Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the first book in the Harry Potter series, came out a few months after Child #1 was born. In my sleep-deprived stupor, I didn’t notice for awhile; but it quickly became difficult to be a citizen of the world and not know about Harry Potter. Suffice to say, the first four books were in the house by the time that baby boy went to school, which is when and where he found out about Harry and friends.… more
Many have asked what our family listened to on vacation this year. We have recently returned and I can now report back. We had a lot of hours in the car — Minnesota through the Black Hills and into the Tetons and up through Montana etc. And back, of course. Good to have three drivers. Good to have three stellar audio books.… more
In our roadtrip/vacation van there are four very different readers — different interests, different reading interests, varying attention spans, etc. In addition to these differences and variances, the kids are five and a half years apart. Finding a book that keeps everyone entertained and is appropriate for all ages can be a challenge. Two years ago, The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman fit the bill just fine.… more
One of the first books we listened to in the car was Mary Norton’s The Borrowers. We had one child and he was very small. But he’d been well-trained on audio books. He fell asleep to The Velveteen Rabbit (Meryl Streep and George Winston) or Winnie-the-Pooh (The BBC version) every night. So we popped in the tapes (yes, cassette tapes — this was a good fifteen years ago) to The Borrowers on a trip to Bloomington, Illinois to visit friends.… more
‘Tis the season for vacations and car trips. Our family is heading out soon for a good long drive to the mountains. I’m no further in the preparations than thinking about which recorded books we might take on our journey. (This is easily one of the most important decisions of any trip we take.)
I asked for requests at dinner last night, which resulted in a trip down memory lane of past vacations and the books we listened to in the car.… more
In the garden this week I am pulling radishes. Weeds, too, and maybe that’s why I appreciate the small, crisp, spicy little radishes. Pulling those rosy red globes out of the black dirt makes me think of one of my favorite books from childhood: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.
I have especially vivid memories of my third grade teacher reading us the Mrs.… more
Let me be very clear. I do not ever want my kids to be sick. We’ve had run-o-the-mill childhood sickness and we’ve had serious sickness — I don’t like either kind. I would wish only good health, happiness, sunshine, and lollipops for my children and the children of the world. And we are fortunate and grateful to have excellent health care and, generally, very good health.… more
About a year ago, I found myself at weekly appointments with a speech therapist who specializes in functional breathing difficulties. I was dealing with some breathing and voice issues and my allergy and asthma doctor thought I might benefit from “relearning to breathe.” The process was fascinating — we worked on posture, word lists, tongue placement, swallowing, different kinds of breaths, etc.… more
Back in the days of small children and little money, I regularly saved pennies for The Best Art Supplies that could be found. I’d read something terribly inspirational about giving your children real art supplies: gorgeous colors and textures that would help them produce fantastic works of art even if all they did was scribble, pummel, and spill.… more
The indomitable Gertrude Mueller Nelson gave our family the ritual of Birthday Privileges & Responsibilities. Each birthday our kids receive a scroll of paper festooned with ribbons. Inside, in the fanciest (and hardest to read) script our printer can manage, we have ceremonial language awarding the birthday child his/her next year’s Privilege & Responsibility. We started this on their respective third birthdays, at which time they each received the privilege of using markers in addition to crayons…and the responsibility of washing off any marker that accidently found itself on the craft-table.… more
Henry was a regular. He was in afternoon kindergarten and he and his nanny had the mornings free to come to the storytime I did at the indie bookstores near his home. He was older than most of the other kids — a very wise and erudite six years. His eyes were black and luminous, his curls dark and unruly, and his brow furrowed when he thought deeply, which was the only way he thought.… more
Darling Daughter has discovered the stage. She is in her first musical this spring and is having a ball. Ninety-four middle schoolers (with help from some wonderful teachers and staff, of course) are valiantly putting on Seussical. I say valiantly because it is a big project. It’s really a mini-opera — very few lines are not sung.… more
I met her while knitting. She worked at the children’s bookstore next to the yarn store I frequent. I was knitting with the usual group gathered around the table at the yarn store when she came in.
“Cat!” my tablemates called out that day. (I’m embarrassed to admit I don’t know if she spells it with a C or a K.… more
Seventeen years ago today, I became a mother. My water broke in the middle of the night and I called my husband, who was working the night shift, to come and get me. It was time.
I was ready. More than ready. I had a bag packed with slippers and the new bathrobe my mother had given me, along with wee little onesies and sleepers for the long-awaited baby boy.… more
