outsidevoice

Yesterday The Swimmy started first grade. There’s no denying it – she’s a “big girl” now. No more special entrances, no more kid gloves. She gets homework, some autonomy and is no longer “the littlest” at school. She was so excited. All weekend she kept reminding us how many days were left before the start [...]

Benjamin does not wear shoes. Not because he’s a hillbilly, not because we can’t afford them, but because I’ve always believed that if kids can’t feel the floor, they can’t learn to walk. (Also? He has the fattest/tallest feet known to a 13 month old.) But, he’s walking now. Almost running. And it occurred to [...]

Dear Benjamin, You’ll notice our house looks a little different these days. You see, we’ve had to take things off of tables, remove small decorative items here and there, hide some wires, move some small appliances and there seems to be a gafrillion (clean) diapers strewn about our various rooms. Hurricane Dean’s got nothing on [...]

I turned 37 on Friday. I will admit that I am beginning to dislike the thought of the next few birthdays. This one didn’t bother me too much, but 38 kinda does. But that’s next year. This year I considered doing something I never thought I would – a minor plastic surgery procedure to fix [...]

The Swimmy has been experimenting with a bunch of activities over the past year or so. I say “experimenting” because there isn’t any one thing that she has latched on to that she LOVES and MUST KEEP DOING. I don’t think. Dance may fall into the category. She likes that. She practices on her own. [...]

Dear Benjamin, As you can see, I am a little late in writing this entry. I apologize, but, in all honesty, I really didn’t know what to write here. Oh, sure I could list all the wonderful things you’ve started doing this month like walking, blowing kisses, giving kisses and waving. But, haven’t you ALWAYS [...]

Well, I’m really glad we like our little house. ‘Cause we’re stayin’ in it for awhile. A few things happened: 1. My neighbor is not going to buy the house she wanted to buy, so her house is not going to be available. 2. While we could still sell our house, there are no other [...]