We did it! We moved with an energetic toddler. I was pretty sure it would be impossible, but it happened. We are still working on a lot of things, but our belongings are in this home with us and we successfully sleep and eat here every day.
Well, the move happened a few weeks ago. Now you can understand the relative blog-silence this month.
Do I have advice for parent writers moving with kids? Here's the best I've got: Things will go wrong, like with any move (or really, anything). When they did for us, I tried to think, "here it is! One of the things that will go wrong. Now, let's try to solve the problem." At least I tried my best to take that approach. My husband and I kept saying, "We will laugh about this later. Right? Right?"
We hired movers for the first time, which was an enormous help, except that they arrived late, one of them likely drank some of our beer (before I carried it to the new place myself) and finished much, much later than promised.
In the midst of boxes and a toddler who had worn himself out with excitement over the moving truck, we ordered Chinese food that arrived hours late. In the meanwhile, we ate cheesecake on the floor in the new kitchen. Our toddler loved it. He still points at the floor and says, "we eat on the floor! Cheesecake!"
So, with his refrain in mind, we decided to consider the move a success.
We are waiting to have some work done on the new place, including building a gigantic bookcase for all of our books - my poetry, my husband's political science, with some fiction, nonfiction, comics, cookbooks, Italian literature, travel and art history books thrown in. We really can't wait. Studies show that books in a house will help a child learn to read and explore. Also, we love our books.
Leading up to and after the move, the teachers at our son's daycare were very supportive. In fact, one day they dedicated story time to a book about moving homes just for our bambino. He really appreciated it and seemed to recognize his own experience among pictures of boxes. For a list of books for toddlers and preschoolers about moving, check out this page on Stir the Wonder.
For adult thoughts on moving, check out David Ebenbach's beautiful collection of poetry, We Were the People Who Moved.
I've drafted a few poems about moving, but mostly I'm still focused on unpacking, organizing, fixing things and keeping up with the classes I'm teaching. This isn't a fertile writing time, but it is a cleaning up and out time, which feels good.
Well, the move happened a few weeks ago. Now you can understand the relative blog-silence this month.
Do I have advice for parent writers moving with kids? Here's the best I've got: Things will go wrong, like with any move (or really, anything). When they did for us, I tried to think, "here it is! One of the things that will go wrong. Now, let's try to solve the problem." At least I tried my best to take that approach. My husband and I kept saying, "We will laugh about this later. Right? Right?"
We hired movers for the first time, which was an enormous help, except that they arrived late, one of them likely drank some of our beer (before I carried it to the new place myself) and finished much, much later than promised.
In the midst of boxes and a toddler who had worn himself out with excitement over the moving truck, we ordered Chinese food that arrived hours late. In the meanwhile, we ate cheesecake on the floor in the new kitchen. Our toddler loved it. He still points at the floor and says, "we eat on the floor! Cheesecake!"
So, with his refrain in mind, we decided to consider the move a success.
We are waiting to have some work done on the new place, including building a gigantic bookcase for all of our books - my poetry, my husband's political science, with some fiction, nonfiction, comics, cookbooks, Italian literature, travel and art history books thrown in. We really can't wait. Studies show that books in a house will help a child learn to read and explore. Also, we love our books.
Leading up to and after the move, the teachers at our son's daycare were very supportive. In fact, one day they dedicated story time to a book about moving homes just for our bambino. He really appreciated it and seemed to recognize his own experience among pictures of boxes. For a list of books for toddlers and preschoolers about moving, check out this page on Stir the Wonder.
For adult thoughts on moving, check out David Ebenbach's beautiful collection of poetry, We Were the People Who Moved.
I've drafted a few poems about moving, but mostly I'm still focused on unpacking, organizing, fixing things and keeping up with the classes I'm teaching. This isn't a fertile writing time, but it is a cleaning up and out time, which feels good.
