posted: January 25th, 2012
The other day I was at the bathroom sink, putting on my makeup — foundation, specifically — when Elsa, who was sitting on the toilet (lid closed!) watching, as she likes to do, asked “Can I put on some of that?”
“No,” I told her. “You know that makeup isn’t for kids.”
“Why not?”
“Because,” I said, “It would look funny on you. You’re beautiful without makeup.”
“But I want to be extra beautiful!” she said.
Gulp.
Read the rest of this post over at Baby Squared
Photo: P-J TRASH
posted: January 10th, 2012
The artist (in pajamas) explains her work
Last week, Elsa and Clio came home from preschool with pictures they’d made of thumbprint snowmen, with sparkly bits of snow pasted around them, and magic marker additions of snowman features, hats, and background accents.
The pictures looked quite different from each other. Clio’s was a tranquil, minimal scenario, while Elsa’s was a busy explosion of color. (More pictures after the jump.) I thought they were both fantastic, and the girls were very proud, so I taped them up on the sliding doors at the back of our house.
As Clio and I stood admiring them (Elsa had busied herself elsewhere), Clio asked, “Which one do you like better?”
“I like both of them,” I said. “I like how yours is very peaceful and pretty, like the snowman is standing in a quiet snow flurry, and I like how Elsa’s is exciting and colorful, like there’s a big, rainbow-colored magical snowstorm going on.”
“But which one is better? Do you like mine better because it’s peaceful?”
Read the rest of this post (and see Clio’s drawing) over at Baby Squared on Babble.
posted: January 3rd, 2012
“Papa, where are you going with that axe?”
Thus (chillingly!) begins Charlotte’s Web, which I finished reading to the girls a few days ago. It was awesome — both the book itself, and the experience of reading it aloud to the girls.
I hadn’t read it since I was a kid, and it was a pleasure to rediscover as an adult (and as a writer, to boot). What a fantastic book! And how beautifully White uses the changing of the seasons, the birth of new animals, and the changing of Fern’s interests (i.e. away from farm animals and toward that dashing rogue, Henry Fussy) to underline the themes of the cycles of life, growing up, aging and dying.
Forgive me, I may just break into “Sunrise, Sunset” here; it’s been playing through my mind repeatedly as my girls have passed the five year mark. Which is maybe why I found the book itself and the act of reading it (our first successful lengthy chapter book experience!) particularly poignant.
I honestly wasn’t sure how it was going to go over. Although we’ve read a few short chapter books to the girls before — Magic Treehouse books, specifically, at YOUR suggestion! – it’s never been exactly smooth sailing. Sometimes they’re totally into it, other times they don’t have the attention span for it and just want a plain ole picture book. And Charlotte’s Web is far longer and subtler than anything we’d attempted before. I had to talk it up ahead of time in a major way to get the girls to give it a shot: There’s a little girl! Talking farm animals! An erudite spider! A gluttonous rat! What more could you want in a book?!
Then, I worried that the threat of Wilbur being turned into pork products (I mean, jeez, that opening line of the book!) would either upset the girls too much, or, worse, turn them into vegetarians. I have a hard enough time getting them to eat. I don’t need another challenge on that front.
Read the rest of this post over at Baby Squared.
posted: December 13th, 2011
As you may already know, I am not what you’d call a crafty person. (Cunning, yes. But inclined toward making crafts, no.) We usually go half-assed or store-bought when it comes to things like holiday decorations.
But last week, I was feeling inspired. I’d noticed so many lovely (and not-so-lovely) wreaths on doors around town, that I was wishing we had one of our own. A real, evergreen one would have been ideal, but the $20 – $40 they can cost is a lot, given that they’re a one-time-use item.
Fake evergreen wreaths, on the other hand, can look very, well, fake. So I decided I would make a wreath — something simple, festive and tasteful that would last for years to come.
To see how it went down, read the rest of the post over at Baby Squared.
posted: November 19th, 2011
Is there such a thing as a donkey fetish? Wait – don’t answer that. Googling it now.
Hm. That was….strange. And not nearly as scary as I anticipated. (Go do it later, after you read this post.)
But there is something…randy…about donkeys, right? Or maybe I’m just thinking of the movie Bachelor Party? I remember a donkey being involved.
Anyhoo. Yeah. So. the girls seem to have this special place in their hearts for donkeys.
Read the rest of this post — and learn the specifics of the donkey fascination — over at Baby Squared.
posted: November 14th, 2011
There is something lurking in the corner of my home office that makes me cringe every time I look at it. Something I’ve been neglecting for well over a year now, which just keeps growing, filling me with an ever-increasing feeling of dread.
Is it a gangly, overgrown houseplant? An unwashed Tupperware container, sprouting mutant mold? Continue reading »
posted: October 29th, 2011
I’m very excited to be part of the lineup at Small Press Saturday, next week at Newtonville Books — one of my favorite local bookstores. I’ll be representin’ Last Light Studio (publisher of my novel Eden Lake). Also reading are poets Ellen Kennedy and Mark Pawlak and fellow novelist Christopher Boucher. Hope you can stop by.
posted: October 21st, 2011
I’ve noticed a trend.
On blogs.
Where people write one or two sentences or phrases.
And then insert a line break, and start the next one.
I’m not sure quite why they do it. I guess they think it makes the blog easier to read. But does it?
Oops – that was three sentences.
Did I lose you there?
Sorry.
I personally find it harder, not easier to read. And a little annoying.
Because I feel like I’m reading a list, instead of a coherent narrative.
And I feel like every sentence is supposed to be dramatic and important.
Even if it isn’t.
Like this sentence.
Or this one.
Read the rest of this post — if you can stand it — over at Baby Squared.
posted: October 13th, 2011
This is a picture of a house around the corner from ours. Others just like it, equally or more Halloweened out, are starting to pop up all around town. And the girls LOVE it.
Which is fun, on one level: “Wow!” the girls will say as we stroll past a house with plastic tombstones in the yard, fake cobwebs stretched across the windows, orange lights along the roofline and an inflatable witch and ghost standing on the porch, “This is a really good Halloween house!”
On another level, it’s problematic: They want to know when we’re going to put our Halloween decorations up. I can’t exactly tell them that, um, I don’t really think it’s tasteful to put that much plastic, made in China crap all over your house. How about just some pumpkins and chrysanthemums?
So, instead, I hem and haw: “Well, you know, we don’t really have a lot of Halloween decorations…”
“Then you can buy some at the store!”
“I’ve got an even better idea,” I finally think to say. “Why don’t we make some decorations?”
Read the rest — and see what we made! — over at Baby Squared.
posted: May 10th, 2011
Introducing the official non-trailer for Eden Lake, which neatly sums up my feelings about podiatrists and writers in ironic ski hats. Not to mention book trailers in general. Enjoy! And pass it on.
Fri, 27 Jan 21:57
@Momofthreeunder ooh, "Lived in" I like that!
Fri, 27 Jan 21:57
@hollylecraw @THahnBurkett Teenagers? La la la - I can't hear you - deny deny deny as long as possible!!
