We made the decision last spring to enroll our child in forest school. It has been a little bit of a learning curve, but it has been well worth it. Our kiddo has absolutely bloomed playing outdoors three days a week with children his own age. When we first started, he was only going two days a week, and we had kept up with his gym classes at the same time. But the benefits of forest school trumped the benefits of gym class by miles. Part of this is very much our child’s temperament. We […]
The Stroller Saga
I have been struggling hard with the stroller issue ever since the first one. There’s just not one stroller that can do everything! And worse, living in the city means that you need something compact. We were living in downtown Salem, Massachusetts when we chose our first stroller. It was a travel system – the Maxi-Cosi Zelia 5-in-1 Travel System. It was mostly okay for what we needed it for, but not amazing. To be fair, it is one of the cheapest well-rated systems on the market. It didn’t like off-roading or gravel. It hated […]
Giving Yourself Space at Mealtime
I’ve found recently that one of the most toxic phrases in my life is “You can just…” It has floated around for the past year with the follow ups: “… throw what you’re eating in a food processor and feed it to them.” “… find 15 minutes to yourself while they’re sleeping.” “… put them down.” “… listen to audiobooks while you’re taking them out in the stroller.” “… put him in the play-yard and take a shower.” I’ve been struggling to give myself space. Being a stay-at-home mom is significantly more difficult that I […]
New Year, Same Old Goals
Happy 2022! Or at least… Well, lets hope for turning over a new leaf. I can’t say that 2021 didn’t bring about some interesting changes to my life, or that those weren’t amazing changes. But change is a double-sided coin. My child was born at the beginning of the year, and as prepared for that as I felt, there were definitely moments. Childcare being too expensive and (as I continue to feel) dangerous for the unvaccinated, I found myself trying to pull off the Herculean task of working from home with a baby on my […]