Amie: “Cold! Coooold.”Mama: “What does Baba say when it’s cold?” Amie: “… Thanda!” Mama: “Yes! And what does Mama say?” Amie: “… Koud.” Multilingual family We are raising Amie on no less than three languages.  Her Baba (dad) speaks Bengali, her Mama Dutch, and since Baba and Mama don’t speak one another’s language very well, they communicate …
Author Archives: kaat
Saving the planet, at home
Worrying Our concern for nature and, more generally, the state of the planet, has grown over the past couple of years, and I don’t foresee an end to our worry. Especially since having a child, we’ve been trying to make some changes. For instance, the day we realized we were pregnant, we switched over to organic, …
Maisy by Lucy Cousins
Amie (19 mos.) is enamored with Maisy, the adorable mouse created by Lucy Cousins (Candlewick Press). “Maaa-isy Maaa-isy,” Amie calls. Then: “Mama read!” or “Amie read!” Simplicity is the norm The stories are short and sequential. The language is sparse, and keywords are repeated often. The bright colors filling large fields surrounded by black lines appeal immediately to a young child’s …
Articles: My Natural Birth, Parts I and II
I’ve uploaded the first two articles in a series about the natural birth of my daughter (now 19 months ago).  I always wanted to get to the bottom of my (seemingly contradictory) desire for a natural birth. Writing this series has been a great opportunity to explore my hopes and fears about the beginning of my …
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Her nose
Yesterday in bed, while gazing upon her sleeping face – so close by, her breath stirring the little hairs on my cheek – I wondered: “Whose nose will she have?” Her nose still has the infant’s buttonlike quality, but it is slowly taking on a character of its own. Just like the rest of her …
Everything in its time
(Written in Fall 2006) I like to eat what the season brings to the market. I like to get food straight from the farmer. If the June rains washed away his winter plantings of brocolli and the deer ate his tomatoes, I’ll eat kale instead. Amie and I visit the Farmers’ Market every week. I …
Meanness: I don’t get it
Is this the next generation of parents? My toddler is asleep in her chair on the back seat, I’m sitting in the driver’s seat, and the car itself is sitting in the parking lot of the local shopping center/cinemaplex. My husband has just walked into the art store. We were lucky: we parked right in …