Word around school this week is that Sophie’s been swiping other kids’ drinks at lunch. She drains her juice box and nabs someone else’s drink, particularly if it’s strawberry milk. I stuck 35 cents in this morning, so she could get her own, which she thoroughly enjoyed. I didn’t mean to be in the cafeteria during [...]

I met the most remarkable woman yesterday. We’d been emailing for weeks (months?) about our daughters. The woman lives in town, friend of a friend of a friend. My daughter is 5; we found out she had Down syndrome when she was several days old. Still, I remember the time before the diagnosis felt like eternity. [...]

The other day, Sophie pointed to the top pocket of the thing hanging on the back of her closet door, (as opposed to the thing hanging on the front of her closet door, the thing hanging on her bathroom door, on my bathroom door, in Annabelle’s bedroom, on the back of my own bedroom door — you get the [...]

“Hey, kids, we’re going to see the world’s second largest ball of twine!” Ray called out to the backseat, in his best Clark Griswold imitation. It did feel that way, as we set off for our Fall Break road trip last Tuesday. We were headed north to Winslow, Holbrook and Flagstaff, stops along Route 66, [...]

Yeah, yeah, I know. The Veep debate was THE television event of the week. And I was a good American — I did watch it, through my fingers, wincing, glad I was at a party and had an excuse to gulp vodka to numb the pain. I even fell a little bit in love with [...]

Just when I think we’re just fine, making do with what Sophie’s being handed (or not) in kindergarten, something happens to knock me off my clogs. (If you’ve never worn clogs, you won’t understand that saying.) I reconnected this week with a lovely woman in town whose daughter is just about Sophie’s age, and also has [...]

Kindergarten is a quarter gone. We had our parent/teacher conferences yesterday. It’s still well over 100 degrees — heck, it’s barely October — so it just doesn’t feel right to call the semester half in the can. But it is. Sophie is halfway done with her first half of kindergarten. And Annabelle’s half done with [...]

As soon as we walked into Old Navy and I saw that there were no shopping carts, I knew it would be a short trip. It had already been a long day (note to self: Sophie’s still not ready to sit through a full-length feature film in the theater) and while I constantly battle the [...]

Most afternoons, the phone rings. Ms. X. swore up and down she’d keep me posted about Sophie’s trials and tribulations this year, and as far as I can tell, she’s kept the promise. The news varies. Often it involves an indiscretion or safety breach. For example, on Monday, Sophie announced to some other kids (but not [...]

Yesterday was a big deal. Sophie’s first day of ballet. For years now, friends have kindly murmured things meant to be nice — things like, “Maybe there’s something else Sophie can do for a hobby. She doesn’t have to do everything Annabelle does.” Ray told me I was ridiculous to push it. And I have [...]