And So It Begins

Dear Babyman, Last week I dropped you off for your first day of Pre-K.  For the second time in your short life, you will attend school five days a week; this time, however, it's for good.  There will be no chance in the years to come for us to say, "You know?  Five days is a lot for a little man.  How can we scale it back?"  After Pre-K comes Kindergarten comes Grade 1, and that's real school, man. So on Monday I dropped you off, new lunchbox in hand (Cars 2), new shirt on your back (Toy Story), and you ventured into that big room with the big kids and the tall cubbies, and you hung your ... [READ MORE]

Boredom

Well, I can kiss my dreams of quitting my day job to become a full-time mommy blogger/Today show contributor goodbye, because I am clearly unable to juggle two children and a blog with four loyal followers (love you guys!). But hey, I'm not going to beat myself up about it, because I am the new-and-improved relaxed Jaime now.  (Can't you tell?) In all seriousness, I learned a valuable lesson after I allowed our first big holiday (Thanksgiving) to totally stress me out.  Late that night, as I sat in the darkness feeding Babygirl, enjoying the solitude after a crazy day, I realized I had ... [READ MORE]

Keepin’ up with the Joneses

To listen to our breakfast-table conversations lately, the most anticipated event of the summer in our household is NOT the arrival of our second child.  No, the most anticipated event of the summer is the release of Disney/Pixar's Cars 2 on June 24th.  Actually, for me personally, the most anticipated event of the YEAR is the release of Cars II on DVD sometime in the Fall, so that I can finally halt the endless loop of the original Cars film -- and, when enough TV is enough, the Cars motion picture soundtrack, or even just Babyman's running narration of the entire Cars plotline -- in our ... [READ MORE]

Stone Soup

This holiday season, Babyman's teachers are all about cooking.  A single recipe takes a week to produce: first, the students discuss and vote on ingredients (this spirited debate I would looooove to see; I can just imagine Babyman offering up "chocolate," repeatedly and exclusively).  Then they go shopping, prep and, finally, cook. Our preschool offers a project-based curriculum where the subject matter is derived from the students' collective interest in a certain topic, e.g. Transportation, Weather/Temperature, Bears, and so on.  If that sentence sounded sort of ridiculous, please be ... [READ MORE]

On Giving Thanks and Running in Heels

I cannot find the interview to quote directly, but not long ago I was lusting after a pair of never-to-be-mine Jimmy Choo sandals and reading an article about the glamorous founder of Jimmy Choo, Tamara Mellon.  She was describing her own life, something to the tune of, she might have a personal training session followed by a parent-teacher conference for her daughter in the morning, and then she runs this global brand all day, and then she has some fabulous fashion party to go to in the evening...so she needs to keep three pairs of shoes in the car to be prepared for anything. This of ... [READ MORE]

He’s Got Your Number

The other morning I was sitting in the rocking chair in Babyman's room, eating a bowl of cereal while he played with blocks.  Eventually (as is the ritual), he clambered up into my lap and said "C'I have some twiggies, Mommy, please?"  (He calls it twigs because, well, that's what it's called -- Trader Joe's Twigs, Flakes, and Clusters.  Which is appetizing, no?  But anyway.)  So I gave him a spoonful, not noticing that there was the tiniest little chunk of strawberry embedded between the flakes.  Moments later, Babyman made that face that triggers the old "palm under the mouth" reflex from ... [READ MORE]

The Trouble with Peanuts

My favorite columnist in Time is a fellow named Joel Stein, with whom I became enamored largely because his "lovely wife Cassandra" was pregnant roughly at the same time as I was, and I felt we were bonding over his satirical take on impending parenthood.  So now Joel and I are navigating the wild world of child-rearing together and I am always excited when his son (Laszlo, if you can believe it) shows up in his column. Well, it appears poor Laszlo has been afflicted with a nut allergy. (It is worth noting that this revelation has caused Mr. Stein to recant an article he wrote last year ... [READ MORE]