In our Christmas-loving house, the days following Dec. 25 can be a sugar-coated letdown. But one member of the family is clearly relieved that the holiday is over. Sophie never really did embrace the Christmas spirit this year — which is weird, considering she’s always been my Santa-believing, carol-singing, present-obsessed kid. But this year she […]
Today’s one of those days where I wouldn’t mind having a good cry. Not a burst-int0-tears-at-the-drop-of-a-hat cry, but the kind you schedule, like Holly Hunter’s character in Broadcast News — where she sits on the bed in the hotel room, unplugs the phone, takes a deep breath and lets it rip. It started this morning […]
Sophie has been really into groceries lately. Not eating them. Her four food groups are still rice, noodles, cheddar crackers and chocolate ice cream. I’m talking about groceries in the grocery store. It began at Trader Joe’s about a year ago, when she developed an interest in scanning all the items in our cart. Not one […]
In the end, I did not bring food to the first team meeting of the school year. Or a lawyer. Instead, I brought Sophie. It was not a tough meeting; I hadn’t expected it would be, or I likely would not have brought her. Sophie’s formal IEP meeting takes place each spring, and because so […]
Sometimes you’re moving along through life, feeling like you have certain things down, know others to be true, and something happens that just completely rocks your world and makes you question everything you’ve done as a parent. Or something like that. A few days ago, a Facebook friend and fellow parent of a kid with Down syndrome […]
I’m not sure when it happened — maybe it was always the case and no one noticed — but suddenly, Sophie’s eyes are two different colors. It’s subtle, but it’s there. One is greenish, the other blueish. I pointed it out to her the other day, tried to get a closer look, and she pulled […]
Turns out, Sophie was born to travel. She doesn’t get car sick, has no anxiety about flying, can sleep just about anywhere, and while she doesn’t pack light, her things are so small they never take up much space. She is pretty easy to feed as long as there’s bread, rice or some form of noodle on […]
I didn’t like the movie Inside Out, but not for the reason you’ve already guessed. I will admit that I think about things too much — and also that I fell asleep during a critical time during the plot development of Pixar’s latest — but really, I thought the whole thing was a convoluted, over wrought […]
I don’t know much, but I do know Phoenix. I’m a native (like, a real one — I was actually born here) and while I escaped for a few years, I’ve been back for more than 20. This city is a tough nut to crack, particularly in the summer. (Don’t worry, the forecast for next weekend […]
I have a lot of uncertainty when it comes to Sophie — her future, her academic abilities, whether or not she brushed her teeth before bed last night. But one thing I know for sure: The stage beckons. This is a kid with a flair for the dramatic. She will take any opportunity to perform, […]
