I’ve been digging through my old photos over the last few days, deleting and archiving in an effort to speed up my aging and overworked computer. Last night I got to a set of photos taken while I was in between 19 and 20 weeks pregnant with Esmé. We were on vacation in New Brunswick, … Read More
You’re in my spot
I wish I didn’t have to say this, but here goes: Those parking spots, the ones designated as reserved parking, you know the ones, with the little stick-figure in a wheelchair? They aren’t there for just anyone’s convenient parking while they just “pop in” somewhere. And the spots alongside those spots, the ones with all … Read More
The Cute Syndrome Blog’s best of 2014
In scouring all of the posts this year I am struck by what a big year it has been for Esmé. 2014 has been filled with a lot of firsts, moves toward Esmé’s independence, and a general coming to terms with our world. Here is my list of the most popular blog posts (based on … Read More
Present
The other day Esmé took a very long late afternoon nap in bed with me…napping midday is a pretty unusual thing for her to do these days. But I guess she was just exhausted from all of the to-do with the holidays. Anyway, when she woke up she and I joined André in the living … Read More
Under the Christmas Tree
These days I have been feeling like an exposed nerve. Crying easily, being incredibly moved by the smallest kindnesses, wincing in pain at remarks that might have just slid off my back a month ago. I have also been reading a lot lately, primarily memoirs about families with children who have special needs. I cannot … Read More
Things Change
A change that I had been avoiding thinking about for weeks now is finally upon us. And I am still a little bit in denial, to tell you the truth. Wednesday was Esmé’s last session with her speech therapist, Diana. Oh, crap. Now I am crying. You see, Diana has been one of the most … Read More
Laughter
There is nothing, I mean absolutely nothing in this world that makes me happier than hearing Esmé laugh. Esmé smiled early on–by only a few weeks old she was making vaguely judging smiles in our direction. By two months she would produce smiles that just took over her entire face, with these smiles would come … Read More
Christmas.
With Christmas and the New Year approaching I think many of us start to take stock of our lives–what we’ve accomplished, where we’ve fallen short and hope to improve, what we have to be grateful for… For me these holidays are also inextricably linked to Esmé’s birthday, which comes relatively soon after the holidays. So … Read More
I am trying to understand
This wonderful thing has been happening with increasing frequency: Esmé is yammering. I know I have written here about Esmé’s language development a bunch…the fits and starts, when she has the occasional break-through, her incredible receptive language skills, and her loss of expressive skills. And I imagine that it must be difficult for you, as … Read More
Good News
After awhile you get pretty used to expecting doctors to tell you the kind of news you’d prefer not to hear…not necessarily horrible stuff, but discouraging stuff. It has become a sort of an expectation of interacting with doctors that the news about Esmé will not be “great.” We do hear a lot of “good … Read More