Month: January 1999

  • good son forgets messy house

    My son’s 3-week-old son is a good baby, but he is still an infant with a 22-month-old sister. Momma is overwhelmed with two babies, housekeeping and meal preparations. Recently she said, my son asked her, “Why don’t you keep this house clean? My mom kept the house clean all the time.” His memory is a…

  • right foot or left? out of order

    The kid could not figure out which shoe went on his right foot. As often as not he got it wrong. I showed him repeatedly how the shoes looked when they were right. I showed him repeatedly how the shoes looked when they were right. We tried various methods to help him remember, but he…

  • backseat drivers

    The problem with teaching teenagers to drive is that they think they are in charge when they are driving and become instant backseat drivers when they aren’t. After traveling 5,000 miles between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, I speak from hard experience. We went to Indiana over the Thanksgiving weekend to say our good-byes to my…

  • Ginger tells about Basil’s arrival

    Joan spent the past two weeks on a working vacation helping with her first grandson, born Dec. 27. While she was away, the baby’s almost 2-year-old sister has a few comments about the holiday comings and goings. First, Daddy brought a prickly tree inside the house that he put right in front of the window…