I’ve been back at work part-time about six or eight weeks now, and I was finally able to breathe normally when I moved back to full-time last week. So came Thursday, aka “Should’ve Had a Chia Pet Instead of Children” Day. Oh yes. It was five minutes to dinner time and I had a half-done grocery list on the counter (because I shop after bedtime to save my Saturday for more important things, like not sleeping in), three crying children (...Read More)

As you wait for the start, you do some preliminary stretches and warm up.  You look around, sizing up the competition—amateurs.  You have so got this!  It’s almost time now:  three, two, one, and you’re off! Where are you?  Your local warehouse store, of course. If someone had told me pre-kids that I’d be one of those people lined up outside a warehouse club before they open, I’d have laughed.  In fact, I was never a member of a warehouse (...Read More)

Raising two kids with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) means I spend a disproportionate amount of time either providing or avoiding sensory disruption for my little angels. Curlytop, six years old, is mostly sensory-avoidant, with minor nuances of sensory-seeking behaviors. Her sister, Snugglebug, five, is sensory-seeking a majority of the time, with trifles of sensory-avoidance thrown in for good measure. Snugglebug is a toe-walker, relishing the extra stimulation on her toes. She’s forever climbing, spinning, or flipping herself over, and she’d (...Read More)

My dear sweet children, I don’t know how to state this delicately, so I’ll just get straight to the point: will you please—for the love of all things true, beautiful and quiet—stop talking to me every second of every minute of every day. You do not need to say aloud to me every thought that passes through your little minds—or big minds. Whatever. The size of your minds is not the issue here. The point is that I need time—perhaps (...Read More)

My oldest child Sun-Bun is four, so I am still a relative newbie to the world of class parties. But last week I got my first taste. Sun-Bun’s pre-school class hosted a “Spring Fling” and her teacher set out a sign-up sheet —which read more like a catering menu than food stuffs for four year olds: veggie tray with dip, assorted lunch meat, buns, fruit tray, juice, cupcakes. And alone, at the bottom of the list: Napkins. It was at (...Read More)