Everything Grows

We are already nearing the end of August, and schools all across the country are moving forward on starting school however they feel is best. The decision on what to do with your kids is not made lightly and is complicated to say the least. I imagine many parents are frozen with decision fatigue and overwhelmed with the continued struggle to juggle all the responsibilities that come with working from home while your kids are home.  First let me say, you aren't crazy and you aren't alone in your many feelings - angry at the people who couldn't make sacrifices this summer to slow the spread of the virus, at the reality the virus is still a thing infecting and killing people daily, at the sweet precious angel child who has asked you one time too many what's for dinner; sorrowful that your kids are starting milestone school years by grabbing a poptart and walking to their rooms, that you aren't able to sign up the fam for all their favorite activities that are life givi

  This is July 4th, 2020. Across the country we typically celebrate this day and being Americans with hot dogs and strawberry/blueberry desserts, pool days and sunshine, baseball and fireworks, old war movies and nostalgic music. This year in the midst of a global pandemic in which our country in particular has struggled to respond responsibly, during a nationwide call to address the centuries of oppression that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color have experienced, and in anticipation of an extremely divisive election season, it’s complicated at best to don red white and blue, eat some burgers and wave sparklers and flags. Look at these total babes! 42 years! In my family, this day has been somewhat of a family holiday because it is my sweet parent’s anniversary. We try to get together each year around the 4th and celebrate together. I’m grateful that this day has become a celebration of our family’s beginning rather than the idolatrous america worship that it can easily tend toward

  From 2015–2017 I worked at an educational facility for students with autism and other special needs. One thing I appreciated about the culture created there was that we threw a party almost every month. At the previous school I worked at, it wasn’t explicitly against the rules to throw parties, but I always felt like it was frowned on to spend too much classroom time celebrating. Alternatively, it was built into the fabric of this facilities culture that we throw parties! There are a lot of reasons that we did that. For our population of students, frequent, repeated opportunities to practice skills was important. How to respond to new stimuli, new people, increased noises, shift in routine…these are all things that need to be learned and practiced. Just because it’s a party, doesn’t mean learning isn’t happening. Besides the very practical reasons to provide structured exposures to routine changes, it was fun, which also definitely matters. These students and families had been throug

  Hey there. How are you? I’ve found the last few days particularly difficult. There’s not really one particular reason…just feeling weary from the endless nature of the situation we’re in. I’ve been transported back in time to last summer, triggered by the very similar feelings I had during a traumatic time. Last June, I gave birth to a healthy baby boy, naturally at a birth center. I say it that way, because I did a lot of work to avoid having a hospital birth, and was very fortunate to have a totally smooth experience. Two weeks later, we had just returned home from showing off our sweet guy and celebrating a friend’s birthday when he felt a little extra hot to me while I was feeding him. Not feeling too anxious yet, I had my husband take his temperature just to be sure there wasn’t anything wrong. As I watched the numbers rise, the tightness in my chest grew. He had a fever of 102º. After some phone calls, we rushed to the car and headed to Vanderbilt Children’s ER. After several v

  I thought I would share a script/routine for a morning meeting you can do with your family, give you a little background on what it is and why I think it’s important. When I was in the classroom, I loved the opportunities a morning meeting provided. It helped set the tone for the day, fostered connection between students and myself, and became an important time to set expectations for the day. For a little more background on morning meetings, this was my go to source for planning them:  https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/what-is-morning-meeting/ . Why do morning meeting? This is an opportunity to come together and connect with each other. It doesn’t have to be a long time, it could be as short as fifteen minutes. The goal of morning meeting in a classroom context is to start the day with connection, setting intention, and building classroom community. I think that especially now, this is a great thing to adapt into family time. There are lots of unknowns and unanswerable questions i

  In an effort to follow my own advice, and give myself some pressure to set something and stick to it, I thought I’d share a schedule I’ve made for me and my family plus some of my “why” for each thing. My times are approximate and something to hold with open hands as nothing is ever exactly the same with my ten month old, though it is much more predictable than it used to be. For example, as I write this I am about an hour behind what is written, am still wearing the shirt I slept in and I ate cereal and cookies for lunch, so…you’re not alone?! Haha..I also tried to think about how to keep things similar to what we used to do B.P. (Before Pandemic TMTMTMTMTM), but replace actual outings with a similar activity or a safe, non-interactive errand. 7:30 — I’ve decided that if I can get dressed and wash my face, etc before my kids nap, it helps me be able to be more productive during nap time, and also even though he’s only 10 months, I think it’s a good precedent for him to see me taking