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…
Leading up to the holiday, the Book Elf’s stock of literature began to run low. He was browsing at Hicklebee’s and came across a large atlas-like tome simply titled Maps. Not wanting to be discovered, he clandestinely escaped. But when he came across the same book again the following day…
For some reason the new year rolled around and I got a bee in my blog bonnet. The look of this blog is sooooo 2009. We all know first impressions are everything and as I’ve heard the girls in full make-up and 4-inch nails say on the soccer field, “You’ve…
Leading up to Christmas it rained. A lot. So Nate and I made cookies. During these rainy afternoon projects, I came to the realization that mostly what remains of my grandmothers are our cherished memories and their recipes. Especially their cookie recipes. There is something so innately warm and comforting…
My house is a wasteland of children’s art projects. Well, not children. Child. One child. A little lefty named Jacob who is well on his way to 10,000 hours of drawing expertise. Little piles of his work can be found in drawers and on tables; in folders and portfolios. I…
The Book Elf has found that no matter how many hours of research he does, how many “Best of” book lists he pours over, how many Amazon reviews he reads, truly outstanding books that make you want to read them again and again are rare indeed. Some words of caution:…