Posts Tagged Under Maija Threlkeld
Monster with Boobs
Lately my five-year old has been drawing profusely after school.
Yearning for a Siesta
My eighteen-month old is in her crib, arms stretched out around her head, her little face a picture of calm, blissfully off in dreamland.
Sound asleep.
And I’m envious.
By Maija ThrelkeldBut Wait, We’re Still Summering
I’m lounging in my pajamas again, on a school morning at that. Why not? There’s no need to race from the shower in order to beat the family morning rush with wet hair. Instead I’ve gotten used to actually reading the newspaper cover-to-cover before the kids stampede down the stairs. My day is beginning with a quiet, peaceful morning graced with a strong, aromatic cup of coffee.
Corduroy in 90 Degree Fall Heat
For longer than I care to admit I have bought into the concept of “fall back-to-school fashions” as envisioned by retailers nationwide. Back to school fashion means abandoning faded T-shirts and khaki shorts for autumn-hued sweaters and thick corduroy trousers to wear stomping in crackly maple leaves.
Or hopping off the ubiquitous yellow school bus in cable-knit stockings and solid jean jumpers with the smell of wood burning in fireplaces wafting through the cold, still air. Perhaps a dapper plaid hat is added to the mix? A comfy scarf wrapped around the neck? Brown leather shoes!
Yes, fall has arrived!
Becoming the Mother I Would Like to Be
I’ve had years to decide what kind of Mom I would be. The criteria has been honed and re-honed in my head through the decades but always delivered with great conviction and certainty.
I started my “note to self” list as a child. Ogling the enormous, multi-tiered candy display at the grocery store after hearing Mom’s denial I vowed that my kids would get all of the candy they wanted! (I suspect the same declaration was made about toys, too.)
Now the thought of all that sugar combined with our inherited sweet-tooth would be… cruel! The visual is already interrupted by a deep “no way!” bellowing from my head.
In high school I swore that I would never be one of those moms who leave the house with curlers in her hair! Or an uncool outfit! Or just lookin’ like some frumpy mom.
By Maija ThrelkeldHanging Onto Hair
I got my hair chopped. Chopped as in scissors liberally snipping at my increasingly exposed scalp. A salon chair surrounded by little piles of my locks. And the white skin on the back of my neck revealed for the first time in years.
Disneyland as an Endurance Test
On our return to our hotel we pass a mother who’s lecturing loudly to her two young boys about how each of their toys are identical. What is implied by her speech is that they should each be grateful and perhaps — not test Mama anymore.
The Pink Dress
It transforms her.
In it she is an enchantress, yet fearless. There’s the confidence to twirl at will and serenade with exuberance. Life is richer, fuller, more enthralling. Or so it seems to my two-year old whenever she slips on her favorite pink cotton dress with its short puffed sleeves and full skirt.
Coco Chanel had her knit jacket. Jackie O her sleeveless Oleg Cassini. Grace has her spring 2004 (a wild guess given it’s a hand-me-down from her older sister) cotton candy pink dress decorated with streams of multi-colored ruffles down its skirt and an embroidered butterfly on its bodice.
By Maija ThrelkeldBlack Friday
I just had a vision: my three children home on a school day with n-o-t-h-i-n-g to do except complain and bother one another. . .
Here and also Present
“Mom, you’re doing it again!”< ?xml:namespace prefix = o />
“Huh? What honey?”
