Young Love

Just when we are all losing faith in humanity, a couple of two year olds have found love. My daughters are beautiful, but Charlotte is no picnic, so I am grateful for Jack because he adores her for the little spitfire that she is. I recognize your skepticism since most kids at this age refuse to like anything that isn't Elmo or small enough to be stuck up their nose. But Jack and Charlotte are the real deal. They hold hands, ask about each other incessantly and their favorite activity is to dance the night away (or until bedtime at 6:45pm) to live music at the Farmer’s Market.

Absolutely everything about their friendship is adorable and here is a list of reasons why young love is the best:

1). Their version of relationship drama is when they are not able to sit in the swing together.

2). They only know how to dance like nobody is watching.

3). They make up pet names for each other. Jack calls her “Char Char” and Charlotte lets him.

4). They encourage each other to try new things: Charlotte introduced Jack to organic lollipops and now Jack’s mom has a bone to pick with me.

5). They hold hands when slides get too scary.

6). They have been in a love for 3 months or 1/10th of their lives, which is longer than any junior high romance which typically can only last for a series of 10 text messages.

7). Their celebrity couple name could be #Jacklotte. 

Happy birthday to Jack’s mommy, Emily, my dear friend and original inventor of those sweet dance moves.

Preschool and the Pretty Please List

I went to a parent co-operative preschool from the ages of 2 to 4 and have nothing but fond memories of my time there. So naturally I couldn’t wait for Charlotte to go to the magical land of glitter play-doh, splatter painting, and most importantly, a place I’m not in charge of cleaning.

So many things were running through my head as I held hands with my little girl and walked her through those seemingly metaphorical rainbow gates. We already have everything we could ever dream of, but here is my pretty please list for preschool:

Pretty please don’t let my kid be that kid: the follower, the smelly, or the screamer.

Pretty please don’t let me be that parent. I promise not to become the PTA president (at least not this year). And please grant me the ability to do all my worrying and crying in the privacy of my own car.

Pretty please don’t let me slip further than a 5 on the “Anal-Retentive Scale of Worry”. I pray preschool doesn’t keep me up at night hallucinating about giant colonies of head lice and rogue strains of bacterial meningitis.

Pretty please don’t pick up any new swear words, bite marks or bad behavior.

Now go forth and shine as bright as the twinkle little stars we must incessantly sing about. 

Toddler Logic

Welcome to the world of toddler logic. It is frustrating and confusing and then whatever your children are feeling. If your idea of a great time is arguing about trying to find the purple cup that makes the “slurpy slurpy” noise at 7am, boy is this the age group for you. I have spelled out for you a few pieces of “logic” that my two and a half year old has taught me along the way.

Toilet paper goes in the potty therefore ALL the toilet paper goes in the potty.

If at first you don’t succeed, try screaming.

It is either wonderful or terrible and can be nothing in-between.

Slide traffic can get backed up, so I’ll just have to climb up harder.

If I hold out long enough in public, somehow I can always earn a lollipop.

Because everyone is always telling me to share...

I get a band aid if I pout, point and say “boo boo” and two if the spot of my injury quickly relocates.

Once you can begin to decipher their logic everyone’s life becomes easier, except of course yours.