Because natural isn't always possible — or easy.
Posted in Eating Healthy, Emotional development, Food, toddlers on Jun 16th, 2010
I use food as a reward for my little girl. There. I admitted it. I’m doing something I absolutely shouldn’t do, and I don’t know how I feel about it. I was way more careful with my big girl. I never used food as a reward. Hugs and kisses, yes. A cup of yogurt or [...]
Posted in Emotional development, toddlers on Jun 14th, 2010
Before Big Girl was born I questioned my parenting potential. I spent months, actually, discussing this very topic with a therapist. Would I be a good parent? Would I screw up any child I had because I was, well, a little screwed up? I agonized over it. And yet when she was born, I wondered [...]
Posted in Emotional development, parenting, Safety, toddlers on May 20th, 2010
Little Girl is dexterous. This is a problem. Yes, she is day potty-trained, but I still put a diaper on her for naps and at night. Seems she doesn’t like wearing a diaper ever, so she’s been taking off her sleep sack and tossing the diaper onto the floor. No big deal when it’s naptime. [...]
Posted in Eating Healthy, Food, Going Green, Health, toddlers on May 12th, 2010
Little Girl had her 21-month well visit a few weeks ago. The nurse came in to take height and weight. She put her on the scale. “She didn’t gain an ounce since her last check up,” explained the nurse. Then she got measured. She only grew 1/2 inch since her last visit, which was three [...]
Posted in Emotional development, parenting, toddlers on Mar 31st, 2010
Note to my readers: This is one of my most popular, most Tweeted, and most commented on posts. I thought I’d re-run it for those of you who didn’t read it, and for those of you who are new to my blog. The original post date was January 14. Over the Christmas holidays we went [...]
My mom watches Little Girl on Tuesdays. I moderated a webinar today, so they both left the house for the afternoon. When I finished the event, I put my home phone back on the hook. There was a message waiting from my mom. “Hello, Karen? I took her shopping, and we came back to my [...]
Posted in Health, parenting, Preventative medicine, Safety, toddlers on Feb 22nd, 2010
I’ve had three really scary choking kid experiences in my life. Two with my own kids, one with a friend’s kid. The one with the friend’s kid happened first. It was five years ago. We were out at a Mexican restaurant eating lunch. My friend gave her then-18-month-old a tortilla chip. He ate it and [...]
Posted in Emotional development, toddlers on Jan 14th, 2010
Over the Christmas holidays we went to the Long Island Children’s Museum. While we were there, one of my friends ran into one of her old friends. The girl had a 9-month-old and a three-year-old. We started chatting. She asked me how my big girl liked becoming a big sister. She wanted to know, she [...]
Posted in Emotional development, parenting, toddlers on Jan 5th, 2010
I was at a playdate today. Everyone was talking about television. Me, I was chasing around my crazy baby, so I wasn’t in the conversation. When I finally sat down one of my friends turned to me with a question: “Does [Little Girl] watch TV?” No, I said, feeling very uncomfortable. I know she’s seen [...]
Posted in Health, Illness, School and education, toddlers on Dec 23rd, 2009
My last blog post is getting record readership. And it’s spawning a ton of emails and Facebook posts. People say they felt defensive reading it. They say it was harsh against working moms. They say it has the ability to fan the flames of the Mommy Wars. I stand by the post. When I wrote [...]