A baby dragon was born in my living room this morning. “Mommy, come see!” Henry said, leading me by the hand in his red Spiderman underwear. He led me to the side of the couch and held out his hand like a showgirl on The Price is Right. “A baby dragon just hatched out of its egg!” “Oh wow!” I said. “How cute!” Henry nodded proudly and scooped up the invisible guy. “He’s so small I can hold him in…
We decided to visit the nonfiction children’s section of the West Tisbury library today just to mix things up. Henry wanted a book on Superman, and it occurs to me that we weren’t able to find it because any books on the caped crusader would have been in fiction, but in any case, we filled our book bags with as many books as we could carry. I love introducing the kids to Picasso and Georgia O’Keefe and Jazz musicians, so…
Today when we left the beach, Henry was hungry and tired and cranky. As he dragged his little feet through the sand, he said, “Mom? You are a pain in the ass!” I explained to him that “pain in the ass” is a “grown-up” phrase, meaning only big people can use it. I demonstrated other phrases he could use instead, such as “Pain in the Neck” or “Oh Boy!” but if he really wanted to say something cranky to his…
Today was what we, in Babyworld, would call “a doozy.” I was baking away as usual and Annabelle became entranced by the container of flour on the table. She ran to her own little kitchen and pulled out her little pots and pans and started mixing away. I figured it would be messy, but I was happy she was getting some tactile stimulation–usually she doesn’t like to get her hands dirty. A few minutes later I glanced behind me and…
Ah this endless battle–to create, to accomplish, to achieve, to write, dance, sing…and the impossibility of doing any of this when all your energy goes into being a mom, a wife, keeper of home and hearth. I make Motherhood my art, but I feel so much pressure to actually do something more tangibly valuable. Mothers are so undervalued, underappreciated and underpaid in our culture. It takes an iron will and a strong sense of self to stay the course and…
My mother would make a brilliant scientific study–she is a 72-year-old woman in perfect health who has pretty much lived on candy and dessert her entire life. You may think I jest, but let me give you an example. She came to help me out when I had my second baby. My first baby had just turned two and never tasted candy. The first thing my Mom did when she got in the car was give my toddler a bag…
Letter to Times Picayune As my daughter just entered Kindergarten in New Orleans, I recently took a tour of several schools in the area. I was appalled! Most of the schools I toured were upscale private schools, the best education New Orleans has to offer, and yet unhealthy environments for young children. The kindergartens were full of plastic clutter, sugary foods, and media. The teachers showed me the “worksheets” the children would be doing for homework during the year….
When I was pregnant with my first child, I was hungry to connect with other mothers so I read every magazine and article on pregnancy and parenting I could find. What I took away from this information is that parenting is hard, grueling, exhausting, and scary. This left me unprepared for the complete undescribable joy I felt when Baby Annabelle arrived. When I held that baby in my arms, even before knowing if it was a girl or boy, I…
I can’t believe she didn’t remember me! How could she not remember me? I performed with her every week for more than a year! I sat in her crappy van with her while she practiced her opera, drank a gallon of water, and glued austrian crystal rhinestones on her shoes! She used the van to transport her props–her giant champagne glass, her costume made of more than a thousand peacock feathers, her enormous gilded birdcage, the one with a fountain…