Connecting the Dots

Today was Sam’s second dentist appointment. He’s been looking forward to it all week, for reasons he never really articulated. Generally, I think he likes being the center of attention, no matter what form. Once we were there, he sank into himself, a little, huddled just a bit in the chair. I could tell he was nervous, but I stayed in my chair, across the room, smiling, relaxed, and he relaxed too. He eyed each instrument as she presented it, […]

One of my favorite mental mulling topics: things that everyone has to do, no matter how rich they are. I kept thinking, well, get up with a baby, but I suppose that’s not really true–you can hire someone to do that for you, even though I honestly (full frontal judgement here) don’t think that you should. But I digress. (Someone has to have a blog with that name, don’t they?) Today’s everybody has to do it: the dentist. No matter […]

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It’s a Girl edited by Andi Buchanan. I’ve just read most of the essays in this book, and I’ve loved them. Why “most”? Because I couldn’t read the last few–the ones about letting go. My oldest child isn’t quite five, and even thought there are plenty of moments when letting him go–ANYWHERE–sounds pretty good, the truth is that I can’t even think about them grown up and even a little bit gone. I’ll trust I’ll handle that somehow when it […]

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I’m pretty much through yesterday’s bad funk. I’ve infected poor Rob with it, though, and I don’t think he likes me very much right now. Not that I like me much lately, either. But we’ve always soldiered through that before, no reason not to think we will again. I’m struggling with my novel rewrite, too. When it goes well, I’m on top of the world. When it doens’t–I just opened the file and realized the character I’ve just brought in […]

Lily’s eating habits Originally uploaded by kjda. We’ve spent a lot of time defending the way we feed the kids–which is to pretty much offer whatever’s available at any meal all at once without commenting on what gets eaten. We do encourage trying new things and talk about food groupd and balance, but we never, ever make eating dessert conditional on eating anything else. If there’s dessert, you get it, no matter what. This worked great with Sam but seemed […]

I let Sam watch the first half of the first inning of the World Series tonight. A lot of the kids in his class are talking about it (we’re close to Boston and this is definitely Red Sox nation). It took 45 minutes of pregame to get to the batters. There were 8 or 10 rounds of commercials. The first one was funny and we both loved it so much we went back to see it again–a guy and some […]

Lily eats ice cream Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

This week I have been VASTLY better at dicking around on the ‘net than, say, actually writing anything. I will have meetings, or probably at the very least one meeting, with editors next week. Agents for absolutely certain. The book should be shiny and ready to stick in a box, the freelance ideas gloriously new…but I am googling a former writer from Rollerderby. Oh, yeah, I’m ready for prime time.

I told Lily and Sam a story tonight in which Wyatt flew out the wondow and they flew after him, because of course he’s too little to fly alone… Lily loved it. Kept talking about it all through bedtime. He fly! In story, he fly! Yes, in the story. Story. Yes, it was a story. Sam not fly. i not fly. Wyatt not fly. But she got kind of a speculative gleam in her eye at that last sentence, and […]

Lily’s day has come, and she’s taking it better than I would have expected. Here’s the background: Once upon a time, when Sam wasbut a wee lad of three and in nursery school, he failed to put his boots and coat on, or to sit in his cubby and put his boots and coat on, or some dreadful transgression of that nature. Sam, I declared sternly, if you don’t go do whatever it is I want you to do right […]

Sam the Reader Originally uploaded by kjda. Hi mom! I am sitting at the library with Sam. He finished his homework in no time and has been reading for 35 minutes. Of course, the minute I wrote that he started humming. Still, pretty good for somebody who wouldn’t have read at all a month ago. He is out with me because tonight is the Nordic team ski sale, and he needs new skis. Since we have Holly tonight, he gets […]

When you run out of strawberries… Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia

Under the last patch of melting snow.. Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Rob tested positive. they called at 11 tonight. others of us are feeling symptoms. i think we are all going to Beijing Di Tan Hospital. we will not have internet access. this is not going to be fun.

Wyatt finally gets a hot dog Originally uploaded by kjda For breakfast, of course. He ate 4. We think this is our last breakfast here… We are taking lots of pictures. We will put them up tomorrow, I hope. Rob has the camera charger. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Full disclosure: Lorelei Rebecca Seelig, fka You Wan Rebecca, has had more sugar in the past week than in her entire previous 3 year, 9 month life. She has had candy. She has had lollipops. She has had Sprite, Coke and Orange soda. “I like tandy,” she tells us, helpfully, before meals. “I like Sprite. I like cookies. No dinner, just cookies.” We have no routine, of course, no set rest time, no set bed time, no ability to have […]

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

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 post-kindergarden Originally uploaded by kjda Lily’s first day pic is in my camera, so here she is painting pottery in honor of her first day!

Goofiness at the Fair Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Where in the World is KJ? Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

A ghost and Blossom, the Powerpuff Girl Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Ready to go Originally uploaded by kjda It must be said that Rory has no idea what she’s getting into here. She’s seen Sam skate, of course, but she has no concept of "ice" except from the freezer. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Bumpkin City Originally uploaded by kjda I have spent my entire adult life in either Manhattan, Chicago or a small town. The result is that in any fast food chain other than Starbucks, I gaze at the menu like I’ve never seen it before, desperately interpreting. Happily, Panera Bread was not crowded, and my Dr. Pepper and blueberry muffin are bringing my feeling-a-little- better self much joy. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Today I shall accomplish great things, many many great things. And in honor of those things, I will post them here, to share, as the day goes by. I have already accomplished the first: Laundry Basket Reclamation. When we returned from China, in July, I put all the things we acquired there into a laundry basket and sat it on the dog crate in our bedroom (which, as you can gather from that statement, is a very relaxing and well-designed […]

You MUST go read this Choose Your Own Adventure parody by Marjorie Ingall, or I will never forgive you. Seriously, you deserve this big a laugh today.

We’re visiting my parents, much loved by all kids including Rory–but she’s never been to their house before. And we haven’t stayed overnight anywhere besides our house since we went to the Cape last summer–a place which offers many, many consolation prizes for not being home, and where Rob was with us. Here, no pool, and no Rob either. Rory is doing really well–too well, some of the time, tearing around shrieking and jumping on the sofa–but she’s also sucking […]

It’s such a beautiful weekend…the Easter Bunny would like to hide the baskets and eggs outside! (The Easter Bunny is mischievous in our house, a tradition that dates back to the time my mother forgot to put out my basket, but left it where she’d hidden it from me originally, which I think was on top of the china cabinet, and then claimed that the Easter Bunny MUST have hidden it (good save Mom, esp. at 6 am!).) Anyway, the […]

I was reading a little snippet of Ayelet Waldman’d Bad Mother today. She was talking about her mother-in-law, and how wonderful she was once Waldman realized it. She described her as serene, and talked about how nice it must be to grow up in a house with a serene mother, adding that she’d grown up with temperamental, explosive mother and that she was that kind of mother herself, and so she knew all too well its disadvantages, and I thought, […]

See Below. Originally uploaded by kjda Can’t last, tho. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

The Gosselins have been another of my guilty pleasures ever since my husband, flicking channels one night after a day of moving house with a six-month old, a two-year-old and a five-year-old, came across Jon attempting to put all six toddlers into ski suits and we settled in for a good bout of schadenfreude. I resisted their pull last season as the marriage imploded (just too prurient) but I can watch Kate parent her eight on her own with only […]

How We Spent Our Day Originally uploaded by kjda The other half is equally impressive. Sam helped willingly for 5 hours. We did say we would pay him, but we never said how much…and he seriously never once griped. And it was HOT. I am so proud. Plus, holy crap, look at the garage. Of course I didn’t take a picture of the dumpster pile. Yesterday was my birthday, and I got some lovely gifts (silverware and a shirt from […]

What Really Intellectual Familes Originally uploaded by kjda Do on Vacation

Any mother who wasn’t at the top of the social pyramid growing up (and maybe even those who were) has meditated about what we’d like to tell our own daughters as they head into middle school and beyond. Don’t make everything a drama. Act confident, and people will be happy to be around you. Relax. Say what you mean, don’t apologize, don’t back down. We know, of course, that those aren’t lessons that can be taught by your mother, but […]

I am on strike. Dinner has been provided; it was tasty. Children have been suitably entertained all afternoon and are now semi-appropriately occupied (2 children coloring: check. One child legos: check. Child making repeated thumping noises, followed again and again by by “ouch” from the playroom I am not so sure about, but hey, she’s not bothering me). Dinner has not been cleaned up. The kitchen, likewise, is a horrendous mess. Atrocious. Apparently someone failed to clean it last night […]

Don’t Let KJ Draw the Pigeonbrought to you by Livescribe To really enjoy this, go to “full screen” and, at the bottom of the screen as it starts, click the bottom wavy line which will “hide preview.” That lets the drawing appear from nothing. You can then go back to the blog (icon in top right corner) any time and it will stay that way.

Happy Hanukah! Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone —

Somehow, through a series of events that’s a little hard to explain, I ended up running the administrative part of one of our local ski programs. Well, co- running it. On the one hand, certainly I am better off running it than I am at teaching kids to ski–I don’t mind coaching them at Nordic skiing, but I refuse to ride a ski lift with any child I’m not related to–but primarily, I’m deeply aware of what a huge mistake […]

Hello from Great Wolf Lodge Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone