By Sarah Fader “Ari, don’t put clay on your chalkboard.” “Why?” “Because it doesn’t belong there.” “Why?” “Because you play with clay at the table, not on the chalkboard.” “Why?” “Please stop asking ‘why?’ I don’t have another answer.” “Why?” “Grrrr!” Anyone else experiencing this? Sarah Fader records anecdotes from her daily life at at…
Category Archives: 5 Minutes For Parenting
The Undone Christmas Eve
By Sarah Bessey It is Christmas Eve and it’s time to let go. My tinies are four and two this Christmas. I’m also 6 months pregnant. And three weeks ago, the flu took up (what feels like permanent) residence in our house. Illness slowly marched through the house, taking us out one by one by…
I’m a Drill Sergeant …I Mean a Mom!
By Sarah Fader I had a realization today. Ari is getting away with a lot. There are several reasons for this: 1. I’m 8 1/2 months pregnant and too tired to fight with him 2. Two-year-olds are inherently exhausting creatures 3. Being a mom takes discipline and I just want to take a big old…
PTUSTS (Post-Traumatic Ultrasound Technician Syndrome)
By Sarah Fader Today was my 32 week ultrasound. Mint came with me to the appointment and witnessed firsthand that my baby girl is currently measuring 4lbs, stuck her tongue out, and literally put her foot in her mouth multiple times. Clearly she is genetically related to me. At the end of the ultrasound, Mint…
Mom Guilt: Share Your Stories
By Sarah Fader Yesterday my nine year old niece, Francesca, (or as Ari calls her “Ches-ca”) came over for a play date. Ari and Ches-ca were painting, Wil and my mom were watching them create their collaborative work of art, and I was cooking chili in the kitchen. All of a sudden Wil called across…
Being on The Same Page
By Sarah Fader When you have two people telling you what to do all the time, as Ari does, life can be confusing. In addition to having different personalities, Wil and I also have different parenting styles. I try to be consistent with discipline, particularly time-outs. Yesterday, Ari decided that he didn’t want to clean…
How Do People Have Two Kids?
By Sarah Fader Today was supposed to be a rather simple day, except that everything became increasingly complicated once I woke up. Ari slept in til 9:00am. We needed to go to Target to use a diaper coupon. When I realized what time it was I rushed out of bed, quickly fed him and myself,…
Hello Kitty has no mouth for a reason
By Gretchen I was putting bagged groceries into the cart when my 4-year-old daughter ran up to me, sobbing. On that day, it was nothing new. She cried about all sorts of things during that shopping trip. It was the end of a long, demanding week and nerves were frayed. Most of her sadness could…
Happy Thanksgiving! Ari Has Croup!
By Sarah Fader It’s been four days of madness around here. Every night for the past three nights Ari has woken up between 3-4am with 103 fever. Last night the fever was accompanied by a disturbing wheezing sound. We took him to the doctor today and he was diagnosed with Croup. It makes sense because…
Crying Over Spilled Coffee
By Sarah Fader This morning I was down to my last bit of coffee. I emptied the bag into the filter and looked forward to the moment when my coffeemaker beeped so I could savor my last cup. When my Krups 12 Cup Programmable coffeemaker gave me the go ahead, I mixed the milk and…