girl at large

I like to write about life when you have a job, some kids, a fixer upper and a fatal disease.

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Category: Truth in Parenting

  • Covid Kids

    Easter is a bit different this year. No big beautiful family meal at Aunt Lisa’s, no dressing up fancy and no Easter egg hunt at the park. Instead only six eggs to color, scrounging up strange kitchen drawer candy, raiding the present closet for a basket filler. This is week four of the quarantine, week…

  • At Home Learning

    I’ll always question why I asssumed it was safe to have the kids at Grandmas house the first week and half. Once I developed a cold (only one day of low fever, no other covid symptoms), it came crashing down on me just how selfish and risky that was. I hope that lesson wasn’t learned…

  • Unlearning Society

    I honest to god was shocked when I found out intersex “correction” surgeries on newborn babies are still happening. I thought that doctors would use some other more modern scientific method to determine gender. Of course at the time I ignorantly assumed gender was always in some way physical (chromosomes?). I know better now. I…

  • These Are The Best Days

    Today three-year-old Charlie grasped me from behind with both of his little stick arms, buried his face in my ass crack and said “Your butt is amaaaaaazing!” Happy Birthday me.

  • Dad Jokes

    Thanksgiving at the Osthoff, 2019. This is the first weekend away that we forgot to pack the stroller…and turns out we don’t need it. Another parenting milestone. Paulie has also reached a new level…a new level of Dadness. We treated ourselves to a couples massage. Me: “This will be fun, we’ve never done a “couple”…

  • Mama’s Little Acorn

    Charlie is at my favorite age (so far). He wants to be a helper, his language is exploding, and he still wants to cuddle. He is also a smart ass. I’ve spent the last twenty minutes trying to understand what a “cat load” is and why the absence of one would cause so much distress…

  • Resting Mom Face

      I’m in my chair having a beer.   Viv just asked me to come see if the tv show she wants to watch is one we have to pay for.    I gave her my phone to go take a picture of the tv screen and walk it back over to me.    My…

  • This Is Your Brain On Anxiety

    Mama, making pancakes: “Viv, is it one egg or two? I can never remember” Viv: “One. It’s one egg.” Charlie, running past at top speed, naked:  “Or TWO, maybe TWO!”

  • Still Life with Fake Poop

    It’s hard to have the energy at the end of a work day, when you’ve given all your “nice” to everyone else, to listen to a toddler tell a story. It’s impossible to remember the cute thing a kid said a day later. I’m hoping my camera lens and a few zingers we managed to…

  • Traffic and Weather Together on the 8s

    Charliepants: "Mama, can you put on your talking show?". Mama,smiling and thinking: See, all the NPR will pay off. Screw Paulie and his Arthur and his singalongs and his knowing all the names on Paw Patrol. Little kids DO like the things I like. I AM a fun mom. "Oh honey, do you like mama's…