Connecting the Dots

I overheard our guide explaining that each of the 500 Buddhas represented a different emotion, and that if there was a particular state of mind you were struggling with, you were supposed to do–something or another–with that Buddha. I didn’t catch what, nor am I sure what the significance of some of the more mustachio’d Buddhas would have been, emotion-wise. But whatever it was, I should have done it with the impatient looking Buddha, and the Buddha who couldn’t enjoy […]

So. It’s 9:15. I’m bitterly exhausted. Tomorrow is…another day, another day, another day. Another day feeding them, talking to them, tending them, wiping them. Another day. If I go to bed now I’m likely to get some sleep. I will be more rested for them. But the day will come…sooner. And there I will be.

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

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.

Take One of Me Too! Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Best View in Town Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

An Afternoon of Indulgence Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Woof! Originally uploaded by kjda Fourth go for the puppy costume. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Wyatt accepts help Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Just when it was getting kind of easy and nice, it developed that it’s only easy and nice if I don’t feel like total crap.. I have yelled mercilessly at each and everyone of my children today, and that makes me feel even worse. Bleh.

Happy New Year! Originally uploaded by kjda For us, that meant fondue with friends, a neighbor’s bonfire and bedtime! KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

There have been many, many times here when I’ve wished for anonymity. Such rich veins of commentary as would open up to me! Such rants I could post about various and sundry things that I CANNOT EVEN MENTION HERE EVEN A LITTLE BIT! Ok, so MPHOLLYPMHRPYLL MURPH MURPH Tempest, teapot MUMBLE MUTTER GRUPM GRIPE darn it I really can’t even get any more specific MRPHO MRPH just wrong. Also, helicopters.

They Take Mardi Gras Seriously Here Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

About to race! Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

It’s getting pretty deep around here–meaning that our many belongings are gathering forces in various piles and preparing to take over the house, or at least the space we would prefer to use to walk it. I meant to deal with it this afternoon, but my lovely friend Mimi invited me over to drink Sangria and watch the kids play in the sprinkler instead, and–well, at least when we’re not some, what already IS clean stays clean! But this weekend […]

A Gnome! Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

How You Want Your Kids to Behave in Publiv Originally uploaded by kjda I have concluded that, if you just keep taking them and taking them and taking them, eventually–maybe one in four times–you get a decent result. I guess the hope is that eventually the ratio improves. Of course, this is the third lacrosse game in three days, and I am sitting here typing, so I am probably not behaving that well myself. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Fall Guy Originally uploaded by kjda This is a little suction cup guy we have had for at least eight years. Isn’t it funny how some things just stick around? I am a big purger of things, but somehow, some stuff sticks. (I am thinking, for example, of the ancestral family beach towels. I have beach towels that I’ve had since I was five.) Bear with me, I do have a point. At mile 28 or so today, Sam’s wheel […]

9 year olds still love playgrounds Originally uploaded by kjda Sam is always the one on the sports field and never has time for the playground. We were going to the pool, but it’s 70 and mildly drizzly…perfect playground weather, really. And without Lily, our threesome tension is loosened…I am sure Wy and Rory will find something to argue about soon, but they haven’t yet. Sam just finished his last of three straight weeks of camp. Too much, in a […]

It’s August. Do you know where your summer’s gone? I don’t. Some of it’s gone to the pool, for the kind of lazy afternoons spent on towels eating popsicles that I remember as a kid. Some of it’s been whiled away by my nine-year-old’s determined statement that it was The. Most. Boring. Day. Ever, which, if you ask me, isn’t really a bad thing. It’s in the garden, sure, it’s in our newly cleaned out garage. But what I want […]

If you’re a golf fan (and even if you’re not) Dustin Johnson inadvertently provided you with a great “teachable moment”during Sunday’s PGA championship. If you missed it (or just don’t do golf), Johnson was leading the field on the 18th hole when his tee shot fell slightly to the right of the fairway, into a “bunker” (that’s a sand trap) that had been “walked on, kicked and trampled by thousands of fans over the last week,” as HuffPo’s Nancy Armour […]

In introducing a guest post I wrote for the NYT’s Motherlode blog, , Lisa Belkin quoted a friend of hers, an adoptive parent, as saying “I have faced the fact that my daughter is only mine because I have more money than her birth mother.” Lisa notes that her friend considers that a simple reality of adoption, but one that is rarely spoken aloud. My guest post was about another reality of adoption–adopting the child who already has a family, […]

We do Halloween big here. BIG. So big that I have yet to finish clearing up, so big that I have yet to recover. Not big in the yard full of lights and inflatable vampires big, but still big. It encompasses Friday in prep, Saturday in party and Sunday in, of course, Halloween itself. I am still recovering. In the course of it we failed to help Lily do any schoolwork. She aced her spelling test and all five bonus […]

Finally the Aquatic Center Is Fun Originally uploaded by kjda Because I dont have to go in! KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone —

Lily’s valentine’s are so weirdly charming that I wish I’d taken a picture of each individual one. There’s a pillow she sewed. A spider made from an egg carton and a pipe cleaner ring. A gnome we made at Christmas. A small batch of fake flowers wrapped in felt. I guess when there are only eight kids in your class, you can go all out, and throw in a piece of our soon-to-be-famous fudge, too. I have no idea what […]

Rory has lived with us for 21 months now, and I still feel like I don’t know her. I love her, and I’m charmed by her, and I want to scoop her up and give her raspberries, but I don’t know her. I’m not sure she knows herself. I can predict what she’ll do on lots of occasions. If Wyatt pushes her accidentally, she will explode into tears and hollers and shrieks. If Wyatt whacks her over the head with […]

Hidden Mickey! Originally uploaded by kjda It’s not often your brothers and sisters stand around cheering while you get your hair done. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone —

Apparently the urge to clean, like spring itself, comes late to me. There are still hockey bags in our hallway. Ski boots in the closet. Too-heavy coats (although not full-on ski jackets) in the cubbies and I am tired of it, and tired of the piles in the kitchen, and tired of the piles in the bedroom, and tired of the piles in general. Maybe even tired enough to actually do something about it. But not alone. I called three […]

Oh, hell. What’s “fair,” anyway? Who came up with that concept? I hate fairness. This morning, in the car, we had something like this: Wyatt: That’s MINE! Give it back! Rory: [silence] Wyatt: MOMMY! She has my motorcycle! Give it back. Rory: You didn’t say please. Wyatt: PLEAASE give it back! It’s mine! Rory: [silence] Wyatt: Roo-RYYY! Rory: You didn’t say it nice. Wyatt: Pleasegivemebackmymotorcycle. Rory: I’m not gon’ give it back unless you ask me nice. Wyatt: GIVE IT […]

It is really hard to let you wear tights and eat oatmeal when it is 100 degrees and we have no air conditioning, but I will stay cooler if I just let it go.

Captive Originally uploaded by kjda Food, water and shelter. At least Lily, Rory and their two friends are complying with the Geneva Convention. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone —

I didn’t actually buy new slippers for anyone. Rory and Wyatt need slippers for school, and I must have bought the ones we found in a closet today on sale at the end of the year last year. Then there was a larger pair for Lily that I vaguely remember buying in the distant past, on the theory that she would grow into them eventually, which she has. The problem, of course, is that Rory’s new slippers look like this: […]

I’m tired. I’ve been tired all day–sleepy tired, as in, shut-your-eyes-for-just-one-minute-huh? It’s that kind of day. Chilly, dreary, a little rainy. And I just got my mac id to work with iCloud. And I’m sitting here, looking at it. at the little thing that says “move your MobileMe to iCloud” and thinking, damn. It’s all working. Right now, email, iCal–all nicely sync’d up just the way I want them. ANd I JUST know if I move, there will be growing […]

On Motherlode today, one I’m really proud of–virtual schools are earning praise in the home schooler’s blogosphere, and I think for those kids, they deserve it. But what if cash-strapped administrators try pushing this cheaper alternative on kids who won’t really “school” at home? Read and comment, please! Also: Holiday book shopping! The Children’s Book Review! I love seeing this every year. Come tell me and everyone else what you’re buying for the kids on your list.

New Desk Ornament Originally uploaded by kjda

All the Words Rory Can Spell Originally uploaded by kjda