My aspirationally weekly, realistically more like monthly email of books and enthusiasms will keep your #tbr full and make sure you know what's next.
At Dinner, again Originally uploaded by kjda This time she’s out for the night. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone
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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
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This may be an exaggeration. It may be wishful thinking. It may be putting too much weight on one good day… But I think we’ve crossed some kind of line. Yesterday was a pretty good day. The parts that weren’t good were mostly in…my head. Today was a totally good day, and I’m looking at Rory with fresh–and more loving–eyes. I’m hearing her differently. Every hug isn’t an attempt to steal my attention away. Her little family recitation–that my Nini, […]
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I was trying to work through Rory’s tantrums last night–well, not the tantrums, but the way I react to them. And I was getting all fancy about her need for control, and how maybe I could understand that, as she’d had no control over being abandoned, and adopted, and yadda, and so I shoudl be more tolerant of her need to choose, say, which of the three potties in the pool bathroom she uses, every single time, and maybe if […]
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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
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Lily Swam Across the Pool! Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone
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Imagine if we’d had to leave without Rory. It just happened, to this family. Here, in a nutshell, is the United States’ new plan for China adoptions: 1. Complete masses of paperwork. Travel to China. Adopt and become responsible for child. 2. Have child tested for TB. 3. If child tests positive for TB, stay in China for 2-6 months, as child will not be allowed to travel to the US, but is no longer the responsibility of anyone in […]
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Loving the Pool Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone
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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
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Ok, so I sent Rory to her room today–probably for a slightly lame reason, but there it is–sometimes I give one or the other the “go to your room” line and then I think, well, that wasn’t really a big deal–but once I’ve said it, there we are. They’re used to it; they march. Rory has marched, but today she didn’t…I had to deliver her. I went up to release her pretty quickly. The point is, unless there’s some dramatic […]
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Everyone enjoys themselves in their own way Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone
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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
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Idyllic. Can’t last. Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone
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Things That Are Unlikely to End Well Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone
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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, […]
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Rory told me she “no like you” for the first time today. It was totally ok, because at that moment, I didn’t like her much, either. She’d thrown a massive, all out temper tantrum at the swimming pool–the kind people date from–remember that time the naked kid screamed in the grass for 20 minutes? Oh, yeah, that was the day they had adult swim… Ah, adult swim. I mocked it at first–who wants to haul their kids out of the […]
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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 […]
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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.
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Today’s activities included a chanterelle hunt, an activity that required a high tolerance for mud, bugs and failure, as we certainly didn’t find enough for dinner. The kids petered out early when one required the bathroom, but the dog and I soldiered on, finding…zilch. Our only stroke of luck came early, and each child was able to pick one mushroom. Dinner, though, was mushroom free–it just didn’t seem worth the bother, although in retrospect I could have served the one […]
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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 […]
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