Is there a more torturous tool for babies than the bulb syringe? This device, which oddly (and perhaps frighteningly) resembles a miniature turkey baster, is designed to help parents and other grown-ups get stuff out of baby facial orifices such as the nose and mouth.
Administer it correctly and the thing sucks/slurps/vacuums globules of snot and [...]

Undoubtedly I will give L hundreds—if not thousands—of gifts over the course of our time on earth together. This week, however, apparently I gave her a present I wish I could take back: her first cold.
My symptoms arrived Wednesday evening, following a long run at the gym. Her symptoms came on in full effect this [...]

You know what I’m tired of? I’m tired of kid-less people (sometimes even friends) who think that because I’m the father of an infant, there’s all this stuff I can’t do.
I’m tired of people who suggest that because I’m charged with caring for a baby, I can’t go drinking on weeknights, can’t do dinner [...]

A friend and fellow writer recently described her daughter’s introduction to crawling like this: “It’s like having a pet raccoon. Foraging through everything and putting whatever (and I mean WHATEVER) she finds in her mouth.”
As L begins to crawl all over the place, too, I couldn’t agree with this assessment more.
L’s method of transportation is [...]

Why do manufacturers put so much effort into designing baby toys? I wonder this every time little L plops down (in her Bumbo or on the floor) to play, since the only parts of her squishy blocks and caterpillars and whale puppets and other stuffed items she cares about are the tags.
Yes, the tags—those little [...]

One of the benefits of L’s new schedule is that she’s sleeping more each night—usually anywhere between 8 to 12 consecutive hours.
One of the drawbacks: she is taking fewer naps.
Today, for instance, the kid woke up at 9 a.m. and went to bed around 9 p.m. She took one 45-minute nap—that’s it. Yesterday, after sleeping [...]

An unexpected visitor swung by the house last night: L’s third tooth.
My wife (who, again, is an osteology geek) says the new chomper technically is an incisor. To me, it doesn’t matter what the heck it’s called; the little thing is causing our little girl a ton of pain.
She’s cranky. She’s drooly. She’s also mouthing [...]

This week Powergirl and I made a difficult decision regarding L’s crib: We finally decided to put the bumpers on.
On paper, opting for these cute little cushions (they have storks on them) doesn’t seem like a tough choice; most of the books tell you to consider it any time after the baby is big enough [...]

Move over, Luke Wilson; AT&T has a prime candidate for a new spokesperson, and she just happens to be my 8-month-old daughter.
Over the past week or so, L has become obsessed with the telephone. Whenever she sees it, she starts yipping and laughing and smiling profusely. When she catches Powergirl or I are talking on [...]

Every baby has a personal lullaby—that one song that, no matter what the circumstance, seems to soothe them when they’re having issues (or “tame the wild beast,” whatever your perspective might be).
For L, that song is “Happy Talk,” from the 1949 Broadway musical, “South Pacific.”
It’s all her mother’s fault, really. My wife is a not-so-closeted [...]