The Best Balm (even works on yet more stitches)

by Melissa on August 19, 2010

The anxiety began, I’m pretty sure, a couple of Fridays ago, the day I took Lily to the doctor to check on the brand spanking new set of stitches put into her forehead by the lovely resident in the emergency room.

The doctor was a nice man, we had a nice chat, and he declared Lily good to go after a friendly five-minute examination.  We bade farewell with the lack of emotion you would expect from a professional exchange that is likely never to be repeated.

Two and a half hours later, I got the text from Mike telling me he was visiting the same doctor getting stitches for Jake.

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My Matching Set, or Our Second Stitches

by Melissa on August 3, 2010

I think Jake tells it best:

“Mommy yelled, ‘LILY!’ and she fell off the porch and all the blood came out of her head.”

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Summertime and the Land of When Things Calm Down

July 26, 2010

I’m nearing the end of Michael Chabon’s book of essays, Manhood for Amateurs.   I’ve been reading it for about two months now, approximately the average amount of time it takes me to finish a book since Lily has decided that if I am going to read while waiting for her to fall asleep I [...]

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What Wonder Woman and I Have in Common: It’s Not What You Think

July 6, 2010

For those of you who somehow missed the news, last week Wonder Woman unveiled her new look.
When I saw her picture, two thoughts flashed across my mind in quick succession:  First, she dresses a whole lot like me.  Second — and this is the one that stuck, overcoming any embarrassment the first ought to impart [...]

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The $300 Nap

June 24, 2010

Those of you who read my last post are no doubt wondering if I ever made it home to North Carolina or if I chose, instead, to raise Lily in California until she is old enough to watch DVD’s of The Backyardigans with her brother for six or seven hours at a stretch.  Or perhaps [...]

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Does That Macaque Have Frequent Flyer Miles?

June 18, 2010

The other day I read an article in the New York Times about a new study of male Barbary macaques. Seems these guys love to care for babies — grab ‘em from their mothers and haul them around to male pow wows. Doesn’t matter if it’s their own baby; any infant will do. [...]

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Girls’ Night Out

June 1, 2010

When my friend Teri invited me to a girls’ night, my first idea of what to do was panic.
There was a time when I was all about the girls’ night out.  When I believed in a sort of aggressive-defensive-sexy Woman Power and cosmopolitans and thinking my friends and I looked like the gals in Sex [...]

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But We Got to See the Goats

May 23, 2010

We were on our way to the Dairy Goat Parade and Festival in Spindale, NC (where else would we spend a Saturday afternoon?) when it happened.
We were rolling around mountain passes, zinging like a pinball whacked between paddles, cruising through towns with names like Batcave and Chimney Rock.
“It’s too far,” Jake whined.  Until this moment [...]

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Little Shifts, Big Changes

May 20, 2010

Although Lily has been walking for over a week now, she does not yet view it as a mode of transportation.  Walking, for her, is a game that starts with a parent placing her at one end of the living room and yelling with great excitement, “Walk to Jake! Walk to Jake!”  It is unclear [...]

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Who Said It’s Easier With One?

May 15, 2010

I frequently find myself conned by rose-colored memories of the days when Jake was my only child and things were just so easy.  Sure, I cried frequently, often felt shut-in and lonely, and was already pregnant and too late to go back the first time Jake played by himself without demanding parental involvement about a [...]

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Lily Walks

May 14, 2010

It’s one of those favorite phrases of parents of young children.  “Any day now!”
“Any day now!” we chirp as cheerfully as someone as sleep-deprived as the parent of an infant can chirp when someone asks if she is sleeping through the night yet with unknowing cruelty.
“Any day now!” we promise as we watch her rock [...]

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Mother’s Day Massage and Other Goodies

May 10, 2010

Last Wednesday when I went to collect Jake’s things from his classroom at the end of the day I noticed that all the cubbies had notes instructing parents to pick up the Mother’s Day gifts awaiting them on nearby shelves.  All the cubbies, that is, except Jake’s.
I wish it weren’t true, but it is:  My [...]

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Whether You’re 13 Months or 43 Years Old, It’s All About Balance

May 4, 2010

After eight years of yoga practice, I’m finally getting the hang of balancing.
I’m talking about standing up and taking one foot off the floor.  Nothing too fancy.  Something, in fact, that most of us do all the time.
And yet, for eight years, I’ve tipped over.  Strained to stay upright.  Wobbled and bobbled and capsized.
I have [...]

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Never Say Never, and Never Say, “What Is That?” if You Plan on Picking It Up

May 3, 2010

There are times, I’ve found, when, no matter how certain I was of my choice, the Universe was right there daring me to stick to it.  Telling me, in no uncertain terms, that I would be foolish to be that stubborn.
Take, for instance, bath time Thursday night.
It was then, in one, parenthood-requires-a-good-sense-of-humor flash that it [...]

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Full Circle

April 19, 2010

I’ve been writing YogaMamaMe since Jake was younger than Lily is now.
This makes me think a lot of things:  How quickly time passes when you have kids.  How scary it is to watch time pass so quickly, especially when you have kids.  And how I seem to be repeating myself.
Take last night, for instance.  I [...]

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Passeaster

April 6, 2010

Last week I did something I am pretty sure I’ve never done before — I threw a seder on Tuesday (does one “throw” a seder?) and I put together Easter baskets for Sunday.  (Actually, Jake and Lily got Easter baskets and the rest of the folks visiting got some perfectly serviceable Easter bags, but who’s [...]

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Careful What You Wish For (2010 Version) — I Still Want to Hug Him

April 1, 2010

It occurred to me this morning, as I wandered the empty kitchen feeling just a little bit sick over leaving my son in his new classroom, that this surely must not be the first time I’ve thought to myself, “Careful what you wish for.”
Surprisingly, it turns out I last wrote those words nearly a year [...]

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I’ve Been Coming Full Circle Lately

March 29, 2010

I am, frankly, not sure whether it makes me feel better or worse that a piece I wrote almost exactly two years ago more or less sums up my night last night.  It is called — in a feat of clarity — How Being Kicked in the Face By a Baby Reminded Me That [...]

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What If Practicing Compassion Toward Yourself Means Not Being Compassionate Toward Your Child?

March 15, 2010

I did it for the first time last night.
Never, in Jake’s three-plus years or Lily’s one have I even considered letting my baby cry him or herself to sleep.
Last night I did.  I let Lily cry herself hoarse and shaking for a good forty-five minutes.
And you know what?  It didn’t work.

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Is Patience an Achievable Parent Virtue?

March 9, 2010

When I was in seventh grade my health teacher, Mr. Phillips, told me I would make a good teacher because I was so patient.
I immediately declared that I would never be a teacher in the kind of bratty voice that comes with being nearly thirteen years old and not particularly fond of Mr. Phillips.
This brattyness, [...]

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