2017, April: The Easter Egg Hunt

Last year we attempted to go to the local Easter egg hunt. We arrived a few minutes late because we didn't know any better. The hunt was, of course, over. This year we were determined to do better and arrived 15 minutes before the hunt was due to begin...

9.45am

Now we just had to keep a 2-year-old from collecting any eggs until the siren sounded at 10am. Declan seemed to understand.

9.52am

He was getting restless. Sneaking one foot over the line, edging forward on his bum, running away to try and enter from a different location...

9.56am

Now he was done. He wanted to go home. Kept trying to pull us away from the eggs and towards the car. "Mummy go home! Mummy go home now!" Cried when we told him he just had to wait a few more minutes.

10.00am

No siren.

10.01am

The siren sounded! Declan suddenly did not want to collect any eggs. He cried if we tried to lead him towards them. Absolutely refused to participate.

10.03am

Most of the eggs had been collected by normal toddlers. We finally persuaded Declan to collect eggs by telling him they had chocolate inside. He collected 3 then stood around playing with a stick and staring at the mayhem.

10.05am

The hunt was over. All the eggs collected.

10.07am

Took a photo with the fire engine.

10.08am

The end.

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2016, January: Who Should Pay for the Arts

Working for a small nonprofit after the Goliath that is the Smithsonian has been an eye-opening experience. We're constantly doing - as my boss likes to call it - "the hustle." A great deal of time, energy, and resources is spent (and stress, sleepless nights, and several tears are experienced) while chasing funding instead of working on the mission, while the mission remains crucial to bringing in the money as well as being the reason we're all here. It's difficult to maintain that balance while keeping the organization afloat and the staff (mostly) sane. It's made me think a great deal about who should pay for what we do. I believe the arts are critically important and I am incredibly proud that a town the size of Idaho Falls (serving a population of around 100,000 in the city and surrounding rural areas) has art galleries, a large, historic theater that brings in nationally touring productions, and the-first-of-its-kind interactive art and technology cent...

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Declan started wearing a helmet last Friday. We knew he had a wonky head - for the first four months of his life he always slept in the exact same position - but we were hoping he would grow out of it. I knew I was supposed to be doing something about it (wedging him to sleep on the other side somehow), but it was enough of a celebration just to get the kid to sleep that I couldn't deal with anything else. At four months old he started rolling and would sleep in a variety of positions, but unfortunately the damage had been done. At his four month check-up the pediatrician said it wasn't too bad and that we should just keep an eye on it. At six months, however, a different pediatrician said "hmmm. We should probably have a specialist take a look." The specialist came from Salt Lake City and said that Declan had a moderate case of plagiocephaly (wonky head) due to slight torticollis (weak neck muscles on one side). Now that he's holding his head up fine and sitt...

2016, November: "Winning" with a Toddler

I was complaining to a friend yesterday about Declan refusing to wear a bib. She said "you know you get to win sometimes, right?" That stuck with me. I like to win, but how do you really win with a toddler? Consider the following and tell me which are the winning scenarios...? (Now, if you're a good parent you will tell me that my relationship with my kid shouldn't be about winning or losing. Yeah yeah, you don't know me at all. Everything is about winning or losing.) One : Declan doesn't want to wear clothes. I could a) send him to school without a shirt in the middle of Idaho winter or b) force clothes on him which involves screaming, biting, kicking, and punching. Which is the win? Two : Declan doesn't want to eat anything other than muffins for any meal ever (except at daycare, where he eats almost anything, which is both reassuring and annoying). Do I a) try to get him to eat something else even though he might then scream and/or whine for at lea...

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