Please don’t call me Selfish I discovered a great essay by Susan Newman over at Babble that made me think a lot — again — about being the mother of An Only Child. The title was “Is it Selfish to Have One Child?” Selfish? Que-Que? The idea of being labeled selfish stopped me, made me [...]

Maria announced, quite proudly: “I know The F-Word!” “Really? What’s the F-Word?” “You know the F-Word, Mama.” “Fun, fudge, flip?” “Mamaaaaahhhh.” “OK, why don’t you tell me what you think the F-Word is?” “It’s a bad word.” “It’s OK. You’re not in trouble, I just want to make sure we’re talking about the same F-Word.” [...]

…meet your future mandolin player. She can kind of play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. And tune the thing. Get ready. So yes, city folk, we’re taking mandolin lessons around here. Even I grab the lovely piece and hit it some. La Nena also is taking two other classes after school. That’s three extra-curricular activities…There are [...]

Maria tentatively spoke up. “Mama, her voice sounds kind of funny,” she said nodding toward the stereo. The voice she heard belongs to a pop singer without much range, a young woman who once melted down publicly and is attempting to come back. The voice on her latest single is most definitely not completely human. [...]

We get into the car. It’s about 100 degrees and humid. Maria says: “Ay, carajo, it’s hot!” Guat? And then, I realize. We’ve been listening to the soundtrack from the musical, In the Heights — love and hope in Latino Washington Heights.  The line my kid so expertly and correctly gave me from the back seat [...]

I am reposting this video, which got all kinds of love this week on the Tiki Tiki, so that anybody who pops over here from the Spanglishbaby Blogging Carnival sees an update on the abuelito. The post I contributed to the carnival is from 2007…and not much has changed. My father continues to delight and [...]

The husband and I have been eating mostly vegetarian for several weeks now. The husband has even given up dairy. I do not believe life is worth living without goat cheese, manchego and ice cold milk. We have felt good and we’ve lost a few pounds. Enter, Papi from Miami…with a gigantic box filled with [...]

She asked me  not to go into her room until she said it was OK. I waited. She said: “You may enter now.” She was sitting on her pink chair, a pink-jeweled crown atop her head. Long, brown hair flowing at her shoulders. “Hulll-ooh, I am the Queen,” she said, smiling. “And, I am your [...]

This weekend, my mom visited Nashville and we celebrated Maria’s 6th birthday. (More on that in another post). We also caught up with a childhood friend of mine who grew up next door to my grandparent’s house in Miami. Because the world is small and full of coincidences, he and his family have lived in [...]

My husband and I sat in the small chairs at the small table. I, uncomfortable because I could not cross my legs. Maria’s teachers sat opposite us, looking perfectly comfortable, and told us lovely things about our daughter during the parent/teacher conference yesterday. I would have sat on broken glass to hear some of the [...]