In which I share recent mannerisms from my two speech-challenged children: Julianna, upon being given anything at the table (tea, milk, more pasta): “Oh, sank you sweetheart!” (This is her parroting me, btw, and as soon as she discovered that it reduces people to giggles, she adopted it as a permanent fixture. I’m now trying…
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The Only St. Patrick’s Day I Remember
St. Paddy’s Day is a complete non-event for me. Like April Fools, to me it is a time for people to do obnoxious things to you (i.e. pinch you) for no good reason. But it does have one claim on my heart. It’s the day Julianna was baptized. We’d had it planned since before she was born,…
Read MoreAnd the day goes…AAAACK!
The school district, obligingly, gave Julianna a great birthday present–a day off school! For a whole 1/4″ of snow! Wow! What a generous crew they are. I had this lovely post planned on the subject of what I “treasure,” but it’s a quiet, reflective post, and my house is filled with children screaming over yesterday’s…
Read MoreThe Day We Lost Julianna
The line for the Holiday Train was an hour long, stretching the entire length of the main concourse of Kansas City’s Union Station. We figured we’d survived an hour-long wait for the Peter Pan ride…in the cold. Surely the kids could handle an hour-long line inside, where it was warm. But we hadn’t prepared as…
Read MoreJulianna’s First Crush
My first crush was Luke Skywalker. My daughter’s? My daughter’s is a boy fairy named Terence.
Read MoreJulianna in the Spotlight
…in honor of Down Syndrome Awareness month. #1: Julianna and Lightning Julianna has discovered the beauty of lightning. “Oh, eet ees pwetty!” she says, pulling up the shade to look beneath it. But only during the day. At night she still screams and has to sleep with Daddy when a storm wakes her up. Which…
Read MoreJulianna-isms (the 7 1/2 edition)
1. The dawning of imaginative play, round 1. The other day, she came huffing and puffing across the floor on her tummy, announcing, “Mommy, I am boat!” 2. The dawning of imaginative play, round 2. The other day, she came up to me with the mischief gleam in her eye. “Mommy, I shark!” she said,…
Read MoreIce Buckets, Nazis, Reprints and other QTs
___1___ Well, I did the ice bucket thing this week. I’m kind of scared to say this, but I have to admit to some ambivalence about this challenge. It’s great that people are donating to ALS research, but am I the only one who felt like I HAD to do it or I would look bad?…
Read MoreThe Un-Twinning of the Littles
It lingered so much longer than I expected. When Nicholas first left babyhood, he seemed like Julianna’s developmental twin. I expected it to last just a few months, but the twinning grew firmer and firmer. For over three years, they have kept pace with each other, Julianna managing to stay just far enough ahead in key…
Read MoreJulianna Attempts To Hijack the Eucharist
There must be some Murphy’s Law of parenting that says the moment you make a big decision and put it into play, you begin to second guess yourself. The decision to have Julianna repeat first grade is the right one. I’m still certain that she’ll benefit greatly from it, but I’m intimidated by the transition.…
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Kathleen M. Basi 