This morning I was still stirring in bed when the doorbell rang. Tom, it being his morning to wake up and deal with the heathens, was chastising Chompy, who had pooped in his overnight diaper.
Continue reading “Free-range”Free-range
Tag: Parenting
Alarm clocks
I’d just signed Artie out at pickup when his after school teacher, a young woman named Miss Bai, came up to me.
“Arthur is so cute,” she said. I relaxed a little bit. These short exchanges during pickup are often when she provides feedback – most of which is positive: “Arthur played very well today, not too rough.” Or, “Arthur spent most of his free play time coloring in. He likes cars, especially fast, expensive ones, so you could also print some coloring sheets out at home for him.” But sometimes she’ll tell me that he did, albeit unintentionally, play too rough with some unfortunate classmate or that he had a harder time than usual keeping his fingers out of his mouth.
Continue reading “Alarm clocks”Low energy parents
This is my first (and last) time using WordPress’s AI image generator. Clearly I could have put in more description of the entire family but the androgynous narrator character whose legs are too short for the ground (but great hair and ankles) is my AI spirit person.
Last night, just before Tom and I settled onto my parents’ lumpy couch to watch “The Wire“*, my dad said, “Aren’t you going to put the laundry on?”
Continue reading “Low energy parents”Sh*!% and giggles
One morning back in Sydney, in the middle of putting his socks on, Artie asked me, “Mama, how do you say ‘fucking’ in Chinese?”
Continue reading “Sh*!% and giggles”The Do-over
About a year ago, my parents visited us in Sydney for the second time, to meet Chompy*. On their third day, I mentioned to my dad that I needed to go to the laundromat.
Continue reading “The Do-over”The Bear and I
Two months after my friend gave birth to her second child, we met up for lunch at a cafe, on a tree-lined street in Redfern. Normally extremely punctual, she arrived a few minutes late, but this was by design. As she approached the cafe, she saw that her baby was beginning to doze, so she took an extra loop around the block to ensure he made it to the land of Nod. A small investment for what she hoped would be a cry-free lunch.
Continue reading “The Bear and I”This is the age
If I could press pause on Artie’s age, it would probably be right now.
Continue reading “This is the age”Portrait of the Baby at Nine Months
A few weeks after the baby was born, my mother called and advised me to start keeping a diary for him.
“Just a line or so every day,” she said. “They change so quickly and you’ll want to remember the smaller moments from these days.”
Continue reading “Portrait of the Baby at Nine Months”Sydney Coronavirus Days, 2
Our neighbors have a fat toddler.
Continue reading “Sydney Coronavirus Days, 2”
Sydney Coronavirus Days, 1
I’m not so much inspired to write this blog by recent events as I am by Tom’s brother and mom, who have recently started blogging from Vienna and Washington D.C., respectively, documenting their days unfolding in the midst of Coronavirus. Why not, I thought. One day I’ll want to look back and recall the flavor of these strange times. Continue reading “Sydney Coronavirus Days, 1”
VERY HIGHBROW 