School wasn’t going well for my Kindergartener. Most spring mornings it was a battle to get out the door, followed by massive, puddle-on-the-floor meltdowns when she got home at the end of the day.

I knew something had to change for 1st grade, but how? 

I worked. My husband worked. And in...

I raised a challenging child with big, loud, audacious behaviors. Think puddle on the floor, screaming meltdowns that often went on for 30 or 40 minutes until she expelled her dysregulated energy, then – then popped right back up and reengaged with me, like nothing ever happened.

Big feelings have ...

Today we’re talking about physical behavior with our kids, how they come at us physically and how we are going to manage that.  One of my clients who's a Transforming the Toddler, Toddler Years course graduate, still works with me and we work very deeply together monthly. Here’s what’s happening wit...

Why your baby often crawls backwards before forwards.

Dirty Dancing is one of my favorite movies of all time. Seriously, I was ten years old when the movie came out, and spent two years begging my parents to let me watch it, primarily because I loved dancing so much. 

And at the ripe old age of 12...

A conversation for context.

My husband: “What do you want for Christmas?”

Me: “Finish renovating my office?” 

Him: “Ok.” 

He's a contractor by trade so I trust him and he has This Old House type vision for our home updates so I trust him even more.

He also lives by this motto, “If you're going ...

You’ve heard this quip, right? It’s along the lines of, put your money where your mouth is and no pain - no gain.  

In plain speak, we tend to take action when we feel invested. 

In the first article, Welcome to the World Little One, we explored your baby’s basic survival needs during the newborn phase. 

In the second, What is Self-Soothing, Really? We explored the process of calming ourselves and how it connects to our sense of self. We learned that teaching them this firs...

In the first article of the series, Welcome to the World Little One, we explored your baby’s basic survival needs during the newborn phase. 

Today we tackle self-soothing. 

Google it and you get a lot about babies, kids, and the ability to fall asleep and calm down by themselves. Yes, that is the ...

We come into the world as brand new, tiny humans with three basic survival needs: food, shelter and sleep. Shelter represents safety. Food represents nourishment and growth. Sleep is the foundation of it all. 

Your newly born baby isn’t able to control any of these things. 

Do I have everything? A glance at the clock told me to pick up the pace. Apron, pens, wine key, oh- “I’ll be right back. I forgot something in the car” I said, and moved briskly past them to the front door of our house. Pop “Damn” I muttered, knowing this meant the latch hadn’t caught. Irritation ri...

My daughter loves to sing and she’s blessed with a voice that, if she was willing to share it with the world, everyone would want to hear. 

Seriously, one day I yelled up the stairs and down the hall (as only the mother of a teenager can) Turn that radio down! 

It wasn’t the radio. She’s that good...

Toddlers dump buckets. It’s in their DNA. Well, if not their DNA it is in their healthy development milestone checklist.

Buckets of toys.

Buckets of sand.

Buckets of dad’s nuts and bolt’s stash that he mistakenly left out the night before when fixing … a toy.

It’s a natural kid impulse - emptyin...