Why is 2 the best age? Repeat that question 70-billion times and you’ll get your answer. Two-year-olds question everything. They have also reached peak “toddlerhood,” with its strong will, fierce revolt, and suddenly fast legs. When my kids turned…

I don't need to tell you, but children are utterly convinced of their place behind the wheel. It doesn't matter what vehicle you put them in, their first and best instinct is: I've got this, hand me the keys, Marjory, I'm taking this jalopy for a…

We love games in our house — card games, board games, puzzles, crosswords, mazes, you name it. We have a closetful of board games, none of which my toddler son is ready to play yet, though I eagerly look forward to the day we can sit down as a…

The moment I turn the lights off and snuggle between my 4- and 6-year-old daughters is the second all the tea-spilling starts. “Hey Mom, guess what happened at school today,” is code for here come all the stories. Bedtime is when kids are most…

Teary-eyed from joy, I ripped the bow from the front of the tricycle. “It’s time to take this baby for a spin around the neighborhood!” For her third birthday, we had purchased a tricycle with a silver bell and red polka dots along the handle bars.…

“Hey, handsome,” I hear a little voice chirp from the other side of the living room. I peek over the back of the couch to see my 4-year-old son admiring himself in the reflection of his Batman mask sunglasses. It’s the kind of moment that makes me…

I have to stop thinking of my daughter as this little baby. I even have to stop thinking about her as a toddler sometimes because she’s totally and completely, well, not. Her language has been exploding in the last few months and she’s perfected…

Weekends with young children can be endless. Too young for drop-off play dates, too energetic to just play by themselves at home, my children are like dogs who need a job to keep them busy lest they destroy the house and my sanity along with it.…

One moment, you are reading a book or looking at an emu enclosure with an animated little soul, and the next you are toting their sleeping body about like the corpse in Weekend At Bernies. Toddlers are falling asleep everywhere — while eating pizza,…

There are days when you know you are just crushing this mom thing — magical moments where you're overcome with pure joy and gratitude for this tiny little human that you've created. I had one of these moments on a spring afternoon in 2017 while I…

When my son was 3 years old, my husband picked out a pair of overalls for him to try on while we were out shopping for school clothes. I laughed and said, "He's way too old to wear overalls!" thinking my husband was probably just joking. He was not.…

I’m not sure if it was my local laundromat or maybe a rare family gathering that I decided to show up to where my son, 6 years old but the height of a 9-year-old with the heart of a starry-eyed infant, wanted to sit on my lap. There were plenty of…

My friend’s 3-year-old really served it up to the cop that pulled her mom over for a broken taillight. “You not even wearing a hat. Why you not wearing a hat?” Toddlers are not here for your mild comedy of manners. My daughter bit into a sugar snap…

In my 20s, I considered myself to be something of a badass. I figured since I could party with the best of them, throw back copious amounts of tequila, and could be found crowdsurfing at whatever metal show I was attending on any given weeknight, I…

If I were to list the aspects of parenting that make me overflow with joy and those that make me bananas, truly, at the end of the day, I'd pretty much have only one list. Sure, certain things I could definitely leave behind (I'm looking at you,…

We were sitting in a restaurant when my 4-year-old, the aspiring food critic, gave her appraisal to the waiter: "Next time please go easy on the cumin." What the? I’m sure her unsolicited comments left the waiter thinking, “How exactly does this…

We were driving around running errands one Saturday last spring when out of the blue my 3-year-old son announced, “My penis is talking.” “Uhm, what’s it saying?” my husband asked. “It says ‘Yes,’” my son replied matter-of-factly. Parenting is a…

My oldest child is all Great Dane puppy. They are lovable, goofy, enthusiastic, and extremely tall for their age. Like most parents, I am constantly floored at just how fast these kids grow. How is it possible this giraffe-child was once that tiny…

Taking a trip to IKEA is a fantasy. For perhaps an hour, you get to stand in a nicer house/kitchen/office where everything is put away and matching, where cushions are a novelty and the plants never die because they're made of vinyl. Perhaps some…