There are stories that become part of a family’s lore. These are the stories that are pulled out at dinner parties like an old, time-tested joke. Even if people know the punchline, it’s a guaranteed laugh. The story of my husband taking our five-week-old twins for a stroll in our Bangkok neighbourhood may be one […]
Hilarious Family Moments
Tantrums and Knuckleheaded Parenting Ideas
I thought I was done with tantrums. I mean, my twins are nearly six, and we’ve had one year free of embarrass-mom-in-public moments. Most tantrums I barely remember, my body activating the Parenting-Amnesia reflex, the one that enables moms and dads to crawl out of bed the next morning at 5:45. There are some vague […]
Math, 100 Days, and the Drive to School
There are days when I feel that half a day has passed and it’s not even 8:15 a.m. Usually that thought hits me on the drive to school. Usually it’s in winter, after an endless search for a missing mitten. It’s a miracle if we all make it into the minivan without me threatening to […]
What Reality Shows Can Teach You about Parenting, Part 2
Feel free to read Part 1 of What Reality Shows Can Teach You about Parenting, or feel free not to bother. American Idol may not seem like a primer in parenting, but it is. Where else can you learn that everyone judges you? That lesson became apparent on a recent trip to IKEA. I had […]
What Reality Shows Can Teach You about Parenting, Part 1
I wipe snot off the wall and proceed to scrape the remaining crusty boogers with my finger nail. This is what my evenings have become now that I have five-year-old twins. I have no time to do DNA analyses to determine which urchin is guilty. I still have to pack lunches, reply to half a […]
Dinner Tonight: Another Twenty Minutes with Twins
Musical chairs. Every night before the four of us sit down to eat, we play a game of musical chairs. Well, not really. There is no music nor is there a shortage of seats. Where we sit each meal, however, always changes. Vivian and William seem to delight in determining this nightly seating plan, declaring […]
Fair Is Fair: Funny Moments with William
Most twin parents are hypersensitive to the issue of fairness. The phrase “equal but different” has become a silent household philosophy. Since Vivian had her day in the sun last blog, I thought I’d share some William-isms from the past few weeks. He SAID what? “Mom, I just need some alone time.” Interpretation: I want […]
5 Resolutions Made by a 5-Year-Old
To the delight of parents everywhere – and to the consternation of teachers– this past week meant back to school. For Vivian, my daughter, the first day back in Kindergarten afforded her the opportunity to write resolutions using inventing spelling. She has five wishes for 2010, and her hopes make me both smile and cringe. […]
A “New” Year’s Tradition: Make Resolutions for the People You Love
It’s six days in. Six days since I started my Resolution of the Decade: drinking eight glasses of water each day. This was something I used to do on an hourly basis when I lived in Bangkok. It’s harder to drink water in the freezing Canadian winter, but I soldier on, imbibing H20 like it’s […]
Why Our Kids Love Having a Babysitter
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 […]