Cute W, J, and I spent the weekend out of town at a volleyball tournament. Prior to this year, an out-of-town tournament almost always meant that we parents would split up, and if there weren’t two different tournaments happening, one parent would just stay home. But now that M’s graduation is looming, the perspective has … [Read more…]
One of my favorite, most comforting phrases of parenting is “developmentally appropriate.” Kids behave badly sometimes, or sometimes they’re just mean enough to hurt your feelings, but often, that bad behavior is developmentally appropriate, and framing it that way is an excellent source of solace in hard times. Or, it is for me, at least. … [Read more…]
We have a huge supply of water bottles in our house. Unfortunately, our supply of water bottles I actually like is limited. Most of them have at least one fatal flaw. 1 – I don’t like to suck that spout. 2 – Was entirely perfect until the top broke. 3 – Also a sucky spout, … [Read more…]
Many, many years ago, from the time I was in preschool through third grade, we lived in Texas. There are tons of evangelical Christians in Texas, and while our family went to church, we weren’t exactly fire-and-brimstone or let-me-tell-you-about-my-Lord-and-Savior about it. I have four sisters (three older, one younger) along with a little brother. When … [Read more…]
My kids can be pretty annoying sometimes. Last week at dinner, for example. They started talking about how they wanted to eat more vegetarian dinners. I was like, “Are you kidding me?” I found this suggestion particularly galling for a number of reasons. First, we have significantly reduced our meat consumption at dinnertime already, and … [Read more…]
I felt pretty confident that M would get into the colleges she liked. Honestly, I thought she’d have a chance at super-crazy-selective school, but she wasn’t interested in applying (whether that was on the merits, because they’re too big, or because she lacked confidence, it’s unclear). But especially with small schools that admit so few … [Read more…]
These college posts are huge, but meanwhile, what else is going on? Well, I’m sick. Yesterday I woke up long enough to say hello and goodbye to the girls and Cute W before school and work, then I went directly back to bed by about 7:45 am. It didn’t occur to me that I could … [Read more…]
M came up with her own college list. We didn’t say that she had to stay within a certain radius or insist that she apply to any specific school, and she’s not entirely sure what she wants to do as a grown-up, so it’s not like she needed someplace with, say, cello playing opportunities or … [Read more…]
You may have noticed that after talking about our early, more “exploratory” college visits, I went radio silent on the college application process. Back in September, I mentioned that M was doing more visits, but then I said that I’d “stay deliberately vague on the finer points of the college search” for a while. Well, … [Read more…]
Our plan for Christmas to visit Cute W’s parents in Kansas City. Fun fact: did you know that you can fly to Europe for about the same price as it takes to fly to Kansas City? True story! But it is a smidgen cheaper if you travel when nobody wants to travel, so we got … [Read more…]
