1. Yesterday I wrote, in part, about Nicholas’s antics while nursing. But my fav0rite dates from earlier this week, when I was singing to Julianna, and he wiggled his lower arm free so he could clap his hands while still attached to the breast. (And I thought I’d seen it all by now!)
2. It’s raining today, and the forecast says rain for the next two days. But Alex’s Batman birthday party is scheduled for Sunday (more on that next week, I promise), and that meant that I had to mow the lawn yesterday before the rain arrived. Alex has been wanting to help us mow, so we let him help push on the downhill passes. Yesterday he got tired of it in less than five minutes. “I want to walk in the path,” he said.
“Okay,” I said, confused. Until he proceeded to traipse along behind me. Back and forth. Back and forth. With his umbrella up in the sprinkle. It looked something like this…
…only with Alex in the back, and me (and the mower) in the front.
3. It’s been a bad week for sleep, and thus also a bad week for exercise and writing. The kids have colds, and I’m just about at the end of my patience with middle-of-the-night drama. I always thought Julianna was the drama queen–after all, six hospitalizations, three of them involving ICUs and ventilators, is hard to top for drama. Real drama, I mean. But Nicholas is vying for the operatic, woe-is-me kind of drama. Even as I type. ‘Nuff said.
4. Alex had his kindergarten screening yesterday. (Wow.)
5. The Shroud of Turin is on display for the first time since its restoration.
6. Here’s an interesting one. I’m working on an article on overparenting for Family Foundations magazine, and I discovered this. May 22nd is “Take your kids to the park–and leave them there!” day. Sound terrible? I’m not so sure. Lenore Skenazy has a lot of logic on her side, and the only thing I can come up with to argue the other way is–irrational fear.
7. And here is the best birth story ever.
Have a great weekend!
Kathleen M. Basi 
Gotta have faith in the world! Our kids are safer than ever, thanks goodness. It doesn’t feel that way because we love them so much and see such horrible stuff on TV. But if we get them out again, playing with each other, we will all be so much better off. Thanks for the shout out! Lenore “Free-Range Kids” Skenazy
Guilty (of somewhat over-parenting)!! I have tried to let go a little more. I am working myself up to allow my almost-9-year-old to walk 2 blocks to her friend’s house without me (or anyone else). But man, it scares me. But I know. I MUST. GROW. in this way. I cannot have my daughter in my sight 24/7 and I must learn to trust that we have raised her well, that she will know what to do in a true emergency, etc.
Check out Lenore’s site. She really does know her stuff. One of the big things is that the rate of child abductions, etc., is really not any higher than it ever has been. What’s different is that we have 24-hour news and they have to fill it with something, so local news goes national–in other words, we didn’t used to hear about an abduction unless it was in our immediate area, but now we hear about every single one. This makes it appear that there are more, even though there aren’t.
Anyway, I sympathize. I’m not ready to let go as much as I should, either, but I’m working on it. 🙂
Looks like you’ve got your hands full, Kathleen! I’m glad to see you making the most of every moment with your kids. Every day can be an adventure, no?
I love the picture of Julianna walking behind Alex. Her hair has gotten long and very pretty!