L’s speaking abilities reached new heights on Tuesday, when she uttered a word I’ve been trying to get her to say from her very first weeks after birth.
No, the word was not “Daddy.” It was “Power.”
Let me explain. For me and a group of my friends, the word “Power” is the ultimate expression. It can [...]

I thoroughly enjoyed the piece earlier this month on Babble about being a “daredevil dad.” It’s well-written, insightful and something to which I can relate: I’m sure that, at some point in my life, I’ll ask myself the same kinds of questions with the ways in which I push L.
Author Joe Antol grabbed my attention [...]

Since L was born, I’ve established myself as a bit of a rabble-rouser down at the local police precinct.
When she was three months old, I rang about a “garage sale” held by one of our neighbors; the “event” was nothing more than a pile of garbage which, I feared, would breed rats. Around her six [...]

National Public Radio this week did a fairly significant segment on involuntary stay-at-home (SAH) dads, and how at least a decent percentage of them might grapple with going back to work once the economy improves.
On the surface, the story was a harmless and superficial treatment of an issue that may or may not be news, [...]

We new fathers know our brethren when we see them. At least, we know what distinguishing characteristics to look for.
Case in point: my reunion in Las Vegas with an old friend last weekend. His wife recently delivered their second baby, and I hadn’t seen him since the little girl was born. Naturally, then, our get-together [...]

If Thursday night had gone the way we originally had planned it, Powergirl and I would have enjoyed a wonderful dinner out in Healdsburg, and an intimate performance by the Indigo Girls in the nearby Wells Fargo Center for the Arts.
As it happened, however, we couldn’t find a babysitter, so I had to give the [...]

Dear baby experts:
Thank you for all of the great suggestions you have given my wife and me in the ten months since our daughter was born. We loved your idea of changing her while she’s standing in her crib. The whole dissolve-in-their-mouths cereal thing? Genius! And, though I vowed to hate it, I admit that [...]

We Villanos experienced a bit of drama Monday night when a squirmy L nailed her orbital bone on the changing table while Powergirl was trying to change her diaper. Bottom line is that the baby is OK. But, man alive, the entire episode was scary.
I was at the gym when bone hit table. When I [...]

It was a gorgeous afternoon in northern Sonoma County today, so I took L to a gem of a local wild animal park for her first up-close-and-personal encounter with animals other than dogs and cats. Among the critters she experienced for the first time: lemurs, cranes, parrots, flamingoes and giraffes.
While she liked the lemurs and [...]

Because I must travel for work, I run the risk of being absent for some of L’s biggest milestones. Before this weekend, I had (somehow) managed missed no major accomplishments. Then, while I was in Las Vegas as part of an annual March Madness trip, the baby decided to speak her first words.
The phrase: “Bye [...]