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Ezzy is an almost constant source of mysteries–medical and otherwise. Since she is still functionally non-verbal it can be a real challenge to try to understand what she wants or needs–particularly if she is rather upset. Over the last few weeks Esmé has been under the weather. She has been looking exhausted all of the … Read More

One of the remarkable things about Esmé is that she has a tendancy to command whatever location she is in. When she walks around our neighborhood people stop to say “Hi Esmé! How are you?” No visit to her pediatrician’s office is complete without a greeting from everyone there. Folks know her at the grocery … Read More

I was just now driving down the road behind a large furniture delivery truck. As we slowed down to stop for a red light I became aware of a man on the sidewalk next to the truck tugging hard on a leash. I couldn’t see the dog on the other end of the leash at … Read More

The is another one of those posts I have been working on for awhile…possibly, in some ways, for years. I have full-post length versions that will certainly never see the light of day. It must be that I write them for myself somehow, trying to find ways to say all of this without sounding like … Read More

Lately I have been having to watch Ezzy fall down a lot. She is just so very determined to explore the world from a vertical position that she constantly insists on pulling up to stand on low surfaces. Her favorite spot now is the low table below the television. It seems like any moment my … Read More

There is a new love story developing in my house. It is all about Esmé and our cat Chicken.  At 13, Chicken is chronologically a pretty old man these days. He was always sort of a grumpy guy, even as a kitten. So when Esmé arrived I assumed he would spend his time as far … Read More

The other day as we drove back from New Brunswick I found myself meditating on the idea of hope. I kept thinking about how hope can be understood as a naïve expectation that thing will just be fine, even in denial of the facts. I think this is a misunderstanding of what hope is. In … Read More

There was one really important thing we wanted to do while we were in New Brunswick: find the headstone of the little girl who would have been my husband’s aunt. Her name was Rose Marie, and she died on January 12, 1943 a few weeks after her second birthday. Perhaps a year ago, while doing … Read More

It has always seemed funny to me that there is a sense that vactioning with children is not really a vaction. I remember, perhaps a year ago, seething over a particular article by a dad bemoaning his inability on vacation with children to sleep late or drink much or relax on the beach or have … Read More

Exactly four years ago my hubbie and I made a trip to visit his family in New Brunswick Canada. It was perhaps the eighth or ninth time I had been, but that visit was different, I was almost 20 weeks pregnant with Esmé. This week was our first trip back since then–the first time that … Read More