KJ

First, there was ice cream. Originally uploaded by kjda And now–a moonlit playground. How are things going? Brilliantly, actually. Who wouldn’t want to be part of a family like this? (that’s not even sarcasm, I add, mindful of the day I wrote something like "I love reading trip trap trip trap in this version of the Billy Goats Gruff" and and my editor said whoa, that’s a little too snarky even for you and I said oh, no, actually I […]

Because Wyatt Takes "Twinning" Very Seriously. Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

At the end of the next post I talk about a tough question posed by a friend (and maybe it shouldn’t be a tough question–more like a tough one to really think about). I said I thought I shouldn’t even ask myself that. I was wrong. The tough questions–even the ones that won’t change–are exactly the ones we should always ask ourselves. The short answer to mine is no. I’ll try to get to the long answer later this weekend.

Today’s Double X post actually has to do with parenting and kids–something I usually don’t talk about there. Anyone else notice that people responded to the suggestion that the CDC might recommend circumcision for boys in a VERY different way than they responded to the recommendation of the HPV vaccine for girls? To vent about the double standard, head over to Double X.

After we went to Cape Cod, I had this whole post in my head about how, when you were young, you always imagined you’d go on vacation and come back changed, and now I had–I’d come back fully accepting and loving Rory and happy with our family. And then the last day had its ups and downs, and I lost the feeling, and since then, it’s gone wildly back and forth. It’s scheduling time, and change time, and as much […]

So, below a couple of pictures we have a lovely picture of the candy-smeared Rory. I haven’t figured out her relationship with food yet, or what I should be trying to do for her. She’s got some oddities–for example, she sucks down any sugary drink she’s given, from Sprite (thank you, China) to chocolate milk, before eating. Some foods she just mainlines–any snack, for example, or the little boxes of cereal they serve at a breakfast buffet. Either you take […]

Taking Beauty Very Seriously Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Rory’s first haircut (with us) Originally uploaded by kjda And the last time all three littles get their hair cut on the same day. Whew! KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Tomorrow’s dinner! Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

The Candy Addict Sleeps Originally uploaded by kjda Everyone chose something at the Chatham Candy Manor for the ride home. Rory’s choice–a long twisty lollipop. Which she did not lick–she ate. Bite, crunch. Three minutes into the ride, we turned around to find this. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

On the "Holly" Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Sunset Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Tonight we sent all four kids to the kids’ dinner at the hotel where we’re staying on Cape Cod. All together, all in their matching striped shirts. Lily and Sam went when we were here once before, so they were into it–Lily especially–and that brought Wyatt along, and Rory just know of got swept up. I’m honestly not a hundred percent sure that she understood that Rob and I wouldn’t go too. But she went. We sat on the veranda […]

The pool here is a gradual entry pool, and when Rory decided to swim without her life jacket today I thought I’d better keep a close eye on her–as in, no magazine, real watching. It’s so easy to start swimming where you can touch and end up where you can’t. And she did, about three minutes after she got in. I was pretty far away, and I saw her some up a couple of times, looking a little desperate, and […]

At Dinner, again Originally uploaded by kjda This time she’s out for the night. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Apparently Lily Needs Another Little Sister Originally uploaded by kjda During Rory’s time out. Can’t cure the tantrums in one day after all! KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Just a Little Reminder from the Poison Ivy Fairy Originally uploaded by kjda Not to take life in the woods for granted. I can’t get the picture to look as bad as it does in real life…it hurts! KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Lily Swam Across the Pool! Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Loving the Pool Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

The Pack Swims Originally uploaded by kjda Lots of togetherness today at the pool by the fearsome foursome. And if you’re far enough away, you can’t hear the happiness level–but it sure looks good! KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Everyone enjoys themselves in their own way Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Actually I Was Wrong Originally uploaded by kjda They found a way to totally enjoy this thing together. Rory likes being tipped over. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Idyllic. Can’t last. Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Things That Are Unlikely to End Well Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

At the pond Originally uploaded by kjda I forgot my swimsuit and Sam isn’t in yet, so inevitably someone is going to go out to far and get scared…can I use a rake to haul them in, or is that too heartless? Our friends, the owners of the pond, are also the possessors of an enormous water trampoline that Sam and Joey are pouting because I will not get out…it just seems too difficult and painful, and once it’s out, […]

I have always relied on my ability to sleep. I drop off the minute I hit the pillow, regardless of circumstances, and I sleep solid–even that ever-present alertness that comes with a baby and a monitor only threw me a little off my stride. Until…this. I honestly don’t know if it was Rory, or China. I’d doze, but I couldn’t sleep, not really sleep, not the deep velvety stuff with the dreams you don’t know are dreams, and it was […]

I was just reading Brain, Child, and came across a little offhand comment from a mother of three: Another child would … tip us over into another category: that of the Big Family, the sort that, dispite how well-behaved the children are or how fantastic the wife’s guacamole she brings over, simply entails too big a crowd I hadn’t exactly thought of Rory as a social liability… I really do make good guacamole.

I love summer. WInter is hard, where we live, and it’s long, and it’s cold, and then it’s long, and did I mention it’s long? The sheer amount of gear involved in winter life…I could cry just thinking about it, and I love to ski and ice skate. Sigh… But this is summer. The pool has become easy. The biking is fabulous. There are only three and a half more weeks before Sam stuarts school, and then while the summer […]

Things That Make Me Happy Originally uploaded by kjda This is on our road home. I see it every day, and every day I think of that road crew, goofing around with the tar, and I laugh. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Everyone needs buds. MIne come in, um, human and online form. Physical and online? Ok, that sounds better. I couldn’t parent without mine, and I couldn’t write without my crew of fellow writers, too–a couple of whom, today, totally offhand, provided me with complete inspiration when I really needed it. Writers (like parents) tend to work alone. I’m lucky enough to have a couple of editors I’m in regular contact with, and a couple of steady gigs that mean I […]

Buds Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Actually playing together. Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Two Months Ago Originally uploaded by kjda I sat on this bench, in this museum, with another adoptive parent and her recently at home daughter…and never really thought this would happen. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

I tend to feel so different in the morning that I think maybe I ought to look into lithium. Or possibly electric shock therapy. Today’s plan is to let Wyatt and Rory duke it out. I have tried punishing him every time he touches her, and it doesn’t work–and the truth is, most of the time, he’s not actually doing anything he doesn’t do to Lily 62 times a day. It’s jsut that Rory has this deeply, deeply annoying screechy […]

Sam and I are just back from a preview of G Force (and, for the record, your kids will love it and so will you). We took the whole afternoon together, had dinner, got there just as it was starting–only to find them turning away a line of a hundred-plus people. But I am “press” and we got in–and it turned out Sam never doubted that we would!

I would post, but how many times can I say that this is hard? How many times can I detail the ways I’ve failed today, or the ways I’ve taken my frustration out on my family? How many times can you hear, again, that I have simply got too many small children…too many to take to the bathroom. To many to cut up fruit for, too many to mix chocolate milk for, too many to watch in the swimming pool, […]