We’ve had an eventful weekend here in Healdsburg, dominated mostly by the emergence of L’s molars—and the subsequent havoc that new teeth can wreak.
The poor thing is in agony. Her nose is running, pretty much non-stop. She’s got serious ear pain. And on top of all of that, our prize eater has been almost completely [...]

Earlier today I returned from three days of reporting a story in Las Vegas, and I couldn’t be happier to be home. Interestingly, the effects of my life as a stay-at-home dad followed me to Sin City in ways I never dreamed.
To make a long story short, my assignment was about spa treatments for men. [...]

Thursday was the last day of Powergirl’s summer; on Friday, she goes back to work as professor at a junior college in our neck of the woods.
I’ve got mixed feelings about the development.
On one hand, we’ve had a great summer together with L, and I’m bummed to give that up. On the other hand, two [...]

I had to take L with me to the local supermarket today, which means we are once again the proud owners of a giant Mylar balloon. When the baby is involved, you see, supermarket trip = balloon.
Yes, I’m that much of a pushover.
The routine started a few months ago. We were entertaining and I needed [...]

Fatherhood has changed me in many ways, but perhaps none of these transformations is bigger than how it has inspired me to dance.
Allow me to clarify. First, I’m about as stiff and White as we dudes can come; it took me months to learn steps for our high school musicals, and my wife has likened [...]

Yours truly returned to Healdsburg late last night after three days of reporting some stories in Western Washington State. Tuesday night, Powergirl is the one to take off—she’ll be in our hometown of New York City for four days starting Wednesday morning.
This, of course, means that L and I will be flying solo for pretty [...]

Bad news has multiplied like Gremlins in the Villano house this week. First L came down with her first doozie of a cold. Then the cold triggered a double ear infection—one in each of her tiny little ears.
Since Wednesday evening (during which Powergirl was up all night), we’ve crafted our lives around L’s routine of [...]

We’re just back from a week in Colorado—L’s second major trip of the summer.
We spent the first four days of the excursion in Denver with Powergirl’s BFF from college (and her husband). We spent the last three days of the trip in Estes Park with my BFF from college (and his wife, who is a [...]

I always wondered whether L would be clingy like other kids.
For the first 13 months of her life, she seemed to shun this common quality, instead displaying a fierce independence about which Powergirl and I could only joke. No, guys, the baby seemed to say, I won’t let you feed me X—either I give it [...]

Heading into this week, perhaps my biggest shortcoming as a father had been my inability to perform every component of L’s pre-bed sequence by myself. Sure, I had managed each of the tasks adequately, but never all of them in succession, and never in the same night.
That is, until Wednesday.
Tonight, while flying solo with the [...]