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Sugar Skulls
My daughter was born on November 1, and now at kindergarten age she has become very interested in the festival held on her birthday. El Dia de los Muertos is a 3-day Mexican fiesta to honor the dead. To celebrate, one must prepare an altar, or ofrenda, an offering to one’s dead loved ones. An…
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Amigurumi Girls
Amigurumi Girl gets a little sister! Sunday morning my daughter and I were going through my leftover yarn collection. I have a bag of one-skein yarns that I reserve for very small projects, such as amigurumi toys. We found a skein of the Classic Elite Flash in marled pink that reminds me of peppermint candy.…
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Lemon Garlic Tea
Well, actually this recipe is listed as Garlic Lemonade in Aviva Jill Romm’s book, Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent’s Guide: How to Make Safe, Sensible Decisions about the Risks, Benefits, and Alternatives. Among recipes for boosting immunity, this one excited me most because my daughter and I can incorporate it into one of our favorite playtime…
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Doing Nothing When My Child is Sick
There is nothing worse for a parent than having a sick child. There is no sleeping when the germs are having their way with our kids. And as a reward for our care, we parents get a dose of the same sickness after our kids are through with it. Can someone please remind me why…
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Preschool Pen Pals
My 5-year-old daughter has a pen pal. Iris and Malaya met one summer in Maine when they were both three. They hit it off instantly! We had play dates all summer and rainy days spent indoors. When we headed home to California, the girls hugged each other and promised to stay friends. It began with…
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Potty Training
Before my baby was born I read about Elimination Communication, a method of detecting and responding to an infant’s elimination needs. It’s not as much “training” as it is becoming in tune with the natural timing of my baby’s body functions. Elimination Communication means teaching children how to eliminate properly right from the start. It’s…
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Avocado Applications
The avocado is one of my favorite fruits. Avocado is packed with nutrients such as folate, potassium, vitamin E and lutein. When in season during the summer months, avocados are always on my weekly grocery list. Guacamole People seem to think of guacamole everytime an avocado is mentioned. It’s an easy recipe: mash a whole…
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Breastfeeding: The Art of Being a Woman
Breastfeeding is what I’ve found to be the most profound expression of motherhood. Not labor and delivery of the baby, not pregnancy, not conception, all important and indispensable stages of becoming a mother. When I say breastfeeding is the most profound expression of motherhood, it is because I see it as a choice a mother…
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Busting Breastfeeding Myths
Ever since my baby was born, I’ve heard a number of breastfeeding myths from my mother and some aunts, women whose parenting skills were shaped during the ’70’s, when milk companies took advantage of the women’s liberation movement to sell mothers formula. Here are some of the myths I’ve heard, and the truths that bust…
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Our Love Story
My husband and I met in New York City during the blizzard of 1996. He lived in a haunted Victorian Mansion, with a billiards table in the basement, taxidermy birds, fox and a giant elk, antique furniture piled on top of each other, grand pianos, giant ceramic demons hanging from trees, and feathered Indians made…