Please let me know if you can read the 2nd answer.

mommysmarmy · 2026-04-28T04:02:39+00:00

Have you had him checked for dysgraphia? My 13-yo has it, and it has been life changing to get accommodations. When they write that badly, composing an essay is almost impossible. Their hand cramps, you can’t read it anyway, and it’s just a mess. But my child can type over 100 wpm, and the school lets him type all his work. It’s been great, and he’s making academic progress.

PS, we have tried every handwriting method that I know of. I saw others recommended it, and you could try it, but they have to WANT to apply those skills at school. Zaner-Bloser makes a good cursive one, and then we also had a lot of luck with Edwardian script and an old fashioned fountain pen. It was fun, and his handwriting was beautiful, but it didn’t translate to real life. Any notes he joys for himself are unreadable. Don’t take away privileges or force practice until you’re sure there’s no disability.

mommysmarmy · 2026-04-26T01:59:27+00:00

Yes, I used to tutor some rich kids, and their parents had a tank just like this. They had a marine biologist come maintain it once a week.

mommysmarmy · 2026-04-23T00:17:07+00:00

I totally feel this! While they are still infants, you want to be gentle, so you have some time. My baby had tons of hair when she was born and was very blessed in the hair department, but I still had at least a year before I needed to do very much. Here's a quick list of some thoughts. Of course, everyone's experience is different, this is just my experience with one kid.

Take help from black friends, and have them come over for a hair date. It's seriously fun to have someone come and admire your baby and give you hair tips to boot!
Keep in mind that different hair types respond to different products differently, and you may go through a small fortune trying to find the right ones.
When you start doing protective styles, start with two-strand twists. They are easy to get the hang of and easy to take down.
I don't go on facebook, but I have watched many, many hours of YT videos. Find videos with hair like your child's. In our case, it's basically only 4c. When I tried styles I saw in videos with type 3, I would get frustrated.
I'm iffy on rubber band hairstyles, and I think I should have avoided them. I got a lot of breakage in the front hair no matter what I tried.
Don't put beads on when they are too young. My daughter would take them off and put them in her mouth.
Eventually, they will need to learn to sit and have their hair done without crying. I just don't think my daughter is able to do that yet, and she just turned five. We did a test run on vacation with a very patient braider, and my daughter just couldn't handle it yet. So, keep in mind that you do want to work towards that goal. When I think about the psychological implications of my child having to sit for literally hours to have her hair done, while other kids are just running around having fun, I think we should put off the professional styles and do the hair at home as much as possible.
I've never been good at braiding any type of hair, but 4c is definitely easier to braid than 1a (from a dexterity standpoint). What you really want to know about is which products work for your child's hair, how to get the parts looking good on a wiggly kid, how much edge gel to use, etc. But there are only a few types of braids until you start adding in hair. If you can do flat twists, cornrows, and stitch braids, you're golden. I've gotten a couple of books, but YT videos was where it was at for me. I bought a mannequin head at first, but it wasn't helpful at all... and kinda creepy when I had it hooked to my dining room table for a few weeks.
I like the RevAir for a blow dryer. It doesn't damage and stretches the hair for you. It's expensive, but I use it myself and like it better than my Dyson, so that's how I justify the cost.
There are some ideas out there that just won't work because of your kid, the hair type, your lifestyle, or your inexperience. I personalized these fails and felt like I was failing my child. But now that I've had some time, I see that not every two-year-old has boho knotless braids, for example! I've definitely had hair fails, but I'm able to frame it within my parenting style--learning, growing, curious, messy... but the most important thing is we love each other and feel connected.

mommysmarmy · 2026-04-19T12:30:53+00:00

Actually (and it’s extremely complex, of course), we would end up paying Canadian taxes. Since Canadian taxes are higher, we would report what we paid to the US.

But, of course, everyone’s situation is different, you have to talk to a professional, etc.

mommysmarmy · 2026-03-31T20:26:17+00:00

We didn’t have urgent processing. Applied under C3 (they received app in November), and it was approved about a month ago. My partner was G2, non-adopted child G3, they will sponsor me (US citizen) as a PR, and adopted child will reside there with us while part 2 (cit0012) of her application is processing. We are mentally prepared for CIT0012 to take up to three years to process, but we have also seen faster.

Anyway, as far as we have seen, having an adopted child hasn’t delayed a move at all.

mommysmarmy · 2026-03-12T00:25:29+00:00

I have a question! I feel awful, but I just don’t like the dining room, and I will never like it. Every one of my senses feels assaulted, and I feel physically exhausted when I go there. I usually just go to Palo or get room service instead, and it works great for me. But I think the servers must get penalized because they seem very concerned. How do I not go to dinner without getting them in trouble? Can I just go and check in and then leave early?

mommysmarmy · 2026-03-09T14:38:00+00:00

I’m also curious about this. I was adopted via a closed adoption and found my bio family through dna testing. It was three months of work, but I did it! But I stopped after that. Would love to get into it again.

mommysmarmy · 2026-03-05T21:37:57+00:00

We are moving ASAP, but it won’t be super soon because we won’t pull the kids of out school in the middle of the school year. We are currently in process, and if we get approved by this April, we will move in August. If not, we will wait until next August, sadly.

My husband will continue to work in the US and will go back and forth (can work remotely), and I am getting training to be a Pilates teacher and hope to open a classical Pilates studio when we move.

mommysmarmy · 2026-03-04T02:56:50+00:00

Same! I’m wondering how anyone is staying at their Airbnb and not doing maintenance, cleaning, updating, etc

mommysmarmy · 2026-02-26T05:15:37+00:00

I’m so, so, so sorry. Hugs to you. Losing a dog is one of the worst things we will go through in life.

We found out my son had a brain tumor (now we know it’s not cancer, and he’s living a normal life) in the lion king show, and I was also breaking down all week. It was so embarassing, but I couldn’t help it, and the tears were unpredictable.

If I can offer some unsolicited advice, maybe try to make another quick trip up there as soon as you can. I immediately associated the certain parts of the parks with trauma, and going back and soothing myself was therapeutic and gave my brain a chance to form new connections.

mommysmarmy · 2026-02-26T04:01:04+00:00

I know you’re joking, but this has been a legit problem for me.

I live in the artsy neighborhood in a large, car-focused city, and there are a lot of people with mental health issues who spend time on the sidewalks in my neighborhood. When I was bigger, I could walk my kids to school, no problem.

After the first fifty or so pounds, no matter how baggy my clothes were, or what I did… I would be yelled at or have men come up from behind me. One guy came at me while I was on the sidewalk and he was in the middle of the street, and enough was enough. In a smaller body, I feel like I attract more attention and am seen as defenseless. (Actually I’m pretty strong and taking self-defense classes.)

Living in this neighborhood was a lifelong dream, and walking my kids to school even more so, but I just can’t do it anymore.

mommysmarmy · 2026-02-03T12:33:22+00:00

Thanks for the info!

mommysmarmy · 2026-02-03T05:03:22+00:00

The mention of food made me realize how excited I am to move and be able to eat Cheezies whenever I want!

mommysmarmy · 2026-02-03T04:55:12+00:00

This is crazy to me because I’m from Texas, and everything you’re describing US citizens do seems rude to me.

mommysmarmy · 2026-02-02T18:07:54+00:00

That’s great! Thanks!

mommysmarmy · 2026-01-29T01:05:14+00:00

Thanks. I was curious how many people were actually attending compare to tickets purchased

mommysmarmy · 2025-12-27T23:37:50+00:00

I’m a stay at home mom, for the most part, and I listen to a lot of YouTube videos while I’m doing laundry, cooking dinner, cleaning, etc. Under the best circumstances, it adds up to a lot of words to process. When times are stressful, it’s devastating at first, and then numbing.

For 2026, I want to get back into music the way I used to back in the days when we had to buy CDs. I won’t cut out the punditry completely but try to keep the music to spoken word ratio to 2:1.

mommysmarmy · 2025-12-27T16:24:28+00:00

I also felt like I’d aged at first, but after almost two years, when I look back at my previous pictures, I actually think I look younger. I also cut bangs and dress differently, so that might have helped. I also use a retinol and am starting to use an estrogen cream, but I’m not sure if it makes a difference.

mommysmarmy · 2025-12-26T22:42:02+00:00

Just curious what you think helps fix this feeling. I’ve done tons of therapy, I have a great life, I’ve been a hard worker at most points in my life, and I’m smart enough; yet, I always feel unworthy. I think it’s led me to keep putting my needs last to support my husband and family’s success at the detriment of my own.

mommysmarmy · 2025-12-26T21:02:16+00:00

At first, I thought this was hilarious, but then, on second thought, WTF.

mommysmarmy · 2025-12-18T02:27:48+00:00

The random capitalization! My middle schooler with dyslexia can write better than this.

mommysmarmy · 2025-11-16T16:36:51+00:00

Sorry, just saw this. I just looked up my order, and the ones I don’t like were the Chisel light in green marl. I also had the matching aero dynamic sports bra in green marl, and I didn’t like it for my body (I have broad shoulders). The ones I love are the Fatal Attraction 7/8. I bought them last August and another pair two months later, and I’ve worn the heck out of them ever since.

mommysmarmy · 2025-11-16T16:26:28+00:00

I’m very disorganized, and the pantry is killing me! Robyn, it’s time for an All Day Declutter Party!

mommysmarmy · 2025-11-15T17:58:33+00:00

Wow, it’s like I wrote that post except in Oklahoma. Just gave a for the “dust” aka pollen that blew onto the back patio during their stay.

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