Raising Girls

All the experts tell us what we know intuitively- we should limit the amount of television that our little charges watch. But, let’s be real here, there are times when you gotta do what you gotta do. Personally, I am team PBS. Our kids were reared on Sesame Street. Arthur is a great show. But, …

Seasons Change

For the last weeks of summer, I dreaded not so much the coming of fall, but the ending of summer. I could not help but notice warm-weather delights: wearing shorts and sandals, a cold glass of rosé on the patio, walking to my errands, a post-dinner stroll through the neighborhood. But, once the days have …

Forty

If you had attended our wedding in 1979, you may have concluded it was a low-budget affair. My bridesmaids paid $6 each for the sundresses they wore. Avoiding the traditional wedding march, we played Handel’s water music on a 8-track tape, recorded from an LP we borrowed from the library. I picked my bouquet from …

Another Day in the Life

We have been at our babysitting job for over three years so it seems like a good time to provide and update on the working conditions. Yesterday was a pretty good sample of what a day with Lo and Cora now entails. It should be noted that their house in under construction (or at Lo …

In Defense of Simple and Boring

I am over four years into retirement, and I am amazed by how my life and, even more profoundly, my outlook has evolved. The outside observer, and perhaps my old self, might consider my life to be too simple or boring or that I am now lacking in drive, vision and purpose. All of which …

Three

Yes, my literary inspiration is 3 years old. And a fast 3 years it has been. This past year was a year of mastery of nascent skills and development of new skills and yet, Lo has remained essentially herself. Everything she does is with enthusiasm; she is energetic, sociable, funny and loving. In honor of …

Cora teaches me a lesson

So, you haven’t heard much about her, but Cora is nearly four months old. We started watching her (and her scene-stealing sister) about a month ago when their mommy returned to work. My kids were conveniently spaced 6 years apart, so I did not understand the effort involved in balancing the needs of an independent, …

Fit, bitter

As a birthday gift this Second Year of Raisin, I requested and received the Fitbit fitness tracker. I am delighted. I coveted this item, but was too cheap to get one for myself. I have been committed to exercise for a long time. All the cool women at both my gyms wear some sort of …

Goodbye, February

Goodbye, February. It is hard to believe that February is the shortest month when it seems like an endless slog of darkness, illness and cold. However, as it finally draws to a close, I think I have the discovered a cosmic February balance. Each of the “bad” things, the dramas, hassles and irritants have been …

The Little Stranger

I am feeling less bad about forgetting my children’s infancies. Lo was born less than 3 years ago, and it appears I have forgotten hers as well. This may speak to forgetfulness , but I am contributing it to the arrival of the Little Stranger, whose infancy is now superseding all prior undertakings. Cora is …