PregnancyFamilyEducation Blogs
July 3rd, 2008
The threshold
I've been putting off scheduling an appointment for some time now. It's been in the back of my mind, but I keep pushing it aside, putting it off. It's not an appointment for me, but for my daughter--a follow-up appointment with her surgeons for the major cranio-facial surgery she had when she was six months old. Time has been marked by appointments with these doctors; at first it was an appointment every two weeks, then every three months, then every six months, then once a year. [more]
July 2nd, 2008
Birthday wisdom, Part II (the practical version)
No sooner had I posted my column yesterday about L.'s birthday then I thought I should write a more "practical column" about birthday parties and party-planning, and what activities have and haven't worked so well with my own kids. But as I sat down to write, I realized I might need tons more column space than I have here to really get into all the ins and outs of children's birthday parties, so I'm limiting myself to tackling what I think are the top four essential parts of any child's party: food, goody bags, crafts, and presents. [more]
July 1st, 2008
Birthday wisdom
I have a party to plan this week--L.'s 8th (8 years old!) birthday party. I think this one will be, by far, the easiest party we've ever had for L. He wants things simple this year--no friends, just his four North Carolina cousins and an assortment of grandparents and aunts and uncles. We're having our first ever pool party, which I wouldn't have undertaken at all if L. had wanted to invite several of his school friends. [more]
June 27th, 2008
Have stuff, will travel
On Saturday we're escaping to the beach for a quick, overnight stay at our favorite tiny, unpretentious (read: bare bones) motel. This motel could be The Ritz as far as the kids are concerned, even if Scott and I have been around enough to know the difference. For my kids, there is something magical about spending the night away from home, all crammed into one room, in a place where the soaps come in little wrappers and if you wake up in the middle of the night with a panic attack--hey!--there's your mom and dad an arm's reach away! [more]
June 26th, 2008
Winners
There was a big swim meet at our pool the other night. Not long ago, I was talking with the mother of one little boy, who was going to participate in the six and under group. He's four.
"We really think he can win!" The mom told me, excitement in her eyes. [more]
June 25th, 2008
Don't be an island
Hold onto your seats, everyone--this will be another woeful post about being tired and sleep-deprived, at least in part. Last night, between 1:00 and 3:30 a.m., both kids managed--in their own special ways--to send me back into the days of interrupted sleep; those painful nights where all you are allowed to do is doze, fitfully, between bouts of waking up and tending to needs. And if I ever entertained any nostalgic, fleeting ideas of a third baby, that visit back into time last night was enough to quash them all. [more]
June 24th, 2008
Doing things differently
I did an interesting exercise with my students yesterday. We had just finished reading a short essay by Amy Tan--a memoir piece recounting a childhood experience about feeling different, out of place. As the daughter of immigrant parents from China, Tan writes often of her childhood experiences growing up and feeling different from her peers. I asked my students to think a little about a time in which they too felt different, and to write about it. One student claimed she couldn't think of a single time in her childhood or adolescence when she had felt different from her peers. [more]
June 20th, 2008
Arms and the boy
Ever since my son discovered Avi a few weeks ago, and Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, and The Famous Five, it's been all spies and good guys vs. bad guys, and intricate scenes of smuggling and treasure-snatching being enacted all across his bedroom floor. [more]
June 19th, 2008
Summer legacies
We are two and a half weeks into summer with the kids, and L. has about five and a half weeks left before school starts up again at the end of July. Our Professor Mom Family Summer Camp is in full swing, now. This past weekend we took our first "field trip" to D.C., and the kids were able to see museums, the U.S. [more]
June 18th, 2008
Surviving the IEP
A friend of mine, who lives in another state, emailed me recently to ask me some questions about the IEP process. With schools letting out for the summer, many parents are bracing themselves for the big yearly IEP meetings to set up school accommodations and modifications for next year. It's a stressful time, regardless of whether your IEP is lengthy and involved, or short and fairly simple. As a parent, it's daunting and frightening to imagine that you have two or three hours in which to pave the way for your child's success for the upcoming school year. [more]
