Tag: parenting

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Friday Top 5: Rules of Play dating

When I was growing up, there weren’t such things as play dates. If you wanted to play with other kids it wasn’t as neatly wrapped up as your mom calling their mom and setting up a time for mutually beneficial social activity. We would go out on the street and see who else was out there. If you wanted to play the same game, it was on. If not, you compromised or went back inside. Simple as that.

So, when my seven-year old asks me if she can have a play date with one of her little friends, I’m about as lost with the concept as I can be, with trying to come up with activities for her and her friends. I rack my brains to come up with ideas for that mutually beneficial social activity, but I’m clueless. Being here is not quite like when I grew up on the streets of Philadelphia. The houses are farther apart, the kids are few and far between, and most play date mates need to either be driven to our house or we need to drive to theirs.

There are rules to play dates that I’ve noticed apply before the date even begins: Continue reading “Friday Top 5: Rules of Play dating”

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“I Do It!”: Potty Training and Patience

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My youngest peed on the couch today, and the war of potty training continues with her having won this round. I saw her wander out into the dining room, casual and unassuming, and then I noticed her rather wet-looking underpants, whereupon her older sister came out of the living room screaming, “Maddie peed on the couch! Maddie peed on the couch!” Now imagine the strangled cry of a cat whose tail has been stepped on and you’ll be able to envision my wife’s reaction to this shocking news. Needless to say it was not good.

What kills me is that sometimes she is good, very very good, when it comes to using the potty at the prescribed times and in the prescribed potty area. The potty area includes the toilet and its surrounding effects. It used to just be the toilet itself, but by the eighth time she used the floor directly in front of the toilet we acceded that area to her. There was no longer any use fighting it. At least she had held out long enough to be “almost” to the potty, so giving that to her was a win-win. What isn’t a win-win is when she refuses to tell us before she goes. Continue reading ““I Do It!”: Potty Training and Patience”

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38 Floors

My heart dropped about 23 floors when she looked at me this morning with those soulful brown eyes and said, “I want you to stay.” And I know I haven’t been around as much lately. That’s the glory of working two jobs, and being gone most of the day. And that time between paychecks isn’t the easiest time either, because I know I’m working the two jobs for a reason, but it’s easy to forget that reason when I see those soulful brown eyes only once in two days, looking at me, saying, “I want you to stay.” Continue reading “38 Floors”

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Down With It: Modifying Life For My Daughter

There are so many things you prepare for as an expectant parent. In fact, these days you can sign up for something called a baby registry that you yourself design and that people spend money on to make these necessities (and wants) a reality for you and yours. There are diaper genies, Dr. Brown’s bottles, nursery mobiles, and everything else under the sun to make a baby welcome in this world, or to make your life as a parent that much easier. But nobody, and no registry, prepares you for having a child with Down syndrome.

I talked about my daughter Madeline in Breaking it Down: My Special Daughter, and how shocked we were as parents even when we initially suspected shortly after her birth that she had Down syndrome. She has continued to surprise us as she has grown from a little ball of joy into a big girl at 4 1/2 years old now. Some days I honestly don’t know where the time went, and on others I wonder why it hasn’t gone fast enough. Continue reading “Down With It: Modifying Life For My Daughter”

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Phone Reservations

My seven-year old daughter gets phone calls from boys. Uh oh. And I guess I thought this would happen so far down the line that I hadn’t really considered how to react to it. Luckily I’m not alone, and my more down-to-earth wife is my partner in figuring these things out, even though she too hadn’t thought about it prior to it actually happening. I think we were so concerned about her actually making friends that we didn’t realize what would happen when she did. And she has, the best of which just happens to be a boy.

First off, this kid is just as talkative as she is, which is quite a feat indeed, something I never thought existed in nature. When he calls here, they could go on for hours; and that brings me to the first rule we had to enact. When it was a school night we would only give them 20 minutes to talk, or however they wanted to spend the time. I say this last part because they will often make strange noises on the phone to each other. I have no idea if these noises have more meaning than simply noises, if they’re speaking Japanese to each other, or if something else is going on. But I have accepted it as a part of the conversation, and as such, part of the 20 minutes. Continue reading “Phone Reservations”

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Payback

My mother cackled on the other end of the telephone line when I told her what we were dealing with. My seven-year old daughter had thrown a major fit when asked to go to sleep on her own, sobbing loudly in her bed, which in turn was keeping my four-year old awake. And, of course, … Continue reading Payback