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Crossroads.

Published on by Darlene Dee6 Comments

I think I get why most parenting bloggers close up shop after only a couple of years.

A baby is a baby is a baby. I mean, every baby is special of course. Especially YOUR baby. But if all goes according to plan, life centers around food and smiles and poop and laughs and sleep and frustration and milestones and learning.

There are about a billion different ways to feed and clothe and teach and react, but they are also all kind of the same as long as they are all done with love.

A baby is generic.

A child is an individual.

I have drafts of posts waiting to be published, but I cannot do it. Now that we are experiencing the Many Splendors of Three, things are different.

Things are different, and they are also still the same. Every parent deals with some kind of bath time struggles and strange toddler fears and hilarious stories and potty training issues. But now, I can imagine a young adult who may not want her Tales of Toddlerhood online.

I wouldn’t. I mean, I might right NOW. Now that I am forty, I think the story of my mother waking up to a baby me playing with the contents of my diaper (I know, GROSS) is kind of funny. I sure don’t remember it, but she has told me about that morning several times, so I sure can’t forget. But it’s just a story that my mom likes to tell. What if it was available for anyone to read? Like, when I was in ninth grade? What if there were PICTURES?

(I would never post poop pictures or potty pictures or naked bath pictures but that is MY line and I don’t know what Babystar’s future retroactive line will be.)

Three is interesting, hilarious, fun, and maybe quite personal. I am happy to tell family and friends the reason we needed to purchase Jojo the Fox but I’m not sure I want to publish it.

I’m not sure that Babystar wants me to publish it. And I can’t really ask her yet.

XOXO

 

Board but Not Boring.

Published on by Darlene Dee7 Comments

When does the board book to paper book crossover usually take place?

Babystar is two and a half and we are still buying both.

We love our hardback paper-page picture books for reading together while sprawled on our bellies on the bed. But the board books are still best when Babystar wants to read to her stuffed friends. Or when Babystar wants to read in the car. Or when Babystar needs to read in the shopping cart. Or when Babystar wants to snack on a book. It’s rare these days but it still happens. Apparently they are SOUPY delicious!

(Babystar pronounces super as soupy and I will MURDER anyone who corrects her because it is the cutest thing ever. Ok, I won’t actually kill anyone. I’ll scold them, though. LOUDLY. Or? What’s something in between scolding and murder??)

Board books are durable. And usually pretty compact.

I have a running list of things purchased for the baby on a very unorganized Note on my phone/computer. It seems I have purchased quite a few board books in the past few months.

I already told you. I’m a sucker for books.

Barnes and Noble had a ‘buy 2 get 1 free’ table of board books a few months ago so OBVIOUSLY I let her choose three books ($15.98). She chose Max the Brave, Click Clack Moo, and This Little Trailblazer: A Girl Power Primer. I swear I DID NOT force her to choose that last one. But I was so totally proud.

And she LOVES that book. She likes to ask “what about this little trailblazer?”

maria tallcheif

Her favorite (this week) is Maria Tallchief.

 

Her dad brought her back Good Night Seattle ($9.95) from a business trip recently and we had to read it before bed for WEEKS. Only slightly annoying. Good night, joggers on the Burke-Gilman trail. It just rolls off the tongue.

We bought three board books by Chris Haughton: Oh No George!, Little Owl Lost, and Shh! We Have a Plan. Highly recommend all three ($19.59). Oh No George! is about a dog that wants to behave. Tries to behave. But doesn’t always behave. I before never realized the similarities between toddlers and dogs. I’m lying. I figured it out when Babystar started licking the floor.

We bought Sheila Rae’s Peppermint Stick for fifty cents at the library sale yesterday.

peppermint stick

 

And do you see those two shiny new board books sort of on the left-middle there? Good Night Denver and Good Night Colorado ($18.08)?

board books close up

OH YEAH I FORGOT TO TELL YOU. We are moving to Colorado.

I’ve never even been to Colorado. All I know is everything I learned from Becca. Plus pot is legal there, so I expect to have a lot of the same conversations over and over. Which is great, because I hate thinking of new things to say.

This is all rather sudden. BUT. I hear Boulder is the happiest city in the country. So that’s something.

RAISING BABYSTAR: $24,370.73

 

Taxes.

Published on by Darlene DeeLeave a comment

I have decided not to consider or ‘subtract’ the child tax credit because that is waaaay too much math. (Since it’s not a straight deduction from our tax bill — or is it? I don’t even understand it really.) Also, any tax credit credit IN NO WAY covers the cost of raising a child. And definitely not this privileged little middle-class Babystar in our privileged pocket of America. But mostly because we literally never get a tax return. We always always always have to pay. How much or how little depends on the year, but there is no refund headed our way.

So that is why. If you were wondering.

Also regarding taxes: Sometimes I add in the sales tax when adding up Babystar’s total and sometimes I don’t. Quite honestly, it really depends on how easy it is to add the tax to the total. I save receipts, and I have a giant list on my phone of what we purchase for Babystar. If it is an Abby’s Lane email receipt for a Babystar purchase, I’ll add the total including tax. If it is a Target receipt with a bunch of other non-Babystar items, I’m not adding the sales tax. (I am definitely not asking the cashier to ring Babystar’s items separately so I can be more accurate, like I would if this bloggy experiment were an actual job. But now that I type this, maybe I should. It would definitely make my receipt pile smaller and more accurate.)

Just if you were wondering.

RAISING BABYSTAR: $16,003.94

Toddlers Be Like.

Published on by Darlene DeeLeave a comment

Toddlers be like, Oh Hey Ma, you just cleaned the kitchen. I’ll fix it while you take 43 seconds to pee and speed wash your hands nbd.

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Cool, now please make me an egg. (With the sign language please and everything so I just die and do it and clean it all over again someone help I think I have Stockholm Syndrome.)

RAISING BABYSTAR: $13,235.18

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