“Now that I’m a mother, I look to my own kids and wonder, what do I do when you start to break away from me, peeling off like bark from a tree? Do I trust you to know your moment? Do I trust myself to know it?” I didn’t mean the first lie I ever told. I didn’t know what I was asking for. Click the picture to read the rest of the story on …

MARK 9:2-4 2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. MARK 9:30-32 30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he …

How long, I caught myself wondering in the shower, could I push this before it’s considered child neglect and someone calls social services? I was taking my twins, newly-minted three-year-olds, to their annual appointment with the pediatrician and I knew she’d ask the question she always asks – the one that earns me an eye roll and another note added to the appointment summary along with weight and height and current medications. Have they been to …

“You really need to stop looking in the mirror before 7 a.m.” “Why did I put the keys in the refrigerator door?” “Why do they always run out of my favorite wine at Costco? I mean, it’s Costco.” “Note to self: Don’t park next to the teenage driver in your neighborhood.” I’ve always been a self-talker. But it used to be subtler. In my college years, it came in the form of mumbling over a …

Who doesn’t love a good concert? There’s just something about live music thrumming in your chest until it reverberates through the rest of you. But sometimes, when the kids are very little or threenagers, the music has to come to you. So, I’m putting the music in their hands for the last Kiddie Pool Digest to round out the summer. You might have a musical prodigy on your hands. You never know until you try …

Poop. Doodoo. Dump. Turd. Peepee. Urine. Tinkle. Wee. Whatever you want to call it, I’m seriously over it. How many nicknames can we give it before my kids start to care? How long does it have to cling to their bodies before they’re ready for it to land elsewhere? How many low-riding diapers does it take for the bowels to move themselves on over to the toilet? My twins are three. Yes, three, and nowhere …

I TIMOTHY 4:14-16 14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. I was aces in chemistry in high school. And biology. And calculus. And physics. And all the …

I can no longer go into the therapy room with my kid. If I’m there, he’s done. Forget walking. Forget tasting new foods. And you can definitely forget using his communication skills. When he spots me, he thinks the work day is done. He can sit back and relax because I should instinctively know what he needs. And he’s right. I usually do know what he wants to say before he says it. But letting …

I was at the beach recently with my toes in the sand watching my three-year-old twins attack what they thought was a live crab. It was actually a carcass. They are savages. With the breeze and the birds and the reef in the background, I couldn’t make myself care. This was the first time I’d sat down on a vacation in five years. With three kids under five, sitting wasn’t an option. If I could …

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon on July 20th, 1969 and then spent two and a half hours making footprints on a surface no foot had ever touched. Not a bad way to spend a summer afternoon. So, on this July 20th, let’s celebrate the innovation and curiosity of the men and women who’ve given us a close up to space, that mysteriously cool world beyond our own. Click the fun fact …