Grasshopper New Media Presents...

If only babies came with manuals and toddlers came with warranties.
That terrible whining noise that my two-year-old is making should definitely be enough to send him back to the manufacturer, if one existed.  I take comfort in knowing that this is just a phase.  That’s what people keep telling me, at least.
There’s a relatively new […]

A typical day with Max now includes a minimum of 30 tantrums, staunch refusals to use the potty, and so much whining I want to stab my eardrums out.
At almost-three, this child of mine is asserting himself in all that he does. He is fiercely independent, maddeningly stubborn - an amplified version of all he […]

Two years ago, when we opened our first photos of the toddlers we were considering adopting, we saw a grinning blond boy with merry eyes and an auburn-haired girl who looked like she was trying not to smile. We noticed that both had smooth skin, clear eyes, and chubby hands. We noticed that the girl […]

When Little Man was a newborn, J and I practiced Dr. Harvey Karp’s suggestions from The Happiest Baby on the Block as though they were the dogma from some new and compelling religion. We swaddled him, laid him on his side, shushed and shook him (gently), and let him suck to his heart’s content. […]

Every time someone asks me how Max is doing, I say the same thing: “Fine; talking like crazy.” Which is true - that kid of mine, he’s a talker. Then again, I’m a talker, so maybe it’s one of those things where the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree.
The thing is, I am amazed, […]

So your toddler is now over 18 months old, and you are quite ready to be done with diapers. You are ready to enter the brave new world of big-boy pants and frantic trips to the closest bathroom. But where do you begin?
The shelves of bookstores and libraries are filled with how-to manuals […]

With this post, I admit defeat. Toddlerhood has won. It’s over. I’m throwing my towel in.
This parenting thing is kicking my a**, and I’m done. Beat. Tired. A bloody pulp on the floor, gasping for air.
Max, at two-and-a-half, is completely normal, I think. There’s nothing about him that seems “off” in how he plays […]