We grownups take for granted just how challenging it is to eat solid food. The chewing, the swallowing; these are tough tasks—especially for a 9-month-old baby who’s just getting the hang of things.
Powergirl and I were reminded of this fact this morning, when, while eating one of those “melt-in-your-mouth” cereal snacks, L, for a brief [...]

At the suggestion of a doctor friend, I recently signed up for recall notices from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. These notices, which appear in my email inbox every day, keep us abreast of all of the product recalls in the world of baby gear.
In November, for instance, when Stork Craft recalled all of [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

It’s no secret that these little babies grow up quickly. Still, from my vantage point as a father, there aren’t many moments in an average week that make me stop and wax nostalgic for the days when my nearly seven-month-old daughter was, well, younger.
I had one such moment today. The inspiration: L’s first grown-up turd.
Not [...]

After a bunch of late nights this week, I woke up this morning feeling sick and gross and all-around blah.
Naturally, I completely wigged out about the dangers of being sick around L. Panic reached a fever pitch this afternoon, when I found literature from our doctors that included one of the most untenable suggestions ever: [...]

It’s no secret that diapers are up there with plutonium as some of the least environmentally friendly objects on Planet Earth.
As quoted in a recent TIME magazine article, the Real Diaper Association, an advocacy group founded in 2004, estimates that 27.4 billion disposable diapers are used each year in the U.S. According to the EPA, [...]

Tonight is a big night in L’s personal dietary history, as she will graduate from rice cereal to food we grown-ups actually eat (the rice stuff is gross; I know because I tasted it). On the menu: Zucchini.
Not just any zucchini, mind you; organic zucchini. Why? Because her dad (that is, yours truly) has been [...]

Whenever we drag L with us to wineries around our Sonoma County home, the people behind the tasting room bars inevitably ask us if we’d like to give her a cork to suck on while we sample their wine.
Without exception, we decline.
Tonight, however, in the privacy and safety of our own home, we decided to [...]