Author:

I’ve been hearing something on the playground a lot lately. I’m going to tell you about it, okay?

Many a parent abdicates authority right at the moment they are trying to assert it. With one word.

Okay?

Next time you are out, try listening for anybody using the word – over and over again – and see how ‘okay?’ undermines any sense of strength. Not just parents.

For me, I’m at the playground a lot and that’s where Read more…

Winter. Stuck inside again. Instead of baking yet one more batch of cookies, try playing a little lap game with your wee one. These are good for babies all the way up to toddlers. My older daughter is 4 and she still loves playing, albeit she flails a bit more and likes to throw herself off my lap at the end. She’s very dramatic. (Mom, I hear you snickering!)

First: get on the floor. Yes, all the way on the floor. Legs straight out so you can bounce your knees up and down.

There are two pony songs we sing: Trot, trot, trot and Trot, trot, trot to Boston. The specific tune doesn’t matter so much as the knee bouncing and the falling over at the end part. I always add a Read more…

You know the ‘Magic Bullet’ hand blender? Oh how many infomercials have I seen with that thing? I’m surprised I don’t own one because it looks downright handy to have.

Now, they’ve made a baby food version called the Baby Bullet. Unfortunate name, but cool product. I know, I know, they have to be concerned with branding and consistency, so I’ll give them a break, but Baby Bullet?

Anyway, it’s BPA free and Read more…

A fire breathing baby dragon runs through the kitchen, “roar!” followed by another dragon, this one screeching more like an eagle. To a 4-year-old mind what’s the difference? As my two girls tumble over each other, they erupt in giggles. More screaming. More laughing. More giggling that quickly turns to real screaming and crying and eventually full out tantrums. Sound familiar? Sometimes the house is just in utter chaos when you have young ones. Happy chaos or angry/sad chaos – doesn’t matter. It’s still chaos.

I was complaining about this one morning to my older girl’s teacher and she said why didn’t I just send them to the quiet library?

Me: there’s a library that I can ‘send’ my kids t?. One that takes crazy kids and makes them into not crazy kids?

Her: yes.

Me: Where oh where?!? Why don’t more people know about this? Why has it taken me this long to hear about it? Spill it!

OK, just take your expectations down a notch – the quiet library DOES exist, but you as the parent have to create it. No, it’s not some magical book land that takes in abandoned children (if only temporarily and by well meaning parents who just need a little peace).

But have no fear. It’s easy to make and does, magically, work. With a little Read more…

I’m mostly a western medicine type of mom. I mean, I get my girls vaccinated, I give them ibuprofen when they have fevers and, in general, rely on my pediatrician’s advice for any and all health related matters. I mention this because I’ve been using an all natural antiseptic spray that I actually think is quite good.

Oh, I’ve got no problem with non-all natural sprays or creams. It’s just that I ran out and a company called Omyst asked if I’d try out theirs, just to see. So I have been. And I like it.

Typically, I use it for scrapes and scratches that are mostly OK. If my kid is gushing blood then well, off to the doctors office we go.

I don’t know why I feel like I have to qualify myself so much. Maybe it’s because sometimes ‘all natural’ can be interpreted as Read more…

With one set of plates, how is it possible to set the table for the holidays in new and exciting ways without spending a fortune or buying a whole new set of plates? WWMD?

That’s shorthand for ‘what would Martha do?’

Let’s see, in my hometown paper, the San Francisco Chronicle, Martha Stewart weighed in on table setting strategy. But before I divulge her secrets, a few I’ve gleaned from the photos:

1. Keep it simple – a holiday table doesn’t need to be fancy as much as it needs to be lovely. Channel your inner editor.
2. Use nature – Martha really knows what she’s doing. I’d prefer Read more…

Need a little help figuring out what to bring to your best friend’s new girlfriend’s house for her holiday party? Or your boss’s wife? Or maybe even your uncle who you only see once a year at the family party he hosts? I’ve never been one for hostess gifts, but I’m learning – albeit slowly – that bringing a little ‘happy’ when people invite you over is kind of nice.

It doesn’t have to be big. And, it doesn’t have to coordinate with the menu or decorations. In fact, a hostess gift isn’t supposed to be used for the party at all. It’s simply a little “thank-you for having me over” gesture.

I’ve gotten addicted to Kusmi Tea and find that whenever I make it for people, they go a little wild. Not hair tossing, up and do a jig kinda wild, but I see their eyes dilate ever so slightly from the pleasure. I started bringing a little tin of it with me when I go to a friend’s house. It goes over quite well! Oh, and ITO EN. Yummy green tea. Plus, ITO EN tea was kind enough to offer our readers 20% off on all things tea – just tell them HOLIDAYBLOG when you order something.

There is always the chocolate route. I find that handing over a little, tiny box of yummies gives the host/hostess the signal to definitely NOT share. A big box is also very nice, but Read more…

Giada De Laurentiis is the bomb. Seriously. So perky and beautiful and oh how she can cook! I could stand to channel my inner Giada a little more…I found this dessert recipe of hers and I think I might start with this.

It’s a Hazelnut Crunch cake with chocolate and mascarpone. What I love about it is that you start with cake mix from a box! I can do this!

Hazelnut Crunch Cake with Mascarpone and Chocolate
Makes eight servings Read more…

The holidays are coming! The holidays are coming! Sometimes it feels like we’re being invaded, doesn’t it? I’m not the best shopper, truth be told. I don’t really like crowds and I’m indecisive when surrounded by chaos. So I like to go out armed with good information.

Speaking of, here’s our 2011 Holiday Gift Guide, compiled by our sister site Smart Mom Picks. It’s easy to get bogged down trying to search search search for the right things. I really like this guide because Read more…

The second my younger daughter saw this book, Strange Bedfellows and other critters, she started running through the house saying “cock-a-doodle doo!” which, for a 2-year-old comes out something like “cock doo doo.” Until I saw the rooster on the cover, I thought, “oh boy, what’s going on now?” Like when your baby yells “fu*k” at the dinner table and you look all flabbergasted at her until you realize she’s just asking, very loudly, for a fork.

The book, by my step-dad Campbell Hutchinson (aka Hutch), is a compilation of his paintings and limericks about the bond that forms between differing species in the animal kingdom. These pairings work together, transcending their differences to unite against a common enemy. Much like grandparents and grandkids. Read more…

Are you ready for today? I’m not quite sure.

Today in trying to explain what Thanksgiving is to my 4 year old, I blurted out turkey and dinner and then went down a very bumpy road that was about to lead to beheadings and pluckings and all sorts of grisly visuals. I stopped, restarted. Hugs, I said. Thanksgiving is a day of hugs – a physical, tangible, repeatable way of showing appreciation. And a 4 year old gets hugs!

Then I heard myself saying what is truly important to me in a way I didn’t know until the words tumbled out of my mouth. Trying to boil down big concepts into bite sized morsels so that a little mind can understand is difficult. I stumble often. But then I hear the most important parts, uncomplicated by Read more…

Here’s a Thanksgiving appetizer you might want to try today. If you’re cooking Thanksgiving dinner from scratch you might already have all the ingredients except for the minced pork. Think pigs in a blanket, but for grown ups. These are finger licking good. Seriously. You might even embarrass yourself by hovering over the plate, warning people that they ‘might not like these’ just so you can eat them all yourself.

I got this from an Australian friend and when she made them I almost knocked her son over as I went back for thirds. Ok, fourths. He is five. I, on the other hand, am 40.

The recipe comes from the Bourke Street Bakery Cookbook by Paul Allam and David Macguinness. Bourke Street Bakery is Sydney’s most famous bakery and while I have never been there, if the rest of their baked goods are half as good as these pork and fennel sausage rolls, it’s worth flying half-way around the world just to visit them.

Here’s what they look like on the inside – yummy! Read more…

I’m not going to get all woo woo on you, don’t worry. That said, I am finding a new found love/need for meditation, something that very few mainstream people talk about and even fewer do.

Boil it down to the essentials and it sounds like something everyone – and especially moms! – should be doing, like it should become the next Angry Birds or something, only calmer. And less moving of fingers. Meditation is clearing the mind. Think of it as a mind enema…no, no, bad visual, sorry! How about housekeeping for the mind? There, that’s better. Mind housekeeping.

Oh, I know there are experts out there who I should be quoting. There are people much more informed than me, obviously (enema? I mean c’mon!). But I bring it up now because I figure if a busy mom who has a very long to-do list running in her head at all times can pick up meditation, and use it to focus, you might be able to as well.

What good are experts when they come off as intimidating?

Personally, I get a little frustrated with yoga instructors or zen practitioners or other close talking whisperers who exude “centeredness” when they talk about meditation because no matter how much I might wish to emulate their calmness, I know it won’t happen. I’ll never be Read more…