Miss T, my sweetest, most helpful child is going through something. She’s currently sassy, angry and stubborn in ways that don’t make me smile. We are currently threatening her with the naughty-nice list. Goldie proclaimed yesterday that she was “so excited for Christmas” while we were having a lovely time at Starbucks. When I asked her why and she answered “because I asked Santa for a phone”, I burst her bubble. Bun Bun proclaimed that she’d asked Santa for a Mac Book and the bubble burst … [Read more...]
Monday motherhood: roots and wings
Occasionally still, I get treacly emails from friends telling me how great I am simply because I'm someone's mother. I hate those emails. I don't even open and read them anymore, because the longer I am a mother, the more I realize this whole thing is a crapshoot. While I may have the most important job in the world (that's what all those emails always say), the qualifications are suspect at best. There were no exams to pass, and even my husband has admitted to be pleasantly surprised that … [Read more...]
Monday motherhood: the kids will be all right
Fortunately, I have three very different daughters. Unfortunately, I have three very different daughters. They’re close enough in age, all within three and a half years, but as Goldie heads towards puberty, Bun Bun and Miss T are often getting screwed. I tend to cater more to Goldie’s social, emotional and entertainment needs. I’m not sure Miss T even knows that Sesame Street is a television show and not an actual thoroughfare. Oh, she’s fully aware of Edward and Jacob, but not Dora, Boots … [Read more...]
Mothers’ Day: living in the ‘hood…
…as in motherhood. Rising early this morning to begin this post, I became so frustrated in my failure to come up with a new angle on the day, I just went back to sleep. There’s so much food for thought on the subject of motherhood, I exhausted myself just thinking about it. By the time I finally awoke, it was clear that two of my three daughters were indifferent to the significance of the second Sunday in May. I read the front page and went for a run, and finally had an idea. Shortly after … [Read more...]
Wednesday with the women (very young ones)
Motherhood poses a lot of challenges, and different ones at various ages in the lives of our children. When mine were younger and could barely speak, I had total control over their lives, or it felt that way. Friends commented on how often I was throwing them in the car to go places and see things. “The tall ships are coming into San Pedro. Let’s gooooo!” I’d say and they’d look at me like, uh, okay, as if they had a choice. Nine times out of ten, they had a great time. Undoubtedly, they’d … [Read more...]