JORDAN & POPPY by FRANCESCA ALLEN @ EAST

Every evening at bedtime, I pick one of my 4-year-old’s numerous kitty stuffed animals and do an extended call-and-response of meows and “I love yous” in high-pitched feline voices. Even though she has so many plush toys perched next to her she can barely fit on the bed, I know every single animal’s name. Kiki, Giselle, Lottie, Leona and Hope are the current favorites, and I know the order that she wants them arranged and trotted out during our extended bedtime ritual.

This perhaps seems like a small and insignificant part of my parenting day, but it always makes me proud, because it tells my daughter: I hear you. Because you are 4, your kitties are essential to you, and so they’re important to me, too.

And that’s what this series of essays is about: moms saying something nice about themselves, for once.

…continue reading at The New York Times.