motherhood • life • learning
Since Ben was about eighteen months old I’ve been keen to teach him how to use a potty and stop using nappies. If being a parent has taught me anything it is that children respond really positively when we give them the option to be more independent. Even as a little baby Ben has reacted
I guess I fall into the peaceful, respectful parenting camp. I like to think of it more as simple parenting, something slow and rhythmical that places unconditional love for a child at the centre. An holistic approach to child rearing that sees and accepts a child as a whole individual in their own right. That
This week Ben turned two. I turned thirty three on the same day, but no one really pays attention to that anymore. Thanks kiddo! We actually share the same birth minute – 6:29am on 23rd July – thirty one years apart. Our shared day began as most days do, with a tousled sleepy toddler squirming
A thump on the bedroom door is usually the first warning that we get, followed by the happy stomping of toddler feet. Which make far more noise than feet that small ought to make. I lift an eyelid to see the small face now pressed close to my own. Soft rosy cheeks framed by sweaty
I’ve been skirting around the idea of writing a weekly diary here for a little while. Ben is changing so fast that for every simple moment of pure toddler magic that I’ve carefully memorised, there are probably ten that I’ve forgotten. This is my reminder of the ordinary sparkle in each week. This week really
Potting and propagating houseplants is one of my favourite non-writing activities. I find great satisfaction in a row of cuttings in water gently putting out roots, or a new sprout freshly buried in dark, damp compost that clings to my fingertips as I work.