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Category: Practical

We Decided to Hire Our Seven Year Old Daughter

We Decided to Hire Our Seven Year Old Daughter

One of the greatest things about parenting is simply watching them growing and learning and discovering the delights and wonders of life. The heartbreaking side of that is knowing that they will also be discovering the flip side of those delights and wonders, like rejection, bullying and not always winning. It can be a struggle to stay on that fine line of preparing her for life’s disappointments without casting a negative light on life itself. This is a particular issue…

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A Penny For Your Time

A Penny For Your Time

Yesterday I had a major parenting breakthrough! At least I think I did (I’m starting to rethink my use of that last exclamation point) Once upon a time getting Lyd to get ready for school was an exhausting exercise that resulted in barely avoiding the futility train on a daily basis. It was maddening! Telling her to speed up caused her tempo to drop by 60%. I’m amazed her voice didn’t deepen along with the slow-down. Sometimes I really do…

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Potty Training 2.0: Maybe I’ll Get It Right This Time!

Potty Training 2.0: Maybe I’ll Get It Right This Time!

“Daddy! I want Privacy!” (actually, what I heard was “Pwie-Vuh-See”) (Be enthusiastic Brooks, be encouraging. Use your high pitched voice. You can do this!) “Okay. First, you don’t know what privacy is, you just recognize that privacy happens behind closed doors (actually, I suppose you do know what privacy is after all). Second, the last time I decided to ‘grant’ you a bit of privacy, I ended up re-rolling 2/3 of a roll of Toilet Paper.” Awkward silence passes before…

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A Painting Life Hack!

A Painting Life Hack!

Two snow days ago, Annie was smart and pulled out a tub of air-dry clay that she had stashed away for just such an event. It kept Lyd occupied for a solid hour, which was incredible. From the clay, Lyd made medals for us. Annie got a heart, engraved on it was a fusion of her two names “Ann” plus “Mom”, “Aom”. Then she made a star and did the same thing for me, “Brooks” plus “Dad”… Yeah, that’s great…

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And Then The Carbon Monoxide Alarm Started Sounding Off…

And Then The Carbon Monoxide Alarm Started Sounding Off…

Life was a little frightening last week. Tuesday was discombobulated to begin with. Instead of the normal everyday routine, Reggie and I had to head into “the city” after dropping Lyd off at school (we live in a small town, I’m never happy about having to drive in). I found a pith helmet for Lyd to wear for “What do you want to be when you grow up?” day, in Lyd’s case—a zookeeper. You know, because zookeepers all run around…

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Getting Girls Ready For School

Getting Girls Ready For School

Getting girls ready for school. So, we are not fuddy-duddies, that being said, we try to put our girls in decent clothing when we’re out, you know, something that says, “our house is actually civilized. And no, she did not poop on the bathroom floor forty-five minutes ago. Why do you ask?” I apparently do not do so well with color matching. This is why I keep my own wardrobe pretty low key. I know the basics, things look good…

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