Parenting – Page 2 – Haddayr Copley-Woods

(I also snuck in a kiss on his cheek and he pretended not to notice.)

I challenge the entire world to come up with anything more delicious than a 9-year-old who is pretending to sleep so that you will carry him up to his room. I did this to my dad once. I felt guilty about it for years, that I was so ‘lazy’ that I pretended to sleep. NowContinue reading “(I also snuck in a kiss on his cheek and he pretended not to notice.)”

Come see Listen to Your Mother: Twin Cities!

This Thursday, May 9 at 7 pm, I’ll be joining a terrific cast of women reading essays on mothering our kids and, in some cases, our own mothers — in Listen to Your Mother: Twin Cities at the Riverview. Advance tickets are $15; $18 at the door.

No mention was made of his most potent weapon: making his enemy laugh so hard that she is utterly helpless to defend herself.

“And his meal has just unsuspectingly walked up to his front door. The Haddayr is larger and stronger, but no match for the more agile Bob. Even though Haddayrs are meat-eaters, more than twice Bobs’ size, and prey on Bobs, he is not going down without a fight. When he grabs on, there is almostContinue reading “No mention was made of his most potent weapon: making his enemy laugh so hard that she is utterly helpless to defend herself.”

Reality Check

ME: AJ, I think you’re handling this disappointment really well — without yelling or freaking out or whining. AJ: I am doing a HORRIBLE job! Listen to me! I’m whining right NOW!

I made it I made it I passed the audition

And so did one of my besties!!!! So, I am going to be in the show Listen to Your Mother, doing a live version of my last MPR commentary on my youngest son whose name isn’t Bob, who turned the tables on strangers who stare at his mom. I am in quite fine company.

MarsCon!

Goodness it was fun to see my kids geek out at the Klingons who menaced the entrance and play MTG and stare open-mouthed at the 3D printer and giggle at the air cannon and sit bored through my panel, taking the talk of kissing in stride. It was not fun to have food poisoning makeContinue reading “MarsCon!”

Disabled parenting

I’ve written a rather uncharacteristically personal piece for MPR this time, about parenting a shy kid when you stand out in the crowd: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/02/28/haddayr

Love

Bob* and I are reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s These Happy Golden Years. Bob is eight. Love is icky; kissing, unspeakable. In tonight’s chapter, Almanzo just kissed Laura and gave her a ring. Bob handled it as best he could, hands over his ears, wincing until it was over. Then, we both pretended to vomit intoContinue reading “Love”

Helpless

Fifth grade is a time, books like Raising Cain tell me, that boys are figuring out what it means to be boys and eventually men. They are figuring this out in a seething cesspool of social jockeying, confusion, cruelty, and thoughtlessness. And my small-for-his-age, glasses-wearing, underweight, anxious autistic kid is swimming in it. I rememberContinue reading “Helpless”

Treasures

I have no idea what a non-autistic 10-year-old’s pockets are filled with on laundry day; here is the treasure I found last night in AJ’s pockets: Two pairs of earbuds, only one of them his Gorgeous origami paper, the back of which contained directions for making a dove Five watch batteries (?) This incredibly detailedContinue reading “Treasures”