List/Grid Monthly Archives: December 2011
A New Kind Of New Year’s Eve
As New Year’s Eve rolls around, I’ve been thinking about New Year’s Eves of the past and how they’ve changed over the years, especially since I have become a parent. Last year’s evening was extra special. We didn’t do anything extraordinary. In fact, we didn’t really do much at all and even went to sleep well before the stroke of midnight. What made the night special, after 7 years of marriage to my wonderful Tom,…
Talking To The Pillow
With the Christmas holiday behind us, it’s time to write about a lively topic for parents of toddlers – tantrums. I’m not sure how many of you experienced your child having a holiday meltdown or tantrum. As my son, The Littlest E, gets more into being 2, he’s stepped up the feet stomping, especially when he isn’t allowed to watch something with Daddy on the iPad or look at pictures on Mommy’s iPhone, doesn’t get…
Holiday Traditions In A Two-Religion House
My last couple of blogs have focused on my two-year old son’s obsession with Santa Claus and experiencing the holiday season through his eyes. For some reason, I find Christmas magical. I don’t quite know what it is, the twinkling lights on Christmas trees and on many houses in our neighborhood, the festiveness of jolly old St. Nick, the joy and wonder in my son’s eyes when we speak of the holiday, or, perhaps it’s…
Breakfast With Santa?
Last week I wrote about my son’s first experience with Santa. Saturday, we were going to have breakfast with Santa in South Pasadena and I wondered if The Littlest E would sit on Santa’s lap for a picture. Would he have a positive encounter? Since we put up our Christmas tree a couple of weeks ago and brought out our holiday books, talk of the Man in Red has been non-stop. Everyday, at least once…
Baby’s First Immunizations
My daughter, Peanut, celebrated two months on this planet this week with her first major rite of passage. She had her first series of vaccinations today – DTaP (diptheria, tetanus, whooping cough), IPV (polio), Hib (bacterial infections), and Pneumococcal. And, yes, just as all the parenting articles state, it is just as big of a deal for the parents. It truly felt like a first rite of passage into parenthood for us too. We make…
How O’s Saved Santa
I wrote this piece earlier this year. As the holidays are fast approaching, it may be helpful to new moms and dads when their little ones meet the round Man In Red for the first time. “Every Wednesday, my son, The Littlest E, and I take a parenting class. We started it last November after he’d been home from Ethiopia 3 months. It was great because, as a new mom, I was less isolated. There…
The Only Piece Of Parenting Advice You’ll Ever Need
If you’ve paid a visit to the parenting section of your local bookstore recently or perused any of the multitude of parenting blogs, forums, or websites in the virtual world, you know that there is no lack of expert opinion on every imaginable child-rearing topic. There are big bucks to be made targeting parents, and that may not be such a bad thing. Personally, I can’t think of a better place to circulate my money than…
First Night Away: German Christmas Markets
For our first overnight outing, we took our seven week old daughter, Peanut, to the Christmas market in Aachen, Germany. We always said that we are not going to be the parents that bend to our daughter’s every need, but who a re we kidding? We chose Aachen because it is the closest Christmas market to the Dutch border. Instead of taking a day trip by train to the markets like half of The Netherlands…
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