Showing the Kids They are Most Important

Juliet’s face and pillow are wet and she is doing *that* cry. The one in which kids gasp for air in between sobs.  We were almost done with the elaborate bedtime routine Marvin and I accidentally cemented ourselves into. Family prayer in the living room, kids scatter to their respective beds, Marvin kisses each kid…

Mirroring Your Children

“But if I tell him that I like him and people find out I’ll go from the class weirdo to….absolutely a zero, just nothing, in their eyes,” she said. It was just she and I sitting on her bed. When it’s bedtime I go to her room last because I know when the house is…

Magical Children

For practical purposes the magic of my children is usually hidden from me. Nothing would get done if I spent all day in awe of them, love bubbling over. I certainly couldn’t force them to do frivolous things like homework or try “just one bite” of food or pick up their shoes. But when they…

The Mom I Want to Be

Maria’s red, splotchy face stands in stark contrast to her pale, white body. Her clothes are off & she’s sitting on the toilet waiting to get into the tub. Tonight she has decided that she doesn’t want to take a bath with her little sister & she doesn’t want to wear new panties. She also…

Tight & Loose

Elaina slides her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she fumbles with her instrument. She wants to learn to play a new song and she’s looking over an internet copy of sheet music. I can’t help but stare. She is beautiful. She’s grown so much this year. Almost as tall as I am…