Elizabeth

Elizabeth
12 POSTS 1 COMMENTS
In 2009, Elizabeth got pregnant and quit a Ph.D. program in English, where she taught writing and served as an Assistant Director of First-Year English. Now she stays home with her three boys in a house full of art and learning and books and dogs and fossils. An amateur naturalist, paleontologist, and artist of all kinds, she unschools her four-year-old and serves as a Volunteer Babywearing Educator with the local chapter of Babywearing International. Her MFA in fiction gets put to use writing blog posts and that novel she’ll finish once her boys stop interrupting her. Elizabeth has won numerous writing awards for her short stories, novellas, and novel-in-progress, and blogs at www.manicpixiedreammama.com.

The Best FREE (and almost free) Summer Activities for Kids in Columbia

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It’s 99 degrees with 99% humidity. Summer’s here, and it’s still awesome - those golden weeks before the boredom sets in, before you’re climbing the walls and counting the days till school starts. Keep...

Breastfeeding :: Sometimes It’s Easy, Sometimes It’s Not

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I was ready for everything to go wrong. When I found out I was pregnant with my first son, I knew I wanted to nurse. I wanted to nurse in that formula-is-poison, I’m-an-obnoxious-first-time-hippie-mama-and-the-baby-hasn’t-even-come-out sort of...

That Conversation :: Kids and Firearms

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You know you have to ask it. You can’t let your child play over there until you do. You swallow hard, take a deep breath, and ask: “Do you have any guns in the house?” Regardless...

Handling Allergy and Multiple Food Intolerances

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The worst part, aside from seeing my son in pain? People think I’m making this stuff up. I see the side-eyes, the raised eyebrows, the shared eye-rolls. Don’t think I didn’t notice that head shake,...

Creative Ways to Celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Columbia with Kids

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It’s Cinco de Mayo, which, if you remember your Sesame Street Spanish, means “the 5th of May”. No, it’s not Mexican Independence Day. Cinco de Mayo began to commemorate the victory of the Mexican...

Picking a Baby Carrier :: Advice From a Babywearing Educator

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Your house looks like a frat party gone wrong and you ran out of clothes baskets two weeks ago. Basically, you need to wear your baby, i.e. strap him to yourself in some way...

Why Babywear?

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I admit it: “babywearing” is a ridiculous term. You can thank Dr. Sears for the awkward portmanteau, which basically means “strapping your kid to yourself so you have free hands,” but makes your baby...

Richland Library Main Branch :: It’s Not Just Books!

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Libraries are always magic. But some libraries are more magic than most. Some make it easier to slip into the dreams of books, of rows and rows of possible worlds, possible people, of the...

When Numbers Don’t Make Sense: Life with Dyscalculia

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Go back to third grade. You remember those multiplication drills, right? Timed: 100 problems in 10 minutes. Then 7 minutes. Then 4 minutes. Rows of ten, front and back, purple print still smelling of...

15 Fun Facts About Riverbanks Zoo

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Let’s be honest: Riverbanks Zoo just might be one of the best reasons to live in Columbia. Very few mid-sized cities can boast zoos to match Riverbanks’ visitor experience  - gorillas! zip lines! a...

How to Raise a Hipster (in Columbia, SC)

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We can’t all live in the waxed-mustache capital of the Confederacy (looking at you, Richmond) or the chest-tattoo mecca of the South (ditto, Charleston). Someone has to maintain an air of affected awesomeness out...

What Normal Looks Like

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"Oh, I can’t have you over," other moms always say. "My house is a mess." I arrive for a play date and as soon as I come in the door, I’m told, "Don’t judge...