My past few posts have been heartfelt reflections on our new normal, this unprecedented time of enduring mandatory social distance quarantine. It has been hard to come up with relevant content to write about raising our emerging bilinguals out in the world when we can’t actually go out in the world. But I don’t want to stray too far from my goal and purpose of this blog. So since we can’t attend our normal activities,  I’ve decided to bring a digital story time to you! Our friend Jane Cohen DeHaven asked us to produce a virtual bilingual story time for the Early Childhood Alliance of Framingham. Check out as we read Siesta  by Ginger Foglesong Guy, a beautifully illustrated book, written in English and Spanish. And check back soon for more virtual story times with Mae, Maya and Mateo! This was our first foray in leading a story time, and while the participants were not quite perfect and the videography was a bit shaky, I’m proud of our first attempt. This is a segment I hope t

Can I be real and raw for a minute? This quarantine has me feeling cheated. When I elected to be a stay-at-home mom for the year, this isn’t what I signed up for. Up until March 13th, 2020, I loaded up the kids each morning and we had an outing or excursion every day. Every. Day. Story time at the library. Play time at Tumble Beans . Weekly mommy-and-me gymnastics . Free play at the Jam Time indoor playground at the Natick Mall, followed by grocery shopping at Wegmans . After six months of staying at home with my emerging bilingual littles, we had a schedule and we had a groove, which on the best day resulted in a tandem nap that gave Mami some much-needed reprieve and “me time” during midday, before the 9-year-old got home from school and our evening schedule and responsibilities commenced. Life was smooth, life was good. And then it was all wrenched away in a moment by COVID-19.  The first day of mandatory social distance quarantine was awful. I knew it would be horrible

Before Mateo was born, we made the decision as a family that I would take the year off to be a stay-at-home mom for my emerging bilinguals. Going from working full time to being home full time was a huge adjustment, but a decision I made consciously. And I quickly learned being a stay-at-home mom is harder than teaching middle school!  But I realize the majority of our nation right now is not choosing to stay home, but instead being forced into captivity due to mandatory social distance quarantine. So here is what I’ve learned after one week of being sequestered.  Rule #1. Let it go. No, really! This is coming from the most schedule-oriented, type-A personality you could ever encounter. Before the quarantine, our life was perfectly regimented and it felt GOOD! But being cooped up inside has wrecked havoc on our nap times and feeding times and everything is completely helter-skelter. We made a schedule. We made a to-do list. And we do our darnest to stick to it, but it’s

This is not a post for bilingual families. This is not a post for stay-at-home moms, or moms of three, or moms Guatemalan by marriage. This is a post for all moms (and dads!) everywhere, who are just trying to hold it all together in a world that has turned completely upside down in just over a week. It was a Chinese virus, a Chinese problem. Then it was an Italian and Iranian problem. And now, it’s a pandemic and everyone’s problem. The Corona Virus, COVID-19. It reminds me of the famous Holocaust poem by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller “ First They Came .” Well, here’s the new version. “First It Came” First it came to Wuhan, and I still went out, because I wasn’t Chinese.  Then it came for the Italians, and I still went out, because I wasn’t in Italy. Then it came for the elderly and the immune-compromised, and I still went out because I was young, healthy, virile, and ignorant.  And then it came for me, and there was no place left to go.  For so