Funny: Michael fell asleep on the way to piano lessons yesterday, and when I roused him to go inside, he said, “I just want to snuggle with you the whole time while you’re working.” The trouble was, he was so cuddly—for a child who employs love with such ferocity it approaches the level of violence,…
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Fragility and Indestructibility
This is a post about this boy… …who yesterday, while I was running siblings to various lessons, punched (yes, I did say punched) the light switch in the kitchen, with this result: But at three this morning, the cries started up in his room. I hauled myself out of bed and across the hallway to…
Read MoreMichael Mayhem Graduates Preschool
Michael, with his toy guitar: “This next song is called “Starlight Can Never Destroy A Death Star So I will Use My Laser.” I went to his end-of-year celebration at his preschool yesterday, which consisted mostly of him attacking me at frequent intervals with flying leaps and fierce hugs interspersed with little girls coming around…
Read MorePhoto Friday: Sunny Oak Through The Eyes of a Five-Year-Old
Michael had the iPad last night at Julianna’s last therapeutic horseback riding lesson of the spring session. Enjoy his photos, and a couple videos at the end! I did not think I would be able to share any of the videos Michael took of Julianna riding, because I don’t have permission to show the other…
Read MoreMr. Strong-y Smash Man and Other Adorable Michael Moments
The youngest child is always the funniest one. It’s a rule. While I was gone for Liturgical Composers Forum, the two women who had morning duty both sent me messages to tell me things about my youngest child. Exhibit A: Uh-huh. Star Wars. Avengers. Hark the Herald Angels. Oddwalk’s Gorilla song. Frosty.…
Read MoreKylo Ren Presents the Screaming Flying Monkey (FF3)
To start off the expected Armageddon of ice in mid-Missouri, I give you: Kylo Ren Presents The Screaming Flying Monkey Starring this guy…. …who, in addition to bearing the moniker “Mayhem,” also consistently has the best head gear, to wit: He actually wore this hat to school last week, which reduced his preschool teacher to…
Read MoreIn Which The Letter “L” is a Bittersweet Milestone
When I think about my kids, I often have to chuckle at God’s sense of humor. I always claimed that I would accept any child given to me, that health or disability wouldn’t matter. But I didn’t mean it. And I knew I didn’t mean it, although I never admitted it, even to myself. I…
Read MoreOn Sneaking Candy, channeling the flash, and Sucker Punches: Michael Mayhem at Four
There comes an inevitable day in every parent’s life when you have to recognize that you can’t treat your baby like a baby anymore. It’s an organic process as long as you keep having more kids, because real babyhood keeps presenting itself. But although I’ve been aware of, and even partially on top of, this…
Read MoreMichael Takes A Bow
Every so often a mama has to enshrine the kid moments, even if they’re not any more witty, hilarious, or indicative of genius than any other child in the universe. Today it’s Michael’s turn. ******* “Mommy, Mommy!” he cried as we turned past a convertible onto a quiet residential street the other day. “I saw…
Read MoreThe Imaginary Life of a Preschooler
It has been a source of constant delight for me in recent months to watch Michael developing into his own little man. Well, perhaps constant is an overstatement. He has his meltdown moments, in which he knows only four-year-old wails and forgets that he has to, y’know, tell Mommy what’s bothering him. But most of…
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Kathleen M. Basi 