Over the last few years, James and I have really gotten used to sleeping in our own bed, just the two of us. Gone are the nights of flailing people kicking us in the back… There is no more crying in the middle of the night, or showing up unannounced,…
My dearest Nate, Yesterday was your birthday, and in my annual tradition, here is a glimpse into the life of the freshly minted Nate 4.0!: We celebrated with a special day at the Monterey Bay “Akarium.” But first, we had an adventure trying to drop my car back off at Oller…
When we moved into our neighborhood, almost six years ago, I immediately made a connection with the gal three doors down. Her name is Stephanie and her boyfriend is Stephen. Then we met our octogenarian neighbors Martha and Mario. It was like we’d moved into some alternative matching name world…
Years ago when James and I lived in Mountain View, we went to the movies almost every weekend. James loves the movies. I’ll never forget the time he talked me into going to see The Lord of the Rings. There was a line to get in. And I do not…
Last weekend was possibly the most blissful weather in recent memory. Our “Valentime’s Day” was perfect. We awoke to a breakfast table piled with little boxes of love and homemade cards. We had a great morning at swimming lessons and then a tasty lunch in Santa Cruz at burger. And…
Over the course of almost six years of child development experience, it has been interesting, fun, hilarious, and at times, alarming, to witness the process of language development. The first real example James and I noted was probably when Jake was two, nearing three. He started peppering each conversation with…
When JJ was three, my friend Jamie told me her son Jack (just five months older than Jake), loved Legos and could spend hours entertaining himself with these little plastic bricks. At the time, we had had a fire truck for about a year that was super complex to put…
During the majority of last year, we were crazy for Wild Kratts. Addicted. Obsessed. Though I try to avoid that particularly overutilized word. Magazines these days are filled with women obsessed with every new latte, lipstick and song they come across. Anyway, for those of you not steeped in the…
Last Thursday it was Grandparent Playdate afternoon. I think they rode bikes. Grandparent play dates appear to be relatively top secret as we generally get very tight-lipped responses as to what they did from both playdaters and playdatees. I imagine they do things like riding their bikes down slides and…
We are currently eyeball deep into the realm of tattle-taling and copying. Each day is filled with countless opportunities to discuss various strategies for dealing with tattlers, dealing with one’s inclinations to tattle, and the concepts of justice and injustice inherent in tallying tattles. Our elementary school has a new…