Irish Daisy

So, we’re shopping in JoAnne’s Fabrics for Halloween costume supplies and I see this incredible, one-pound skein of fluffy yarn. It’s glorious – and HUGE. I grab it up, whirl toward the three puffs following me, and chirp, “Come here!” The older two instantly scatter. Quokka jumps backward and runs three steps. Athena dodges to the side and runs ahead. Sweet little Badger, who’s still only six, steps up, “What?” And then stumbles to the side under the solid thump from the enormous skein whapping her shoulder and side. I laugh like mad, hug her and toss the yarn back into the bin. The other two warily approach once they see I’ve disarmed. “Two things are clear right now. One, I’m a terrible mother because I like whacking you guys with fluffy things so much you instinctively dodge away as soon as I pick it up. Two, poor Badger is too young to have learned not to trust me.” Athena rushed over to hug and reassure me, “No, you’re a great mom!” “But you don’t trust me?” “Not...

When I started out having kids I knew I wanted to have more than one – my original plan was to have an even two and stop there. I also wanted to have those kids fairly close together. I grew up with a sister who was only 16 months older than me and we had the best time getting into all sorts of trouble together, and I wanted my kids to have the opportunity to have that close playmate and partner in crime. Bonus to having kids close together – that built- in playmate is ready to rock sooner rather than later. I didn’t feel quite up to meeting my mom’s timeline of getting pregnant when the first kid was only seven months old, but I knocked out the second kid right around when I was aiming for, and my two even kids were an even two years and two months apart. Then we got frisky, and a teeny bit nuts, and decided what we really wanted was another child. The two girls were great – really they were. We had felt for years that our family was complete and we were good. But then we just ...

Heading out! Most excited she's ever looked... Athena went to her first sleep over party weekend before last and had a lot of fun. Seems like a nice, uncomplicated thing, right? Yeah, not so much. Instead, a simple night away with friends was the trigger for a complete Puff-family existential crisis (hi there, with our #firstworldproblems). First there was Quokka and her major sad because she was left behind. After dropping her sister off, we went to run errands and there was major droopyness in the Lowe’s parking lot. I started asking questions because I figured I knew what was going on, but I wanted her to think about where exactly the bad feelings were coming from so she could acknowledge and manage her emotions. Sometimes I’m an ass. Though, in my defense, no one had previously said anything to, or in front of, me about what was really going on. I had no idea we had critical sister relationship tension already brewing. All smug and assured of my insightful mom-ness,...