What is in this box, I wonder?….Not meat, I’m pretty sure. Hmmm, let’s see…. Oh, silly me. It’s Steve Rogers, newly made into Captain America. (Note: Although Nicholas is modeling it, this was Alex’s baby.)
Read MoreAll articles filed in Alex
A Christmas Story By Alex
Santa Purgatory
I learned the ghastly truth about Santa Claus in the first grade. I’m pretty sure I even remember which one of my female classmates told me, clearly intending it to be an emotional earthquake. I say that with confidence because even through the haze of thirty-three years’ distance, I remember feeling a need to play…
Read MoreIn the Absence of Time…Kid Portraits
Did I mention last week that Alex has FOUR DAYS OFF SCHOOL IN A ROW? As in half of Wednesday and all of Thursday, Friday, and Monday? Did I also mention that I prepared food for both Nicholas’ and Julianna’s Halloween parties on Thursday? Or that Julianna had no school on Friday? Or that she has an eye appointment…
Read More(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday
St. Michael the Archangel is in the house! Good thing he has an obliging baby brother willing to play Lucifer.
Read MoreAlex
You might remember that early this summer, Alex asked for a diary. Coming out of nowhere, as it did, we figured it was a passing whim. After all, I gave him a journal for his first Reconciliation, and he hadn’t written a single word in it. But he was quite insistent. Patient, but insistent. Every…
Read MoreFree Write: My Bookworm (i.e., why I’m grateful for good librarians)
I love having a real reader in the house. A bona-fide, chapter-book-devouring, one-third-of-the-way-through-summer-reading-in-seven-days reader. But you know what? If I didn’t put my foot down, he’d read nothing but superheroes. Graphic novels, picture books, chapter books–doesn’t matter. As long as it’s a Transformer or a or a LEGO Heroes Factory or a DC or Marvel…
Read MoreGood Week, Bad Week (a 7QT)
___1___ Last week was not a good week–the first week of summer vacation is always a transition time, but this was ridiculous–but I thought after the weekend away, my attitude was bound to be so improved that life would be markedly better. And it was, at first. Although I’ve been growing steadily more exhausted by…
Read MoreBeautiful and Terrible
Last week, Alex asked for a diary with a lock. “Not a girly one,” he specified. “Why on earth do you need a diary with a lock?” I asked. “To write things I don’t want you to see.” Duh. “Like…like what kinds of things?” I wanted categories, you know, not details. But he gave me…
Read MoreOh, Alex! (or: what I did Memorial Day Weekend. Or: vital lessons in child rearing. Or: …well, never mind)
At 3p.m. on Sunday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend, I am lying on the couch with Michael on my chest, radiating heat and crying. I’ve been home from my parents’ cookout for less than an hour, and it’s clear that napping in a crib is not on the agenda. Christian has volunteered to take dinner…
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Kathleen M. Basi 