tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-333142012010-02-07T18:07:29.532-05:00For those of us who didn’t get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn’t always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, not to breastfeed.Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.comBlogger818125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-23909377965485018732010-02-07T17:27:00.003-05:002010-02-07T18:07:29.671-05:00

Those of you who know me, know that I am not a crafty mama. Those of you who know me well though know that I do more crafts with my kids than I'll admit. I think it's kind of like cooking. I cook pretty much every night, and it's from scratch and healthy, but I don't consider myself a cook. Basically every month I get a new issue of Cooking Light, and try most of the recipes. The ones I

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-78140155872241120272010-02-01T19:04:00.007-05:002010-02-01T21:28:13.154-05:00

With all the bad things going on the world right now, it's hard to complain about a bad day. However, it is still possible, and there are some rough parenting days. Maybe the trick is to look at them with a sense of humor...or a really good glass of wine. Seeing as I don't have any of the latter on-hand right now, unless you count the cooking wine, I'll go with humor. Today I needed to take

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-52350653427396253372010-01-24T15:37:00.004-05:002010-01-25T05:10:44.467-05:00

This past Thursday my younger son (YS) had a pajama day at preschool, or as we call it in our house a no underwear or commando day. When our older son (OS) was YS's age, he wasn't night time potty trained. The morning of the preschool pj day, he took off the overnight pull-up, put on underwear and put his pajama bottoms back on. YS however, has been night time trained for a while. Thus no

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-56823893826797508342010-01-17T11:48:00.004-05:002010-01-17T12:42:36.278-05:00

Our kids have never spent a night away from us. Let me re-phrase that. We've never spent a night away from our kids. Notice the emphasis is on the Big Giraffe and me!When our older son (OS) was younger, he did spend a night here and there with a friend which was wonderful. My mom also came to stay with him a couple times so that we could get away for the weekend. However, once we had two, it

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-45869717710597226852010-01-11T20:48:00.006-05:002010-01-12T08:06:54.473-05:00

I entered the last year of my early thirties yesterday. Oh come on! 34 is still early thirties. At least that's what I've been telling myself! Some birthdays are obviously better than others. This one takes the cake, so to speak, for being one of the best ever. Yes, it was really that good!It started on Thursday. Sally HP had previously IM'd me to tell me that she would be picking me up at

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-21851191143389572352010-01-06T09:02:00.009-05:002010-01-07T08:26:54.043-05:00

Not surprisingly there's not exactly a lot of downhill skiing in Chicago or its suburbs. I didn't learn to ski until I was 14. After that, I went skiing with my youth group in Michigan once a year. Also not surprisingly there's not a lot of skiing in NYC. The Big Giraffe didn't learn how to ski until he was 27. The state of New York was offering a wonderful program called 1,2,3 Learn to Ski

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-68721540123515492632010-01-03T17:06:00.004-05:002010-01-03T18:44:03.424-05:00

Back in November my aunt had offered to let us use her time share in New York City for the New Year. Not the whole year, silly, from December 30th - January 2 at the Manhattan Club which is located just north of Times Square! This was right around when Merlin got sick though and so while we really appreciated the offer, we couldn't accept it. A little while after he passed away though I called

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-31017639066801586772009-12-29T19:43:00.003-05:002009-12-30T10:59:55.007-05:00

Sometimes there's nothing to do, but laugh, right? The Big Giraffe and I do not have the same last name. Here's the honest truth about it. It really annoys me when people call me Mrs. Giraffe although not as much as when they call me Mrs. Big Giraffe and use my husband's complete name. If your name is Susan would you want to be called Jane? Probably not. You would probably correct the person

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-67043818652190697682009-12-27T12:37:00.007-05:002009-12-27T22:08:04.300-05:00

It's no secret that I hadn't been feeling too much in the Christmas spirit this year between Merlin and the my surprise procedure that I had last month. In fact the Big Giraffe was the one who did all the Christmas shopping this year because honestly mental state aside, I just physically felt crummy.Christmas can be a tough time for me anyway because I tend to get homesick. As much as I enjoy

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-27441064173538249392009-12-21T20:00:00.004-05:002009-12-21T21:32:28.116-05:00

Today is the winter solstice and my younger son's half birthday. He was born on the summer solstice, June 21.As Unitarian Universalists, we hear about the winter solstice in the winter pageant the kids in our church put on every year. We talk about the physical and the historical aspects of it. There's one family though in our church who actually celebrates it, and it's such a neat story of

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-87716270361959326852009-12-19T19:50:00.006-05:002009-12-19T20:31:17.930-05:00

This past fall I needed to go buy Sudafed for my cold. It was either that or walk around feeling like my teeth were going to fly out of my mouth any moment and zoom across the room like a button popping off a pair of pants that are too tight. Apparently it had been a long time since I had bought Sudafed because I was surprised to learn it is now a controlled substance. I needed to go up to the

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-10389522015518587212009-12-18T21:05:00.005-05:002009-12-18T21:42:54.850-05:00

Did we really light the last candles of Hannukah tonight? Is Christmas really next week? The holidays seemed to pop out of nowhere...as they do every year. Seriously have you ever had a year where you felt completely prepared and unrushed? Our younger son (YS) finished his last day of school before break complete with a holiday party with terrible looking hair. Somehow I never got around to

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-67068602870328992472009-12-15T09:58:00.004-05:002009-12-15T19:54:21.435-05:00

The week Merlin died was terrible to say the least. A couple days after he passed away, I got a phone call from my ob/gyn. Since when do doctor's ever call with good news? I couldn't figure out why he was calling me at all.I forgot I had gone in for a pap smear. Every year since I turned 18 I've gone in for one without fail and it's always been negative. This one it turns out was positive.

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-3777100369825937562009-12-12T16:49:00.007-05:002009-12-13T08:39:07.127-05:00

I like to say that my aunt is a live copy of Our Bodies Ourselves. By that I don't mean that she is an open book. Rather, throughout the years she has given me honest information about what happens to our bodies as we age. She tells me all the obvious things like at 35 I'll have to get a mammogram, but she's also told me a lot of things that no one ever talks about like floaties in your eyes

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-6183275709806928212009-12-06T19:11:00.002-05:002009-12-09T08:30:11.440-05:00

Last week we got a call saying that Merlin's ashes were ready. Having already been warned that it would be emotionally exhausting to pick them up, the Big Giraffe went instead of me. It was weird seeing this small box and thinking that Merlin was in there. Surely the box for an 84 lb dog with such an outgoing personality would be bigger, right?Our minister came over today. She was supposed to

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-22088393760455491472009-12-04T22:16:00.004-05:002009-12-04T22:27:36.291-05:00

Yesterday I told the kids to go get socks. Of course this meant that they did everything except going to get socks. However, it is my favorite time of the year. I just love December. No it's not the festive holiday decorations, the food or the gifts. What good be better than gifts? Why good threats of course! I headed over to them to remind them that Santa could see exactly what they were

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-56923928107122030472009-11-30T12:26:00.003-05:002009-11-30T21:02:36.475-05:00

Left to my own devices particularly considering the last couple weeks , we would have had pizza and a bag of Halloween candy for Thanksgiving. I still maintain that the kids would have thought it was the best Thanksgiving ever! However, the Big Giraffe loves Thanksgiving food and...well it was Thanksgiving after all. More importantly I could clearly picture my older son (OS) reporting in his

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-13275878721138911642009-11-25T07:11:00.003-05:002009-11-25T07:48:09.124-05:00

It's been a week now since Merlin passed away. We're OK. OK of course being said in a hesitant shaky voice. Let's just say the we, more specifically I, have been better. I wrote a little bit about it over at the New England Mamas on Monday. It's hard to loose a pet and it's also a hard time of year. The kids seem to be alright. My older son came home from school very angry with me on

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-36799571463960513472009-11-18T22:04:00.002-05:002009-11-18T22:08:05.287-05:00

September 8, 2001-November 18, 2009 Words cannot express how much you are missed.

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-78976196347891605532009-11-17T23:08:00.005-05:002009-11-17T23:36:24.769-05:00

Hoping to recreate another dog party, the boys and I took our 8 year golden retriever for a walk this morning before waiting at the bus stop. Merlin stopped and squatted to pee. Yes, he is a male, but he has always squatted. As he did so, his hind leg slipped on a small stack of slippery leaves, and he fell forward. He seemed alright though and we continued on our way.When we got back, he went

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-34156270206518221552009-11-16T21:48:00.000-05:002009-11-16T21:50:54.235-05:00

Go Dog Go by PD Eastman. That's what went through my mind today as we waited at the bus stop (aka our driveway) for my older son's (OS) school bus. We had our large golden retriever. Then two neighbors stopped by with their dogs. All that was missing were the party hats and the tree. OS loved it and the kids on the bus had their little faces pressed against the windows as he boarded.

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-55606045420644506362009-11-15T18:29:00.005-05:002009-11-15T19:57:33.964-05:00

Tonight the Big Giraffe made gyros in the rotisserie. I absolutely love gyros and they're impossible to find around here. Good ones that is. I don't eat a lot of meat so that fact that I like gyros so much says a lot. A few years ago as a celebration for finishing organic chemistry for my post-BA program I decided to celebrate by feasting on a gyros. The BG was out of town so I ordered a

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-65733194556202148952009-11-14T20:45:00.005-05:002009-11-14T21:36:59.039-05:00

How are the holidays almost here?! Seriously weren't we just installing our air conditioners for the summer? Within our home, the holiday tradition seems to be that every year we do something different. We've had dinner here, eaten out, gone to friends, had friends come over here, gone to NYC and PA, and gone to Chicago. This year we realized that Thanksgiving was quickly approaching and we

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-50640118252995375122009-11-13T23:08:00.002-05:002009-11-13T23:26:55.937-05:00

Today we had the follow up eye doctor appointment for my younger son (YS). As a kid I had strabismus. Because it can be genetic, my kids have to be screened on a regular schedule. OS has always passed with flying colors. I had noticed what looked like the beginnings of strabismus with YS so the eye doctor had me bring him back after giving him pupil dilation drops at home. In a nutshell, YS

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-60007282935374570592009-11-12T21:11:00.004-05:002009-11-13T05:01:59.414-05:00

I am constantly trying to find new and healthy recipes for dinner. My kids will eat pretty much anything although obviously some dishes they like way more than others. Guess what meal my kids complimented me on cooking? The PB&Js they had for dinner tonight. OS declared it to be the best meal of all time.

Alex Elliothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08567976812466320977alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com1