A friend came to me today with concerns about her nephew. Well, she’s not concerned, but her sister-in-law is. The child just turned three and is, apparently, a bit of a handful. She was asked not to bring him back to the church nursery unless she was going to stay with him. Ouch. Sis-in-law is…
Continue ReadingI was hanging out with a friend the other day when she casually mentioned she may need to borrow back the Ergo she’s given me on extended loan to take with her on a trip to Italy this fall. I had a moment of panic. My first thought was “you can’t have my Ergo.” My…
Continue ReadingWhen my oldest, now 7, was a baby, I was very excited about creating a Montessori atmosphere in my home. I love Montessori’s philosophy and the beauty of Montessori materials. But at some point I realized that what many of Montessori’s “practical life” and “sensory” activities are trying to replicate occur quite naturally in the…
Continue ReadingA friend recently confided that her toddler’s screaming is making her crazy. He screams when he doesn’t get his way, when someone sits too close to his mama, when someone tells him “no.” She described it as a “high pitch ear deafening scream.” Sound familiar? If you have ever had a toddler, it probably does….
Continue ReadingI had a great time last weekend with the parents at the Toddler Tool Belt class. A big thank you to Amy at Giggling Green Beanfor making her amazing store available for classes. There is some seriously cool stuff in there. And next time, I’m going to have to save time to have lunch at the Comfort…
Continue ReadingIt seems recommendations for starting solids are all over the place these days. I’ve got three kids. With my first, I did the whole introduce-one-single-food-puree-every-four-days thing. The kid hated solids and we threw away so many purees and the whole thing just stressed me out. With my second and third, I have followed the advice…
Continue ReadingPeriodically Helen and I get to have a “girl’s day” while Ryan takes Henry fishing. Girl’s day typically involves running errands, which may not seem as exciting as going fishing with daddy, but Helen seems to enjoy it. She likes to help me carry things and pay for things, and, I suppose it’s just nice…
Continue ReadingSo, my sweet 2-year-old daughter is starting down the potty learning path. It’s going fairly smoothly as I’m pretty laid back about it – and we have hardwood floors. Going through this again though made me think of when my son learned to use the potty a few years ago. We did not have hardwood…
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