Parenting a young child is very much about “firsts.” First smiles, first laughs, first steps, first words, first day of school—all wonderful and important moments in your little one’s life. I love those big milestones as much as anyone. Hey, take one glance at my Instagram and you’ll see that I document the hell out of them. But watching our
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Last month was kind of weird for our family. Work schedules, after school activities, evening commitments, and multiple bouts of a stomach “situation” left my husband, our son, and me like three ships passing in the night—always two here and one there, just with varying iterations. Within that window of time, I wasn’t home or available as often as I
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It felt so strange to hold him—to see this person who’d been inside of my body for almost 10 months wrapped up all burrito-like in the crook of my arm. “How is it possible for someone to look tiny and enormous at the same time?” I thought. “I love this person, but I don’t know anything about him.” As I’ve
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When my youngest cousin was little,* he called me Ballerina. My name is Valerie, and that initial V sound can be tricky for some really young kids. So, you know, Balerie…Ballerina–it was a logical jump for a toddler to make. I spent the summer after my junior year of college working as a nanny for a little boy** who was
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I became a mostly stay-at-home mother* a few months after our son’s second birthday. Around that same time, my husband’s work hours went a little kooky, often requiring me to solo-parent** our toddler from breakfast to bedtime several days in a row. I went from spending my days in a quiet office with considerate companions who let me go to
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One recent Saturday evening, I found myself sitting in a restaurant with my husband and son. About an hour earlier, after realizing neither of us could muster the energy to fix a meal, my husband and I made the rare decision to go out to dinner as a family. (It’s not that we don’t enjoy going out to dinner or
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A couple of years ago, a friend of mine from high school posted this question on Facebook: “When did you really feel like a parent for the first time?” Most people answered with statements like, “As soon as I saw those two line on the pregnancy test” or “When she wrapped her little hand around my fingers for the first
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Our six-year-old son is sort of known for his hair. Even before he was born, it’s gotten him attention. I had an ultrasound when I was 35 weeks pregnant with him, and I distinctly remember the doctor chuckling as soon as the kid’s image popped up on the screen. “That…that is a lot of hair,” he said, shaking his head.
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It’s been pretty much the same since he was two years old—right when we moved him into a “big boy bed.” He wiggles his toes in the water as I rinse his hair with the plastic measuring cup he’ll use to “make coffee” while he soaks. I wrap him up in a hooded towel, and he plops down on his
Read moreThis story is like something out of a fairy tale. Raul Marin Ceja was on his way to work like any normal day when a strange bundled blanket caught his attention. After hearing crying sounds, he flipped on his camera’s video camera and went to investigate. He was shocked to discover it was an abandoned baby! Laying in the dirty
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