer supplies. Medicine Cabinet Children are particularly prone to bumps and bruises. In place of grades and graduation, bee stings and scraped knees represent a child’s rites of passage in summer. These medical supplies are necessary in both rural and urban homes and …

When he was 20 and I was 19, my husband and I spent two weeks traveling across Canada by train. During one portion of the journey, we watched in disgust as three siblings, who ranged in age from one year to five years, took turns at their mother’s breast. We weren’t entirely insensitive. Breastfeeding is common in my husband’s family, and I had plans to nurse my own toothless, maybe-babbling-but-not-talking, maybe-crawling-but-not-walking BABIES someday. And we were thoughtful enough to wait until the group left the train to scrutinize the woman’s choice to breastfeed in public and to shame …

I wear sweatpants in public on weekdays. They’re typically tattered, ordinarily stained, and only occasionally (every three days or so) freshly laundered. But they’re always comfy and easy—paired with a t-shirt, they’re the perfect uniform for a mom. I hardly thought my attire offended anyone until recently, when a Brighton business owner called me on it. The Story Dressed in my beloved sweatpants and toting two children, I’d gone into her store in search of a birthday present. That’s imprecise. To be fair, I stumbled into her store frenetic and inarticulate after walking a half mile through …

Let’s face it; kids are gross. They’re grimy, snotty, crusty, crummy, and all modes of stinky. My infant son operates a cheese factory in his neck folds, and my nose often knows when my two-year-old son enters the room. If they weren’t absolutely charming otherwise, we’d be a troubled family. It hasn’t always been this way. I, too, used to think of children as perfectly pure, sweet-smelling joy manufacturers. I wanted to be a young mother to many, many children. We’d frolic around barefoot in a field full of shin-tickling wildflowers, bouncing rainbows off one another’s hearts. That romantic …

Whether you’ve got a sweetheart with a sweet tooth or a child with a classroom party, this simple recipe is likely to garner admiration. It’s great for the office, too. But, beware: their charm doesn’t wear off easily. Your coworkers and fellow parents will request the dish and the recipe for years to come.      A healthier substitute for chocolates and candies, these glorified Rice Krispie treats feature apples and cream cheese. In other words, you’ve got a little grain, a little fruit, and a little dairy — all that with a little sugar on top. Aside from the lovely crispy/crunchy and tangy/…

When my second pregnancy reached the 41 week mark, my sister called to say I probably wasn’t pregnant after all. I had just, you know, accidentally swallowed a basketball, she joked. It wasn’t impossible to entertain the idea. I had been expecting for so long. The anticipation had somehow dulled my mind, making reality difficult to discern. I had an easier time imagining that I had sleepwalked to the nearby high school to appease a midnight hankering for sweaty leather. When my son was born a few days after I talked with my sister, I certainly felt as if I had expelled a basketball. Not the …

When it comes to parenting, I can be an overachiever — especially when it comes to literature. Noting my continual references to books and articles about parenting, my mother actually accused me of reading too much during my first pregnancy. I can’t help myself. Access to a variety of viewpoints on any topic is virtually unlimited these days. As a parent-to-be, I thought it’d be a serious misstep to not prepare for what is arguably one of the most endlessly difficult (and rewarding) experiences of a person’s life. I actually wish I’d had the time and energy to read more. I also do all I can …

Today, I am 41 weeks pregnant. A person has been growing inside me for 287 days. The tension has peaked. The drama of pregnancy has escalated. I am, as they say, ready to pop. At this point, my son feels like a knotty hunk of wood knocking around in his small pond of amniotic fluid. He kicks my ribs, punches my hipbones, shoulder-checks my vertebrae. His movements can actually propel my body across a room. Sometimes, I’m convinced he’s going to punch through my belly button, climb out, and immediately start sassing me in the style of Stewie from Family Guy. Anxious to meet my little muscle …

Most of my friends and family members think I’m crazy. By choice, I bore my first child without an epidural and I’m hoping to do it again the second time around.   “There’s a reason they offer women drugs,” one of my sisters reasons. “Childbirth hurts!” Most of the women — and men — I’ve spoken to echo her sentiments. Some women even have planned Cesarean sections as a way to avoid as much of the birth process as possible. I’m not at all surprised, and I certainly don’t blame them. We are a culture that has a drug for just about everything. We opt to avoid discomfort at all costs. Besides, …

Whether or not you have adults-only plans after the kiddos are in bed, a family-friendly celebration during the day is a fun way to include the youngest family members in the holiday season's final round of traditions. If you plan to stay home, liven things up by hosting a New Year's Eve (NYE) party at noon. Fill champagne glasses with juice and watch a video of last year's ball drop or create a tradition of your own. If you'd rather get out of the house, here's a short list of family-friendly NYE celebrations happening in our area. Rollerama II The area's only skating rink is hosting an open…

I can't remember when I started or stopped believing in Santa. My mother, with only the slightest nod to humor, still writes “from Santa” on the Christmas gift she gives me — and, now, my husband — each year. So I imagine much effort went in to maintaining my and my sisters' belief in Santa for as long as possible. I also don't remember how I felt about Santa. Did I take comfort in his jolly demeanor? Did I fear his watchful eye? Did I actually believe that I'd receive fewer presents if I talked back to my parents or misbehaved at school? Did a belief in Santa influence my actions? Whether I …

Now that temperatures are dipping into the teens and twenties, daily walks to the Imagination Station and Mill Pond Park are almost always out of the question. But, as a work-at-home-mom to a toddler and baby due-any-day-now - I've got to get out. At the start of last year's cold season, this column featured activities to prevent cabin fever and listed three indoor kid-friendly retreats. Since then, we've added a few stops to our circuit of winter escapes. Here's a list of our top three. Hands On Educational Play At the top of our list is the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum. Housed in a remodeled …

We recently made plans to meet my brother-in-law and his family at a local U-Cut Christmas Tree farm halfway between Brighton and Ann Arbor, where they live. It ended up raining that day, so they canceled. Determined to harvest our tree sooner rather than later, we set out anyway — despite our lack of rain gear and our runny noses. Besides, we'd hyped the outing so much that our son had barely uttered more than “car... tree... cut” for two days. We had to shut him up — I mean make him happy — I mean follow through with our promises. No matter how you look at it, the truth is consistency is …

I'm not a shopper. A single visit to Target or IKEA induces a few day's worth of hot flashes, and only a true emergency can prompt me to set foot in a mall. When my husband told me he was starving last week, he wasn't exaggerating. I simply had been avoiding the grocery store for weeks. My resistance to hit up the stores increased when I became a work-at-home mom. After outings, laundry, play dates, cleaning, projects and meal prep, there's no time to worry about the latest greatest sale. But with the holidays on the horizon, I have to suck it up. Shopping is unavoidable at this time of year…