Kate is 15 months old.

Kate enjoyed crunching, running and falling in the soft fall leaves outside of her Great-Grandma Rosalie's house. Sadly, Kate has very few leaves of her own to jump in.






Kate was a "Kate Monster" for Halloween this year. She attended a Working Mom's Play Group Halloween party in E. Lansing earlier in the day and then went to a few of her friends' houses trick-or-treating before helping Dada pass out candy. Unfortunately, it was rather cold and windy that evening, so she had to come inside early. When she did, she promptly dumped out her candy and tried to open the wrappers. She loudly exclaimed "mmmmmm!" when we gave her a few bites of a plain milk chocolate Hershey's bar. She also cried between bites.

Her Gram visited in early October and helped us pick out a pumpkin at Uncle John's Cider Mill and pumpkin patch. Kate did not so much enjoy the bonus Elvis impersonator, though. Gram also helped C paint a gigantic wooden witch for our front porch to go along with the birds, black cat, spider web and other various and sundry Halloween decorations.

Kate turned 15 months old on 11/19. She measured 32 inches tall (90th percentile) and 25 lbs., 4 ozs (83rd percentile.) Thank goodness we were able to get her both doses of the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccine, as well.

We all visited Papa Tom, Granny and family over Thanksgiving to celebrate Christmas with the extended family. Kate had a great time playing with her aunts, uncles and cousins but was exhausted from all the excitement. She received so many thoughtful gifts, including The Wizard of Oz, clothes, gold glitter high tops, a pink snowsuit, footed PJs, boots and board books. It was also nice for her to spend time with her Great-Grandma Jo, who is recovering from a second abdominal surgery following the removal of colon cancer over a year ago.

Kate is walking and running, saying a few words ("Hi," "Yeah" or "da," "'nana," "s'that?" "mama" and "dada." She also signs "milk," "hungry," "all done" and "more." Her favorite things to do include flipping through board books, having them read to her one right after another and playing "I'm gonna get you!"

Helicopter Parenting.

This article by Nancy Gibbs of Time Magazine discusses the new fangled concept of "slow parenting," where you allow your child free play time and do not constantly hover over their every activity and learning opportunity. C and I have discussed this numerous times. Parents who overschedule and constantly push their children may be doing them a disservice. The freedom to actually be bored births some of the most creative boredom busters and sparks independent thought. While I can relate to and understand the inclination toward helicopter parenting, I am glad to see a cultural shift in the works.

Whether born out of necessity or on purpose, I often had time to do nothing as the child of a single parent. Although I was not athletically talented or predisposed, I spent hours riding bikes through our neighborhood with my best friend, watching the dreaded TV and writing and tape or video recording our own newscasts, choreographed dance routines and plays in her parents' basement. We even kept journals, wrote poetry, sang and played instruments. We did not attend a regular dance, music or gymnastics class outside of public school, and Gymboree did not exist. However, we were able to explore our own interests, cultivate creativity and test the boundaries of our independence. As teenagers, Chris volunteered caring for autistic infants, and I helped clean up a local river. He also played the violin, began learning German and cultivated his other, varied interests, and I acted, sang and hosted a high school radio show.

Kids may also benefit from being allowed to fail, get hurt and fight their own battles. Not once did my Mom intervene on my behalf to argue a grade with a teacher. And I would have been absolutely mortified if my Mom ever argued with my college professor or attempted to negotiate my starting salary with an employer! If I felt strongly enough about it, I knew that it was my job to do so, or I could simply work harder to prove myself the next time. While I agree with the author that immunizations, car seats, seatbelts and bike helmets are rational methods of reducing risk to children, I also agree that trying to shield them from every possible harm, no matter how remote or improbable, is irrational.

These are interesting revelations for me, because, by all accounts, my Mom was an overprotective and nervous Nelly as a parent. She was one of the first moms in the 1970s to insist on the use of a child car seat and fought with her parents and in-laws about it. When I was a baby and toddler, she was afraid of letting me fall and get hurt, or that I would catch a cold from an inquisitive stranger at the grocery store. She constantly read books and talked to me as an infant and toddler, exposed me to boy-centric toys, taught me "Free to Be You and Me" and told me I was smart and beautiful all the time. And she was terrified when I learned to drive and rode in cars with teenagers. But, she must have eventually let go or learned to live with the fear. I hope we can, too.