Well would you look at that—another COVID post! But really, what else is there to talk about these days, right? Besides schools opening, the election, the undermining of the postal service, the inherent value of Black lives, and, well, you get the picture. How has it been a whole month [edit: and a half] since my last post? It’s not like things have happened or anything. But what is time, really? In my last post I mentioned (in passing—you don’t have to go back and find it) that we had joined forces to pod with a neighboring family. They wouldn’t necessarily have been my top choice (although ..read more

Things are not going well. Even putting aside the whole mediocre mother thing and the mediocre employee thing and the mediocre partner thing that comes with unsustainable work-life balance situations (because two parenting working from home in a one bedroom apartment with both kids’ camps cancelled sure as shitake mushrooms ain’t sustainable), I think COVID anxiety has finally caught up with me. (Please pardon the ableist appropriation of the word “anxiety” in the absence of both a medical diagnosis and lack of mental wherewithal to come up with a better term.) Y’all, I am so scared this is go ..read more

Had me a blast? It certainly isn’t happening fast. And yet, here we are, more than two months in. Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer. And soon after, a birthday.  Another sure sign that summer is coming. I’m trying very hard not to begrudge anyone their summers. But coronavirus is a green-eyed monster (with protein spikes all over its back? Points if you got that stretch of a literary reference…) and I do admit to jealousy. I’m sad, of course, that our grand adventures and not-so-grand-but-nonetheless-eagerly-anticipated summer camps have for thoroughly reasonable reason ..read more

What is it called when drivers make allowances for other drivers who drive the same make and model of their car? Brand courtesy? I read it in a book once. And then, last year, when we needed a new car In any case, I took Clementine to an art museum recently. [Edit: Not so recently now. I wrote this before the pandemic hit, obviously.] We were looking at a display and something in it reminded me of something her donor had written in his profile. I told her and she was thoroughly uninterested. It made me glad that Lime and I decided to let her and Julia take the lead in any connections ..read more

Let me say this up front: We are fine. Good even. Safe, healthy, happy. Privileged. The losses closest to me have been two degrees of separation. Everyone in my first degree circle who has had the disease (friends, family members, and acquaintances) has recovered. So without crushing grief, I am left with spots of sadness. Sadness for Clementine, who this year was assigned a teacher who turns out to be both exemplary and her favorite one yet, and a shockingly wonderful combination of kids. I am so sad they don’t get to be in the classroom together this spring (although my sadness is nothing co ..read more

Well, this seems as good a place as any to chronicle my thoughts about being stuck at home with more people than there are rooms with doors. (Methinks open floor plans will not be so popular when the housing market picks back up again.) I wonder if phone calls will make a triumphant return in this age of texts and telephonaphobia! Remote work is not grating on me yet, although I do miss my desk chair. Folding chair and folding table in the corner of the bedroom are not exactly the ergonomic dream of the apocalypse. It’s amusing to see the stark difference in attitudes (and Zoom meeting request ..read more

But in the best possible way. Clementine’s holiday present to Julia was a “special sister sleepover” and last night was the night. We set up the beloved but culturally appropriative play tent in the living room (our apartment is really small so that’s the only non-bedroom space available), bedecked it with fairy lights, laid out their sleeping bags, placed an order for pizza, and sequestered ourselves in our bedroom (“you can come out to use the bathroom, but that’s IT! Well, or to tell us to go to sleep if we’re up late like 10:30. And you can get water.”) for the night. Over the course of th ..read more

Well, I’ve inadvertently stumbled on a disadvantage to being a two-mom family. Statistically speaking, moms get head lice more frequently than dads. And, as the expert told us last week, good moms get them more often than bad ones! Okay, that was kind of judge-y. Obviously it’s about behaviors and choices—long hair vs. short, being present, tendency to snuggle with kids, etc.—not inherent personality traits or gender essentialism. But one looks for humor and validation where one can find it, you know? Especially when one is elbows deep in tea tree, eucalyptus, and peppermint oil, stuck in fron ..read more

It is no secret that I am Julia’s favorite. Among her three moms, I am by far the preferred one. The feeling…is not mutual. I love her and I love Clementine. (I love Lime too, but that’s not the conversation we’re having.) Not equally of course—that’s impossible—but not unevenly either. Lime on the other hand? Well, that’s trickier. I know Lime enjoys our older child’s company more. And there are a lot of good reasons for it. Three year olds are…donkeybutts. Preschool is only a few mornings a week. Clementine is in school six hours a day and absorbed in her books the other eighteen. (I kid—she ..read more

“Oh she’s almost walking, is she? You’re about to be in for it now!” A common refrain but not a sentiment I ever shared. That time between crawling and walking is far more stressful than either side of that. Certainly the fleeting period of 5-8 months (or whatever it is) when they can sit up properly and be counted on to stay where you put them is glorious. Crawling was exciting—for better AND for worse—but walking was just liberating. Sure, the go doesn’t always come with a reliable stop, but there’s a lot to be said for not hunching over to stick your fingers between their fingers or making ..read more