I’m tired all the time. I’d say I don’t want to complain, but this is the Internet, and complaining to perfect strangers is what Al Gore had in mind when he invented it. Still, I wouldn’t mention it if I didn’t feel it was getting worse. My wife, she’s tired too. Most of the people […]
On Saturday, my wife and I took the kids to the arboretum to see the taiko drumming for the cherry blossom festival. Early in our relationship when my wife and I first started dating, we saw taiko drumming at the Institute of the Arts and enjoyed it. One of our early trips together was to DC […]
I’ve been thinking a lot about discipline lately. How I go about it. What are the most effective means. Whether I’m being to strict or too light-handed. Last week, my daughter spent the day with my mom. Since my daughter entered daycare, she’s spent two days a week with my mother to help us manage costs, […]
There are mornings as a parent when you feel like you’ve lived a full day before getting out the door. On Wednesday before leaving for work, I heard my wife call from upstairs. “Can you come take a look at this?” Generally, these words are never good. But there are levels of bad. Obviously, you would […]
My wife had provided clear instructions before she left the house to go shopping with our daughter. “Sit on the play mat with him. Put the bottle in front of him and see if he plays with it. If he does, tilt it to help him drink. Don’t try to make him. If a half hour […]
Saturday morning I wake at 5:30 to my son cooing in his crib. When I get him, he’s happy to see me. His face brightens as if to say, Oh, you’re still here? I’m so pleased about that. I change him and bring him back to the bedroom where he starts to cry until I put […]
On Friday, we sold the reel lawnmower I insisted we buy after moving into our house, and I experienced a strange kind of pang when we let it go. My wife is trying to clear out things we don’t use anymore, and this was one of those items. We’d purchased it with the best intentions. I’m the one […]
“You pick things up so quickly I sometimes see you getting frustrated with people who don’t. I think to improve you need to learn to slow down and be more patient with people who aren’t as quick.” This is something our department director said to me in my first review when I was promoted to supervisor. […]
There’s a line in one of my daughter’s Disney 5-minute Snuggle Stories that I have to edit each time I read it to her: “Boo was happy to see the one-eyed monster, but she didn’t laugh as much as usual.” Of course a one-eyed monster is a cyclops. Everybody knows that. But one-eyed monster is […]
“How old are you?” the hygienist asks. My daughter tells her. “When’s your birthday?” “Sixty-five!” my daughter shouts. I have no idea what she means. I intervene to correct her. “So she’s a new three then,” the hygienist says. “I would have thought she was closer to four. She’s so smart. And so pretty…” Ignoring […]