We don’t get babysitters very often. This disappoints our five-year-old twins immensely. They’ve always loved babysitters. I have a few theories on why they love having other people look after them. Theory One has to do with the fact they’re twins. There’s comfort in numbers, especially when your partner-in-crime has been with you since the […]
twins
5 Great and Not-So-Great Memories of Our Family Vacation
Memory 1: Seeing the Ocean My kids haven’t seen salt water since they lived in Thailand, and that was before they could walk upright. Because we now live in a landlocked province, they’re not exactly sea-savvy. We’ve grown tired of them asking “Is that the ocean?” every time we drive past a slough in a […]
5 Unsuccessful Strategies for Getting Kids To Fall Asleep
Let’s face it: this holiday season, many of us will have the task of getting kids-hyped-up-on-chocolate to fall asleep beside us in hotel rooms or in a grandparent’s spare bedroom. This is no easy task; if it were, someone would’ve won the Nobel Peace Prize for Parenting. Saturday night, in a desperate attempt to get […]
Twenty Minutes with Five-Year-Old Twins
7:00 a.m. Although Vivian has been up for one hour, William is sleeping away. I walk into his room, turn on the light, and spy him asleep on the edge of his bed. It’s at this point I see the vomit. It has congealed beside him, one-inch chunks of partially digested banana. I wake him. […]
Happy Herding Cats Day
December 15th is Cat Herders Day. This invent-a-holiday recognizes people who have kids whose lives are so out of control it’s like they’re herding cats. (cc) tanakawho, Creative Commons, used under a ShareAlike License When I first heard of this “holiday”, my brain twisted the word herding into hoarding, a word association that would cause […]
5 Tips for Traveling with Children
Tip 1: Don’t. So what’s wrong with vacationing in your house? There’s nothing wrong with it, besides the fact that your kids want to kill each other because they’re routine-bound and besides the fact you’ve started to wax poetic about the lives of your childless friends. Take it from someone who took her twins on […]
Pregnant in Bangkok: remembering
There are things that scare me more than pregnancy, such as raising children or having a camera crew chase me around as I attempt to parent. But even after disasters such as lying face down on a golf course amidst a spectacular lightning storm (and I don’t even golf), pregnancy still ranks up there on […]
Twin Adventures in H1N1-Land
Since my kids survived their hair cuts gash-free, didn’t drown at their swimming lessons, and suffered only minor rug burns at a gymnastics-themed birthday party, I decided to try harder to inflict pain. So, I took them to get their H1N1 shots. (cc) Mike Licht, used under a Creative Commons ShareAlike License True to my […]
Those Annoying Christmas Letters: A Rant
It’s the advent of Christmas Card Season, when things other than bills grace my mailbox. Whenever I get a Christmas card, I go through the Kubler-Ross stages of emotions, from denial (It’s not Christmas again, is it?), to guilt (I really should send Christmas cards), to bargaining (If you’re going to send me a card, […]
Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day (or Not)
So yesterday was Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day. Apparently it’s an annual holiday. I don’t know who celebrates it, but I’m guessing their friend-count on Facebook might be in the single digits. As I alluded to in an earlier post, one of my useless claims-to-fame is that I can sneeze like Donald Duck, a “talent” […]