Babble

My sweet, lovable, daytime smiley puss baby Jos (so dubbed by his older brother) continues to morph into an evil, wailing, bastard child at night.  I am, again, obsessed with sleep, wih who's getting, and who's not.  It's hard to think of anything else.  Why is he waking?  Why won't he, for the love of God, go ...

What do you keep from your kids?   Lately, I've been thinking about the many ways that I shelter my boys.  The job of a parent of very small children is so often about protection, about keeping them alive and safe - babyproofing, immunizations, car seats, anti-SIDS measures, acting as a buffer against an overzealous older brother. ...

This Thanksgiving, three kids under three took over our house - two of them live here, and one was just visiting. Here, the story, with pictures.   First, Axel welcomed his cousin Elsa to his house.  He gave her a hug.  He gave her a kiss.  He showed her his toys.  And then he showed her which toys she was not to play ...

One of the less acknowledged benefits of the holidays is that it prompts heavy housecleaning.  We talk about the opportunity to gorge on pie, family togetherness, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, but not about finally getting around to scrubbing the toilets.    If it weren't for visitors, I don't think I'd ...

Learning to talk is hard work. My boys like to practice. I think this means that they are going to be big talkers, like their dad, and I am going to be surrounded by a chorus of male voices and will have to slam my hand on the dinner table to have a chance to ask someone to pass the potatoes.   Right now, I've got a bad cold that, ...

Axel, at two, has discovered the awesome power of the Tantrum.  He explodes in a Hulk-like transition, going from a cheerful kid to a red-faced demon.  I have discovered that, in the face of the Tantrum's ferocity, both reasoned and thoughtful strategies and unreasonable spur-of-the-moment approaches are repelled by an invisible, ...

I've reached that point where I'm so tired that I don't even feel tired anymore, just queasy and confused.  I'll think, "Hey!  I slept for three hours and look how well I'm doing!" and then I step of the curb into oncoming traffic and have to be saved from an oncoming truck by a ...

Now that I have over a year's worth of combined milk production time, between both boys, I feel like I'm something of a lactation specialist.  So let me share what I've learned with you, the sort of things that I did not read in the La Leche League manual:   1.  The Eating/Milk Connection   You are what you ...

In toddler world, older kids are gods. And in baby world, toddlers grace the cover of the baby version of Tiger Beat. Jonas is lucky - he's got his very own toddler idol rooming just down the hall.   Sometimes, as parents, we delude ourselves into thinking we're important. I give Jonas milk - not just give it to him, I make it. I ...

Sean and I are amateur foodies. We like our prosciutto and cheeses from the $3 bin at Whole Foods. We watch Top Chef and bake bread and experiment with kale and bacon and capers. This food fetish has gotten a little stronger since we've had kids, though admittedly more home cooking than seven-course degustation focused. We almost never go ...