Latest Posts

  • Broken Expectations

    Dear Alexander-in-the-Middle, You are two and a half. You are quickly entering the magical realm of not quite understanding how specific language can be. You’ll have a mental picture in your head of a potato roll. You’ll ask for it… Continue reading

  • Tragic Violence and Empathy

    Dear Kids, I hear so much about school shootings and about suicides in teenagers that it’s hard for my heart not to hurt and for me not to feel afraid for this world that you are growing up in, where… Continue reading

  • Dear Dr. Phil

    Dear Dr. Phil, Your recent show has made it very clear that you don’t understand what Attachment Parenting is all about. You have confused it with permissive and narcissistic parenting, which is very much not in line with AP in… Continue reading

  • Eight Months and a Future Weaning

    Dear Daughter, Eight months today. Happy birthday little bird. Skin to skin under the blankets, both of us sick with a cold and fever-warm against each other. You hum while you nurse, and stare into my eyes from behind your… Continue reading

  • Discipline in Toddlerhood

    I was asked how I address discipline in a toddler/two year old. I mostly address it with a change in expectations. As in my own expectations. A toddler is more similar to an infant than they are to an older… Continue reading

  • The Texture of You

    Dear Isaac, Alexander and Anne-Marie, Each of you has a texture that delights me. The expressions that you make, the sound of your voice, the way your words move across your mind and leave your mouth, the things that you… Continue reading

  • A Thin Pink Ring

    Dear Isaac, When you were five you went on a field trip with your summer camp, and you played some games in an arcade and won tickets that you could trade for prizes. You traded your tickets for a ring… Continue reading

  • Nothing Between Us

    Dearest Daughter, I know how you look at me. Your expectations have never been colored by movies, by books, by others talking about how parents “should be”, and attributing all sorts of motives to my actions. You look at me… Continue reading

  • Misunderstood Need

    Dear Children, Way back when humankind first came to be, be it through creation or evolution or something not yet understood or imagined.. The world was a very different place, and our bodies were made to survive and thrive in… Continue reading

  • Breastfeeding May Not Be the Most Important Thing

    Dear Daughter, Breastfeeding you may not be the most important thing that I can do for you as a mother. There are many other things that I will need to do as you grow up that will dwarf the amount… Continue reading