By Kelly It’s dusk. I sit in the rocking chair and read a book to the freshly bathed baby, who smells like the breath of heaven. On the other side of the wall, the shower runs. I can hear the rush of water, the splattering noise it makes on the curtain liner. But louder than…
Author Archives: Kelly
The Children’s Museum That Wasn’t
By Kelly Imagine with me, if you will, a children’s museum built out of steel, concrete and hard lines. Almost everything is gray, so as not to intrude on a child’s sense of imagination, and the sparse displays are abstract, so as not to dictate to the child what to think or see. Oh. Wait….
Happy Winds-Day
By Kelly It’s an afternoon worthy of Pooh — blustery and wild. The clouds, puffs of translucent white, scuttle across the sky. They seem to be in a rush, racing across the turquoise canvas, casting a swirl of shadows on the baby grass outside my window. (Grasslets?) I wonder if they see the glory surrounding…
Great Expectations
By Kelly If you want to know what kind of day I’m having, you need ask only one simple question: Has the baby napped? If yes, then I’m having a glorious day, abounding in productivity and sprinkled with sunshine and rainbows. If no, then I’m having a frustrating day, thick with clouds and whining. Of…
Eating Out, Minus the Eating
By Kelly I distinctly remember my birthday last year. Teyla was just four days old. We had only gotten home from the hospital the day before. But since it was my birthday, and a Sunday, my husband bundled everyone up and took us to a fabulous brunch at a quaint, old inn near our house….
I Can’t Believe I’m Having Triplets
By Kelly I really want to write a crazy lead paragraph for this post — I found a toenail in my Jamba Juice today! I’m moving to Morocco! I drove my car off the side of a mountain and was buried in snow for days! — but I suspect you’re aware of the date already….
Is There a Word for Phobia of Children?
By Kelly Good gravy, yesterday was tough. My brain is still numb, my shoulders still clenched in an upright and locked position. I just now realized I forgot to call my sister back last night. And I do believe I didn’t go to the bathroom yesterday until I was getting ready for bed. (I developed…
My daughter, the snail
By Kelly Teyla has a cold. That is to say, she’s become a snail. That’s the first stage of the rhinovirus in our house. The bubbling nose, the slimy trail of snot that leaves a silver streak on my jeans, my shirt, the couch, my basket of clean laundry. The river overwhelms all attempts to…
That’s Why They Call It The Present
By Kelly I was kneeling next to the couch yesterday, reaching for Sonya Lee, who had somehow managed to escape the Little People Amusement Park, when I felt a tiny body grab my neck. It was Teyla, my one-year-old daughter. She shrieked in laughter at my obvious surprise. She pushed herself flat against my back…
The Garden: A Half Parable
By Kelly It was a beautiful spring day. My husband was in our backyard, facing the lake, which was rippling blue-green in the sunlight. But he wasn’t watching the waves. He was ripping up the grass, beating back a hedge of overgrown bushes and pounding in stakes. He was creating a garden. For me. Up…