Welcome to the August Carnival of Natural Parenting: Creating With Kids This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared how they make messes and masterpieces with children. Please read to the end to find a list… Continue Reading
a woven tapestry
Five
I tiptoe quietly in the dark as I did when they slept in cribs – footed jammies, diapered bottoms in the air. Now they sprawl, arms out or clutching a doll, a blanket, a book. In the light, they are my big kids learning and growing, astonishing and overwhelming me with insights and observations. I… Continue Reading
Philosophical Parenting: Letting Go
Welcome to the July Carnival of Natural Parenting: Parenting Philosophy This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared their parenting practices and how they fit in with their parenting purpose. Please read to the end to… Continue Reading
Food and Love
When I was about three, I landed in the hospital with an asthma attack. After doctors’ visits and traditional pharmaceuticals, my parents branched out and began investigating homeopathy and other alternatives. At some point, someone ran a cytotoxic screening1 and came up with a long list of allergies, and my parents set to work eliminating… Continue Reading
Branching Out
Not to run the tree theme into the ground, but I think I need to branch out here. Of course that was supposed to be the point — to write about the many and varied happenings and thoughts and general mish-mash — but so far I’ve just been sticking my toe out a little. Finding… Continue Reading
a series of tiny heartbreaks
It was due to a misunderstanding, nothing more. No grand attempt to squash a child’s creative spirit or make her fit into a too-small box. No systemic plan to marginalize her. No bullying, no unkind words. And yet, I just watched a tiny piece of my daughter get crushed. And I cried. I was prepared… Continue Reading
Lost in Limbo
Last week, the kids told me they learned how to limbo at school. Even backwards, they reported, proudly. I used to wonder why that game was called limbo, but I think I know now. That feeling of bending back and forth, moving unsteadily, as far as you can, knowing that at some point you might… Continue Reading
Healing
The way I’d imagined it, I would have my first baby while I was in grad school, as a couple of other friends had done. It was a welcoming department, and I planned to be be the kind of mom who brought my baby to class or a lecture, nursed as needed, rocked and swayed, took notes and asked questions. Life would go on, I imagined, not unchanged but certainly enriched.… Continue Reading