Sometimes the most important thing happening in a room is the thing nobody is looking at. This is where it all begins.

My brain didn't feel so screamy down there, and my legs weren't trying to run away." A seven year old finds his solution.

"Magic is a lie," said our four year old, with impressive certainty. The moment that nudged us closer to understanding our son — and to a different kind of magic entirely.

Every child has a version of hot ear. The thing that hijacks everything else until it's addressed.

In Grade 1, he went on strike against library books. The reason, when it finally came out, was quietly devastating — and completely right.

He looked like he was goofing off. He was actually doing something quiet clever. The gap between those two things is everything.

Bradley had a fully formed ethical framework for getting rid of the moth. We just couldn't see it while he was dangling the dog above his head.

Breaking big tasks into small ones is hard. And sometimes the best thing a parent and a school can do is get in the same book, if not always on the same page.

He said sorry and I said thank you at the same time. We both just stood there.

What if the problem isn't the child? What if it's the system that was built without them in mind?

He used to say that putting on a wool sweater felt like being thrust into a thousand rose bushes.

Struggling to express empathy is not the same as not feeling it. That distinction changed everything.

Progress can also be a loss.

The hair on her back is standing up like a mini mohawk, that means…

Anna ran to the edge, her little hands pressed together with undisguised excitement… peaking  with an intense trip and faceplant in the mud.  The goslings flapped their useless tiny wings while propeller feet swished them across the water. 

I finally got to do something I’ve been wanting to do for years.  It was as funny as I had hoped, to me anyway.

“We were sitting at the same table doing math, but I had to get up and walk around, to get a break from the awful smell,” he said.  “I hope she didn’t know why I got up. But I can still smell her in my nostrils.”

“They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
But you can’t make lemonade out of urine.”
We both laughed, and felt better.

“Just because you’ve seen me at my worst, doesn’t mean I don’t have a best.”

What to say if you really don't like the food you are offered without hurting the feelings of your host (or your parent) or betraying your own code of truth: