It’s quarantine and I have a lot of kids, so this isn’t quite hot girl shit. But these are a few of my favorite things lately.  

1. Season 7 of Finding Your Roots is out
   • I’m a nerd and I love genealogy. This is a PBS show, hosted by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., about celebrity genealogy. When I tell you I’ve seen every single episode, I’m not lying: my husband calls it “your pumping show,” because I devoured the first six seasons during pumping sessions for Baby Girl. This new season starts with Glenn Close and John Waters, and Nina Totenberg and Andy Cohen. Nerd central. But I’m thrilled.

2. My baby can hold her own bottle
   • In a bout of wishful thinking, we bought a few of these silicone baby bottle handles to put on the baby’s Medela brand bottles. Would you believe that she took right to it? There are all these minor milestones that are low-key game changers, like when you can carry your baby on your hip instead of your shoulder. Holding her own bottle is definitely one of those minor milestones.

3. My new “This is what a VP looks like” sweatshirt
   • Yall. It’s so soft, and so warm. I got mine from J. Imamu, in black with white letters. They also offer it in white with black letters and in AKA pink and green. So many of their shirts are great, but as Auntie Vice President’s biggest stan – I mean, fan – this one is my favorite.

4. Our new “one toy at a time” rule
   • We bought a cabinet for our toddler’s toys, and put childproof latches on the outside to keep them out. In the morning, I open all three sets of doors. Both boys get to choose one toy to play with for the morning, then they close the doors and help me latch them. At naptime, they put their toy away; they can choose another toy to play with when they wake up. The best part? They actually play with the toys now, instead of just throwing them everywhere. And let’s be honest: clean up is easy as hell now, and since there’s only two toys to put away, the boys actually do it themselves.

5. Molly Ball’s biography of Nancy Pelosi
   • When I started reading this book, it was just for fun, at the recommendation of a dear friend. Three chapters in, I grabbed a pencil and started over: this inadvertently reads like a playbook for an ambitious woman to use soft power and build political influence. Ms. Ball clearly grew to admire her subject, but the fact remains that the Speaker of the House is a bad bitch, and a lot of the criticism of her that I’ve heard is wholly undeserved.
   • This isn’t an Amazon affiliate link: it’s a link to my favorite local Black-owned bookstore. Does it cost a little more to buy it from here? Yes. But ujamaa is one of the Kwanzaa principles for a reason, and you better do it all year round.

6. Cookie Monster cupcakes for my son’s 2nd birthday
   • Two is obsessed with Sesame Street. I’m bored and need something to do with my hands. This obviously means homemade Cookie monster birthday muffins. I put chocolate chips in cupcakes made with boxed yellow cake mix, and made blue buttercream from scratch. This was my first foray into buttercream or pastry bags, but after plopping on candy eyeballs and a mini Chips Ahoy, I think it went remarkably well.

7. Custom paint-by-number
   • I’ve had a few photos of my oldest daughter, The OG, turned into paint by number. I love them so much. It’s pretty hard to parent a child who is dead, but sitting down with these projects and lovingly investing time into preserving her memory in a tangible way feels really, really good.

8. This inauguration outfit merch from Sophie and Lili
   • These coats, amiright?! Illustrator Jennifer Vallez makes a whole line of adorable political products. So adorable that when I went to grab the link for her new inauguration rainbow merch I bought two of these stickers. I’ve already ordered a mug and the Kamala Harris doll kit for Baby Girl. If you like rainbows and politicians who are also women, get thee to her site.

9. Szechuan chili crisp on everything
   • On eggs. Toast. Spaghetti. Cucumbers. I want to eat it on everything. Some people even put it on ice cream. Don’t buy it from Amazon, where it costs $8.95. Instead, get your Lao Gan Ma chili crisp from the grocery store for like $3, There’s nothing delicious about a 300% markup.

10. Langston Kerman’s podcast “My Momma Told Me”
    • It’s so damn ignorant and so. damn. funny. Stand-up Langston Kerman (you probably know him as Jered from Insecure) goes full blown faux-tep as he and his comedian guests dissect this and other (sometimes problematic as hell) Black urban legends. It’s rare that I laugh out loud when I’m alone, but Langston & Co. regularly keep me looking like a lunatic on my walk to the chiropractor.

Tierra

A malcontent with a heart of gold, Tierra is a first-year medical student, former high school teacher and history PhD candidate, plus mom to four of Bebe’s baddest kids. She curses a lot. Tierra is a DC native but lives in southwest Michigan and will happily exchange writing (hers) for cash (yours).