• Last updated 3/5/13 by mamazee

• Continues her study of physics (velocity, matter) by hurling food and other objects on the floor. Last night it was the glass top to the butter dish, which broke into a thousand jagged pieces. • Puts small objects in her mouth, and stumbles around the house drooling. Favorite choking hazards: pennies, buttons, big brother’s marbles. • Talks all the time. In Navaho? Vulcan? “Gaygo. Dis. Ducka ducka ducka! Umm. Dee doo. Aw-woo.” • Is affronted by the very thought of wearing clothes. Takes hers off all the time. Woe to the parent who dares to try... read more

• Last updated 3/7/13 by mamazee

Who knew that a 14-month-old could show so much affection? My son Michael has reached the stage of massive exploration, having just gone from three steps to steady walking within a week. But he has also started to give us endless cuddles and kisses. My favorite is his “pat pats”: when you pick him up if he’s upset, or in need of some cuddles, he gives us little tiny baby hand pats on our shoulders and back. It makes my heart melt to think that a child who can’t talk or walk can show us how much he loves us by the look in his eyes, expressions on his... read more

• Last updated 3/7/13 by mamazee

There was a little girl, who had a little curl... James was carrying the baby yesterday and her legs looked so long. She sits on my lap at the table, or in her high chair, and shovels brown rice and grated carrot and bits of potato pancake (stopping to poke a finger in the sour cream and smear it on her tray) into her mouth. “Nursing’s just for snacks,” Athena says. “Now she eats real food.” What happened to our tiny newborn? She’s morphed into a walking almost-talking toddler. I don't know what you think is important in... read more

• Last updated 3/8/13 by mamazee

  Another Sink Moment; I Guess I Really Am A Sink Mom Honestly, I’m so deep in parenting I don’t even realize it sometimes. I have a friend coming in from out of town tomorrow. I don’t have a nanny. I don’t have a house cleaner. My bathroom doesn’t clean itself. So, that would leave my 18-month old daughter’s morning nap as the obvious time to mop the floors and scrub the sink. And yet, during this “break” (her nap,) I don’t want to spend it cleaning. I want to write my rock and roll memoir, my parenting book and my Mothering blog! I want... read more

• Last updated 8/30/10 by Jennifer Margulis

We started using elimination communication (EC) with Leone, who’s almost ten months old, when she was just seven weeks old. I’d never known anyone who had a diaper-free baby or who practiced elimination communication until my friend Lizzy loaned me Ingrid Bauer’s Diaper Free! The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene and told me about some of her friends who successfully raised their children without using diapers. At the same time, I discovered that the nation’s expert on elimination communication, Christine Gross-Loh (author of The Diaper-Free Baby: The Natural... read more

• Last updated 3/20/13 by mamazee

We are at the ocean with friends. I have my three children with me. My sixteen month old is thrilled with the tide. She is standing at the water’s edge squealing with delight . I stand right next to her and my hands are within inches of her armpits; ready am I to lift her swiftly if need be, however, I let her interact with the ocean on her own. I let her experience the water on her terms and make her own discoveries with the current. At one point the water comes in fuller and I recognize that its force is strong enough to make her lose her balance,... read more

• Last updated 3/20/13 by mamazee

So, my darling third child is a lively one, born four weeks early on April 1, no less, and she’s got the personality to match. She is spunky, funny and a good-time girl and she makes her desires known. She is almost 16-months now and she has some words and some signs, but, still, when she wants something, she screams a blood curdling voluminous “Maaam!” She is calling my name to indicate her full demand of what she sees and wants immediately. Often the object of her desire is to get up in her highchair, or to be picked up, or something that comes into view that... read more

• Last updated 10/18/12 by emilyfrischmann

Can you suggest the best carriers for wearing a toddler on your back? I have a 16 month old and have tried putting him on my back in his catbird baby pikkolo, but neither us of was very comfortable. I also tried a lightweight frame backpack, the kokopax, which also wasn't a good fit for us. Any suggestions? Are you using the support belt with the Pikkolo? That would be the first thing I'd try if you haven't already. Soft structured/buckle carriers are like shoes or jeans -- what fits one person might not fit another. Fit and comfort depend a lot on your height... read more

• Last updated 5/25/10 by Jennifer Margulis

I haven’t written much lately about our adventures in Elimination Communication (EC), probably because all the travel Leone and I have been doing, the polemical issues in the news, and the joy of cloth diapering have sidetracked me. But we’ve been continuing to do EC with Leone, which we started when she was about seven weeks old. “I wish I had known how much time it saved with my oldest,” my friend Shannon said the other day. “It just seemed like too much trouble. But then when we started doing it with our second, I realized it actually saved us time.” What is EC? If... read more

• Last updated 3/18/10 by Jennifer Margulis

I know I promised to write about making Leone laugh this week but she’s actually been quite a serious little creature lately and we’re all still perfecting Leone Laughing Techniques so I’m putting off that post until next week. Instead I have a story to tell you. “My baby, my baby,” 9-year-old Athena said this morning after she got dressed. “I want to hold her Mommy!” I passed Leone to Athena and made oatmeal for Athena and Etani and scrambled eggs and toast for Hesperus (who, by the way, is eating us out of house and home. She’s only ten. What will we do when the kids... read more