Parenting Archives - Page 12 of 21 - Enjoying the Small Things

The Art of August Nesting

August 4, 2015 By Kelle

I bought a box of pencils yesterday. We don’t need them; we could build the world’s tallest Jenga game with the pencils already overtaking our junk drawer. But that chemical they pipe into the Back-to-School aisles (they do that, right?) wafted over to me, and suddenly I had an urge to buy pencils–not cute ones, definitely not mechanical ones (the horror), but the classics, their long hexagonal bodies painted that sleek school bus yellow that perfectly matches every back-to-school accessory. Pencil Yellow against Marbled Composition Book Black? On point. Pencil Yellow with Eraser Pink? A pair made in heaven. Pencil Yellow complimented by the pleasure that is Faded Sky Blue Lines Against Crisp Notebook Paper White? Fall fashion inspiration, if you ask me. Googling Pencil Yellow Sweaters stat because my weathered blue jeans are begging for the color of the season to pair them with, and if I can’t satisfy the express-yourself-in-pencil-yellow craving, I will be tempted to wear this, and I’m not even kidding.

Wait, I found this. Whew. We’re good. And because my literal interpretation of seasonal fashion needs to wave its flag, I’ll add these. That’s a half staff flag, down from the full-flying alphabet cardigan, thank you. Moral of the story? I’m August Nesting, a bit like prenatal nesting but the school version. Because sending kids to school is a lot like having a baby–you prepare for new routines, you buy little clothes, you pack a bag, you get all excited the night before “due date” and then you push them out into the world and you cry about it. And, for the record, I take nesting to the moon. If you need an example, I suggest you read the brussel sprouts and wall-painting episode, pre Dash, 2013. I needed an intervention.

We’re in similar territory now, illustrated in a conversation this past weekend that went like this:

Me: “I’ll be right back. I’m going to run to Target for a drawer organizer.”
Brett: “I thought you just bought a drawer organizer yesterday.”
Me (spoken fast, fluid and without a breath in true Vince Vaughn monologue fashion): “That was for Nella’s underwear drawer and this is for the girls’ hair stuff, but I think I’ll get one for Lainey’s sock drawer too because she wears socks on P.E. days and remember how awful those mornings were when we searched for socks, and SOCKS! Oh my God, I need to order more socks and P.E. shoes, I should probably wash those up or do you think she needs new ones? And speaking of P.E., what do you think about tennis lessons this year because you know if we’re going to do lessons we’re going to need to get things lined up now and ballet? What do we think about ballet? And Nella, should we try it again? She needs new tights, we need a better place for Lainey to do homework, I should line up some dentist appointments, I need school lunch ideas, where’s the pencil sharpener, and oh my God are you sorry you married me?” Cue long gasp for more breath. Exit stage right.

And the weird thing is, I love it. I love this crazy feeling. I love sniffing pencils, I love running my hands over smooth pages in new notebooks, I love using my most perfect handwriting to fill all the dates in my August calendar, fully aware I’ll never look at them and show up late. I did the same thing packing perfect diaper bags my kids’ first week of life, knowing weeks later I’d just shove a diaper in my purse, wet some paper towel for wipes and call it a day. But the nesting! We’re mama birds! We must nest!

Who cares what happens in November. In August, our drawers are full of socks, our lunch Thermoses are mold-free, our designated homework spots do not include shoving stacks of bills aside and scratching week-old peanut butter off the counter.

We will face the motherhood ritual of sending kids back to school fully prepared, wearing cute pencil yellow sweaters that will soon be buried under mounds of laundry. But not today.

Here’s a fun hint. Give the big teacher gift up front. First day. Don’t wait for Christmas or Teacher Appreciation Day (do it again then). Attach it with a note that says:

In case our enthusiasm and preparedness withers over the year (it will), this is to remind you that we are still in the game. We may lose homework folders, forget money for the Book Fair and make up the lower quartile of the Annual PTO Wrapping Paper Sale Contest, but we already appreciate what you do every day and are committed to trying our very best to support you. Feel free to remind us if we need to step up our game. Also, please fill in the following and send home so we know how to occasionally make your day a little brighter throughout the year.

Favorite Starbucks Drink:
Favorite Candy Bar:
Favorite Online Stores:
Favorite Candle Scent:
Favorite Lunch Spot and what you order there:
Favorite Magazine:
2 Things You Need for Your Classroom:

P.S. Please make note of our daughter’s clean backpack today, her organized desk and the fact that we are on time and ready to go on the first day of school. We are those kind of people regardless of how we may or may not slip up. Remember that.

Two weeks until game time. You know what that means? Today’s back-to-school craze is just Braxton Hicks.

This little one is going to be doing a couple days of preschool this year, and he’ll be facing it with ferocious shoes that screamed “Dash.”

Chuck Taylor Creature Shoes

And for those who’ve asked, Nella is moving up a level at her preschool and completing another full year there, a decision based on the same criteria we use for all of our kids–what we as her parents feel is the best place for her to thrive. We are excited to learn more and grow more, and next year we’ll be equally excited to take that learning and growing to kindergarten.

And one more flap of the festive back-to-school flag. I bring you cool lunch boxes! Shop away. Don’t forget the drawer organizers.

1. Cat Pack by Little JJ Cole
2. Bright Stripes by Wildkin
3. Waterproof Dishwasher Safe Personalized Labels from Minted (LOVE these and just ordered them for all three kids. We lost a couple Thermos cups last year and got someone else’s cup sent home once.)
4. Road Trip Zippee Lunch Tote by Sugarbooger
5. Log Cabin, Birdhouse and Diner Lunch Bags by Jane Jenni
6. Insulated Thermos Drink Cups
7. Unicorn Lunch Bag by Skip Hop
8. Vintage Alphabet Lunch Sack by Sugarbooger
9. Iguana Lunch Bag by 5 Sprouts
10. Police Car Lunch Kit by Thermos
11. Newspaper Lunch Bag by Good Bag
12. Fox “What’s For Lunch” Bag by Hanna Andersson

Backpack Tails in Georgia

July 3, 2015 By Kelle

I’ve learned a lot of things since becoming a parent, but one little nugget that unfortunately continues to rise to the surface the deeper I go is this: I used to be a little bit of a judgey asshole pre-kids.

I’ll never be that mom. The one whose kid is throwing a fit in the grocery cart, the one who hands over an iPad at a restaurant, the one who forgets to sign the reading folder, and God forbid, definitely not the one who hooks her child to a–wait for it…toddler leash.

I admit I hate them–those harness things you buy to keep kids close. I’ve always been more of a stroller girl. Or a baby carrier mama. The leashes always seemed so–I don’t know, animalish. Not my style.

Pause for side story. In the climbiest of Dash’s climbing days last year, I was looking for a door gate tall enough to keep him from climbing over it so I could at least contain him to a room while I showered. “I bet a pet gate would be tall enough,” I mentioned to my mother-in-law. She got very quiet and then finally spoke up, “Don’t you think that’s a little–I don’t know–inhumane? I mean, I know we have to keep him safe, but I think a cage is going too far.”

“A WHAT?” I asked.

“A pet crate, right?”

“OH MY GOD, COLLEEN! NO! I SAID GATE! A DOOR GATE!”

A good laugh for both of us.

My God-no-not-a-leash mentality was well before my adventurous boy who loves to have two feet on the ground–running, darting, dashing–came along. And before we planned a trip to include hiking near the edge of steep bluffs. So a few weeks ago, simply in attempt to explore my safety options for our hike, I typed, cringing, into the search bar: toddler leash.

Pleasantly surprised, I found adorable critter backpacks–bees and owls and funny little frogs–discretely including a small hook at the bottom and–let’s just call it a removable tail–that, if you so choose, could clip on and hold from an arm’s length.

I bought the bee one and immediately texted my sister to confess: Oh my God I just bought a toddler leash.

Her reply: ….”you didn’t.” Yes, yes, I did.

We used it this week–just for the hike–and it was perfect. Dash freely explored and climbed the mountains close by my side, and my heart rate maintained a steady calm rate. Win/Win. We just added one rule: You take a picture of the leash, you die.

I still don’t love the harness. But I love my boy and sometimes figuring out what works doesn’t always fit inside the box of what we thought we knew. We unclipped the tail and got a cute backpack out of it…it’s a keeper.

And more mountain adventures in Helen, Georgia:

Anna Ruby Falls was breathtaking, a cool damp uphill hike through the forest with a prize view at the end.

Road Trip Rules: Stop at look-outs. Bring backpacks with tails.

A scenic stop along the Ocoee River:

Grocery Store (this Barbie’s name) gets an outdoor shower.

And always a favorite stop on this trip, downtown Chattanooga:

(Facetiming Daddy from the fountains)

Amen, amen.

…and we just crossed the Michigan state line as I’m finishing typing this. Honk honk honk honk.

Where Babies Come From: Cabbage Patch WTH Magic

July 1, 2015 By Kelle

We are on our way up to Michigan, and I don’t know what’s more amazing–that the kids have handled the ride so fabulously or that the minivan is still clean. Brett stayed home to work, but he’s receiving a slew of texts–half with pictures of the kids doing fun things and half with pictures of the car and “LOOK! IT’S STILL CLEAN! BE AMAZED.”

Our first stop in Georgia delivered gorgeous weather, a river tubing adventure and some picturesque landscape…

…but first, Babyland General Hospital, brought to you by the I Don’t Know What the Hell portion of the trip.

Somewhere in the mountains of Georgia on our way to Helen, a sign emerges: Babyland General Hospital THIS WAY. It has a Cabbage Patch Kid logo on it, so I did what any other 6-year-old-trapped-in-a-37-year-old’s-body would do. I held up traffic to pull a U-turn.

“We’re going to Babyland, kids. Let’s go see where Cabbage Patch Kids are born.”

“What’s a Cabbage Patch Kid?” Lainey asks. And wherever it is that dolls go to die, Glennis Willamina rolls over in her grave.

“Cabbage Patch Kids were the coolest dolls you could own when Mommy was little. I had one. Her name was Glennis Willamina.”

A side road directs us to a plot of land where we are greeted by giant stone statues of cabbages with baby heads coming out of them–don’t worry, this gets weirder–and an impressive plantation-style structure, the hospital.

And inside? Sweet Jesus. Let’s just say they aren’t kidding around with the whole hospital thing. Nurses wearing scrubs and stethoscopes roam the facility, encouraging you to listen for announcements of “a live birth” and letting you know that all the babies in the nursery are available for adoption. I pick up a doll from one of the many cribs and take a long whiff of its plastic head.

“Oh my God, it smells exactly how I remember.” Sweet baby powder and childhood magic. “This is so weird.”

What’s weirder is watching a live cabbage patch birth at the magic crystal tree where a whole crop of Cabbage Patch Kids are, um…photosynthesizing?

These heads? They move. Yes, move.

A Plus for Imagination, Xavier Roberts. In fact, I’m kind of disappointed Xavier Roberts didn’t marry Lisa Frank because can you imagine their babies? Too magical for this earth to handle, that’s for sure.

When a mother cabbage goes into labor, all are called to the tree to come cheer her on. That’s when my dad calls.

“Can’t talk. At the magic crystal tree. Cabbage is in labor. Head’s crowning. Gotta go.”

There’s an I.V. with green juice. And the nurse sterilizes the cabbage’s–er, “area” and checks to make sure the baby’s not feet first to rule out a “branch delivery.” And everyone has to yell “PUSH! PUSH!” while the nurse buries her arm down a cabbage for much longer than I was comfortable with and finally pulls out a head. Cue clapping. Cue baby’s first immunization of “imaginocilin.” Cue half the crowd tearing up from the magic of it all and half, like me, left in a cloud of WTF.

“That was the weirdest thing that I ever did see,” my friend Ragan says. I’m a little bit stunned. So I react appropriately.

“Kids, get in line. We’re adopting a baby.”

Was it special? Indeed. Should you go to Babyland General if you’re in Cleveland, Georgia? Hell, yes. If not just to see for yourself.

(Lainey, holding her right hand up and saying her adoption pledge before filling out paperwork)

The kids named their new baby Millie Jackie (Glennis Willamina rolls over again), and I have to admit, we’re all in love. “Mom, why do you keep smelling her head?”

She’s the real deal. Cute as a button.