By DeeDee A few weeks ago I dropped Jensen off in the children’s Sunday School at our church. The prospect of doughnuts gets ordinary folks through the steeple doors, but not my son. The draw for Jensen, is the opportunity to play with the cars in his classroom. Fresh cars. Cars he doesn’t get to…
Author Archives: Stephanie
My Four-Year Old
By Melodee My daughter thought 6:12 a.m. was a fine time to wake up. I thought not, so I rocked her for two minutes and put her back to bed. I think she woke up because she was cold. She was cold because she refused a blanket last night because she is four years old…
We See, We Saw
By Gretchen “Mommy! There are numbers on that clock!” My son pointed to the clock mounted on the kitchen wall. It was the morning after he got glasses. Suddenly? He could see. The next few days featured more revelations: Mountains had bumps and lumps! Water had waves! The world was no longer fuzzy. It…
Her Spot on the Food Chain
By DeeDee My husband was out of town on business last week. The first night he was gone, Cailey came to visit me in the middle of dark thirty. “I had a bad dream…” Not waiting for a lengthy description, I escorted her back to her own bed in a hurry. Because that’s the kind…
Empty Spaces
By Mary A while ago a friend and I were talking about balance in life, and the curse of busyness. She was gently suggesting that perhaps my life would be easier if I left some open spaces in my schedule, blanks where nothing needed to happen. I knew that she’d learned that wisdom through her…
Cake, Ice Cream, and an Excedrin
By DeeDee (Me, circa 1961) Today is my birthday. You can sing to me if you’d like. I won’t be embarrassed. There was a time in my life, that if you took me out to dinner, and the wait staff sauntered over to the table to sing to me, I would slide under the tablecloth….
Margin
By Kelly Last night, as I waited for my brain to turn off and the drowsiness to descend, I read through my journal from last year. I was sad and slightly startled to see how much depth my writing had 12 months ago. These days, my writing tends toward the surface and the amusing. Nothing…
I am potty trained and so are you
By Gretchen “Don’t worry. I won’t pee on you,” my nearly 3-year-old daughter assured me as she climbed onto my lap. “Thanks. I’m glad.” Was she worried she might? Did she need to go? Did I have any clean jeans or even a skirt hanging in the closet? That <em>fit</em>? Uhhhh. Mental note: Buy diet…
Father of 10 Turns Bath Time Into A Career
Guest post by Randy Imwalle I was sitting recently on the side of the bathtub, studying my knees. Were those calluses? Before long, the answer dawned on me: The hardened spots had resulted from kneeling near the tub while bathing my children. Early in our marriage, my wife, Lisa, and I tacitly agreed that I…
It Could Happen To You
By Stephanie A very dear friend of mine shares her experience living one of a Mother’s worst nightmares. I encourage you to read, and then respond to her simple request. Stephanie Precourt is the managing editor of 5 Minutes For Parenting and also blogs at Adventures In Babywearing.