“Muno! Muno! Munooo!” Ella screeched from the other room. It was as if Muno was teetering on the edge of a dark chasm and Ella couldn't quite prevent him from falling to certain death. “Munooo! Munoooo!” I quietly listened for a clue as to what was unfolding in the next room. Then I heard the sinister laughter of her brother Henry emerge between the screams for Muno. I came around the corner to find him dangling her beloved Muno just out of her reach. She was clutching Brobee and Foofa to prevent them from being kidnapped as well. These dolls are all part of a Technicolor crew called Yo …

I remember when I first found out I was pregnant. I had all these grandiose ideas then. I was never into the midwife or doula thing, but I was striving for a natural birth. I had envisioned this amazing picture in my head. I’d go to term and one morning my water would break. I’d remain calm, cool and collected and start timing my contractions. I would fill my tub with warm water and weather out my labor surrounded by dimly lit candles as the soothing scent of lavender wafted through the air. My iPod would be playing peaceful music that my husband and I had spent hours picking out for our “…

I have changed my mind on this one. When I first started my own household, I proudly imported and also created holiday traditions with my husband. For the first nine years of our formal relationship, we always drank champagne while we decorated the tree, we threw a FAB-ulous Holiday party and we had a holiday lunch with each other on the last day of work in the calendar year. Then we had a child. The traditions morphed. Champagne seemed a bit risky if you were not sure when the baby will wake you up in the morning. I read somewhere that poinsetta's were poisonous so they were scrubbed. The …

"How will Santa know that we're at Grandfather's" asked Henry, my four year old the other day. "What if he comes to our house by mistake?" I remember when Zack, Henry's nine-year-old brother, first asked that question. We reassured Zack by explaining that Santa had a permanent redirect to Grandfather's house until further notice. It seemed to satisfy him at the time, although this year he's been asking even more probing questions as the bells on Santa's sleigh are beginning to fade for him. Thankfully he was at school when Henry asked his question.I calmed Henry telling him, "Santa knows that…

Recently, a friend passed around a wonderful post on Facebook. It was Michael Mitchell’s 50 Rules for Dads of Daughters. It’s a list of simple and meaningful tasks every father of a daughter should carry out. I read the list after decorating our Christmas tree and took rule number forty-one particularly to heart. This is what it said…”Take it easy on the presents for her birthday and Christmas. Instead, give her the gift of experiences you can share together.” I thought about it for a moment and realized that while I only vaguely remember some of my childhood Christmas gifts, what I’ve truly …

They are back, my daughter's friends report. But they are different! They look different and they talk differently. My daughter reports that she also finds them different, too. She is struggling to discuss her last semester with them. It seems too trite and boring. She just wants to ask them questions. They are different, and my daughter and her friends do not know what to make of them. And I think, how are their parents coping? Thanksgiving vacation is the new visible seam between adulthood and childhood for many young people. This is the weekend that they return home after leaving for …

"I am NOT wearing those jeggings!" shouted Claire on a recent school morning. "But you picked them out last night." I tried to remind her of our plan in picking an outfit out ahead of time. "I don't care! I HATE them now!" "How about a skirt, a dress, maybe some jeans?" I hoped she would take the bait and just decide on something. "NO!!!" "Well, what are you going to wear? We have to get to school. You need to get dressed." "I don't know. I don't like anything I have. I hardly have any clothes." "No clothes? That's why we JUST went out and bought you a whole bag full at Old Navy." I reminded …

Like most other holidays, somehow, our society has even managed to secularize Thanksgiving! Focus is placed on the food we should eat, the traveling we should do and the pre-Christmas sales we should take advantage of. Yes, we see turkeys scattered here and there, but the reality is that most of those images are on dinnerware or items merchants want us to buy. While she’s still young, I’d like to focus on teaching my daughter about the actual definition of Thanksgiving. As per dictionary.com, Thanksgiving, is “the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, especially…

I just saw a dad walking his pre-school daughter home along P Street. She has her pink puffy "Dora the Explorer" coat over a costume that looks vaguely like a witch. It certainly is black with some sparkle and there is a pointy hat hanging down her back. They are holding hands and dad is leaning down to say something. She is leaning back her head to look him in the eyes. He slows for a moment on the Georgetown bricks because she cannot walk and talk at the same time and he does not want to hurry their conversation. He nods yes, and they move on. She is trotting next to him, still holding his …

"But Mom! It's not fair! I don't want to help Henry put his zippy jammies on! You ALWAYS ask me to do things! Claire NEVER has to do anything for you!", shouted my oldest son from upstairs. I'm sure Claire would have completely agreed with her older brother, except she was too busy clearing the table for me...or at least I was busy trying to coax her to do so. It was the second week of school and I was trying hard to get my four kids back into a nightly routine that included homework, dinner, baths, reading and bed at a somewhat reasonable hour. I was just about to pretend not to hear the …

I must admit I’m a little jealous and feel a bit left out this September. Most of my friends are posting “first day of school” pics on Facebook and buying fun school supplies. My little one is still too young for all of that. I keep trying to remind myself that children grow up too fast and we really just need to enjoy every phase they go through. So, with that philosophy in mind, I decided to research some toddler activities. My daughter is 18 months and does not go to daycare. She spends the day at home and we’re realizing that while she’s not quite ready for school, she is ready to …

It's quite the scene to get four small kids into a vehicle. When we leave the house, no one ever operates at the same speed. There is an occasional leader, usually a runaway, often a dawdler, and most certainly a willful straggler. The kids all take turns in each of these roles. I usually hold the front door open and manage the coming and going with one foot in and one foot out of the house. This is the moment where I love my Odyssey and what I consider to be its most important feature - the remote controlled power sliding door. I can manage when kids enter and exit all at the push of a …

“I will not buy a minivan! I will not buy a minivan!” I figure the more I repeat those words, the more they will ring true. I am definitely not the minivan type. I hate big cars. I can’t stand SUV’s. I spent 15 minutes navigating around a teenager in the parking lot of Whole Foods last week because she was driving a car the size of a school bus! Is that really necessary, folks?! Memorial Day weekend was tough. I had to say goodbye to my loyal companion. No, it was not my husband or my dog, it was my metallic blue 2000 Golf Volkswagen. She was the first important thing I bought myself…with my …

We are all traveling to Spain this summer for a few weeks of vacation. My husband and I have been there before, but this will be my daughter's first trip to Spain. She has been lucky enough to visit many places in her almost seventeen years; New York City, Atlanta, LA, Minneapolis, Boston, etc. She has also been out of the country to Great Britain, Africa, Buenos Aires, Italy, France, Holland, Uraguay, Canada, Germany, Hungary.  Our family travels well together. We are distinct individuals, but we share the ability to stay calm even when the sun is hot and our feet are tired. We are generally…

“Why aren’t we flying? Because half the fun is getting there. You know that.” – Clark Griswold, 'National Lampoon’s Vacation' The scheming starts while we are driving to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving. On my lap is the National Geographic road atlas that we keep in the car. It is the “Adventure Version,” the one that highlights all of America’s National Parks. I flip from page to page, throwing out ideas. How about a three-week adventure in the Pacific Northwest? The kids haven’t seen the Grand Canyon yet, how about the desert southwest? What about Yosemite? We can drive all the way to …

About six weeks ago I got a text message from a good friend that lives in Rome. This is what it read. “Giovanni proposed. Getting married over Labor Day weekend. Evening reception will be at his summer villa on a beach in Tuscany. You MUST come!” Having the adventuresome “bug” I’ve carried since I was in diapers, my first instinct was to get on every airline website known to mankind so I could find cheap tickets to Italy. This was perfect! The wedding is over a long weekend so we have an extra day to enjoy. My birthday AND wedding anniversary is on August 30th so this would be the perfect way…

They are gone this weekend and I am home alone.  My teen daughter and her dad (my husband) are off visiting his family this weekend.  They very intermittently text me with news.  But I know that they are having a blast and having a series of adventures without me that I may or may not hear about.  Am I allowed to be jealous? Am I allowed to be jealous that my daughter has a relationship with her dad that I have to watch from the outside?  They have always been like that.  When my daughter was born, my husband took "paternity leave."  In those days his firm did not have such a thing so he took…

Being an urban parent is no easy feat. As much as I love living in the city, there are definitely times when the stress of “urbanity” takes a toll on the body, mind and spirit of us all. Sometimes I get tired of taking trains and buses and trying to maneuver strollers around this corner or that intersection. When those exasperating moments come upon me, I know I have a safe haven to come back too….my husband.      For weeks I’ve been thinking about what I should get him for his second Father’s Day. At first I thought I would get him a book but, let’s be serious,  what working parent has time …

"Not to be harsh, Mom, but I never want to be anything like you". Even if she tries not to hurt me, it still gives me a twinge. My teenage daughter has recently expressed the old battle-cry that "she will never act like her mother". It reminded me of my own battle-cry many years ago to my mom. And it makes me stop and think. Why do we claim so loudly that we will raise our theoretical children differently than how we were raised?  Why do we insist on this independent direction when we are young? And when do we realize and accept that maybe our heritage and nurturing style are not accidental …

It’s not until you become a mother that you truly understand your mother. The dictionary defines Mother as “a female parent.”  While that is very true there are so many more things that characterize a mother. I’m very lucky that I’ve always had a wonderful relationship with my mom. She did not bake  cookies with me or volunteer to plan parties at school. Ironically, I love to do those things but that just wasn’t her cup of tea. She was, and continues to be, a real estate agent so many times she worked both during the week and on weekends. I never felt neglected or abandoned. I was always well…