polka dot suitcase » Archive for January 2010
My big fat alliteration week
Moms juggle a lot of things — that’s a given. Some moms handle it better than others. Me? I’m scatterbrained…always thinking about a hundred things at once, dreaming about things, plotting and planning future events, cloud gazing. So I need a little help keeping things organized and on schedule. Back when the kids were little, I came up with my alliteration week. I divided the household chores up by day, and assigned each an easy-to-remember day. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Edutainment, Fooling Around
Oy! Volunteering
I’m so excited, I could just bust. Or maybe that’s just because I ate too much for breakfast and my pants are tight. But I don’t think so. I think it’s because we just scheduled our First Camping Trip of 2010. Squeeeeee! Destination: Charleston, SC. We’re going to be doing some volunteer work. Bagging oysters. Or maybe counting them. I’m a little unclear on the details. But nevertheless, we’ll be doing our part to help the environment. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Family Travel
Two under two
My essay originally appeared in American Baby magazine. My sons are 20 months apart in age. This means they share the same toys, pals, and interests. It also means they have to share me—and it’s a lot easier for them to share the balls and blocks. Having two under two presents unique challenges. An infant demands time, energy, and willingness to be “on call.” A toddler has the same demands, but he’s also mobile—able to get into … Read entire article »
Filed under: Fooling Around
Can you fix it?
As a parent, it’s hard to resist the urge to fix all your kid’s rough spots. You want to go head to Reebok with the doofus kid who picks on your kid at the playground. You want to take that obliterated RC helicopter and make it fly again. You want to find the beloved Swiss army knife that got dropped in the woods. There are some things you can fix. As Mister Steel knows, I’m fairly … Read entire article »
Filed under: Fooling Around
Big, bad media
You know how, when you’re sensitive about something, you hear or see it all over the place? It’s like being aware you’ve got a zit on the end of your nose and you’re really self-conscious about it. So, I’m a writer. And I gotta say, it gets a little old hearing about how The Media is so horrible. I never considered myself a member of the media. I was just a writer. But then a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Fooling Around
January Campfire
So if you’re a faithful reader, you know that even though I grew up in the Northeast and could practically play out in the snow in bare feet, I’ve now lived in the South too long. With the freakish cold weather we’ve been having down here, I’m miserable. COLD. Even the ends of my hair feel the cold. I don’t know how I did it all those years. But happy, happy days arrived last week: Warmth! … Read entire article »
Filed under: Fooling Around
Sir Buffalo Sushi goes to Paris!
As I mentioned last week, we’ve been playing around with claymation here at Chez Polka Dot. Mister Steel has mass-produced dozens of videos, mostly of the action genre. Sir Buffalo Sushi finally put the finishing touches on his masterpiece, a buffalo’s view of Paris. Fun stuff! And don’t forget to see Mister Steel’s fledgling flick, too. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Fooling Around, Toys for Families
Soup sharing
So as I have mentioned, it’s been cold here in Chez Polka Dot land for a couple weeks. Almost cold enough to make me want to increase my auto emissions to speed up global warming. Almost, anyway. But rather than create a long-term problem for my short-term frozen toes, I’ve turned to soup making instead. Nothin’ like a steaming bowl of soup to warm your innards and bring you happiness. Problem: No one else at … Read entire article »
Filed under: Fooling Around
Goodbye, burned brownie edges!
You know when you were a kid, and you’d mistakenly say to that annoying kid on the bus, “I really love Marathon Bars,” and he’d say in his annoying voice, “Oh yeah? Well, you gonna marry them?” And even though you were only ten you knew that was a really stupid thing for him to say, but it bothered you anyway? Well, I’ve just met a piece of bakeware that I don’t think I’d mind marrying…especially … Read entire article »
Filed under: Toys for Families
Claymation Sensation
Like practically the rest of the entire country, we’ve been freezing here at Chez Polka Dot all week. I have to admit…I have not been happy. Had I wanted to freeze in January, I would have stayed in New York instead of moving south of the Mason Dixon fifteen years ago. But, you can’t do anything about Mother Nature, right? So the kiddos and I turned to indoor pursuits to entertain ourselves. I’d been wanting to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Edutainment, Toys for Families