I re-aggravated a nagging calf injury this weekend, which means I’ll be spending the next 7-10 days on the elliptical trainer at the gym. My book of choice for the ordeal: “The Lost City of Z,” by The New Yorker writer, David Grann.
The work has been atop my personal queue for a while, and the [...]

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 [...]

It was Isaac Newton, I believe, who pontificated on the relationship between action and reaction. Perhaps dude was referring not to the laws of motion, but instead to the laws of parenthood.
Case in point: L’s recent sleeping patterns. The good news: She’s been going down for the night around 7:15 or so, giving Powergirl and [...]

L’s vocabulary has been expanding exponentially in recent weeks; we estimate she’s adding six to 10 new words each day.
Perhaps her favorite new word: “No.”
At first, this concerned us significantly. Kids going through the Terrible Twos are notorious for talking back in this fashion, and Powergirl and I feared that L had evolved into the [...]

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. [...]

So, maybe the whole ambulation honeymoon is over.
Sure, I’m delighted that L is walking on two feet like the rest of us. But Powergirl and I have learned the hard way this week that with ambulation comes a new set of responsibilities for Mom and Dad—namely, to watch said infant every second of every minute [...]

My little girl has a new favorite word: Booty.
Yes, she’s saying it in reference to her derriere. And yes, when she says it, she wiggles her tiny behind like a cat about to pounce. For most of the day today, she said the word roughly 200 times an hour. The house has sounded like that [...]

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 [...]

L reached another major milestone today: She started saying her own name.
In the scheme of things, this wasn’t much of a surprise; the kid is adding three to four new words to her vocabulary every day. But, as her father, the fact that she now knows what I and her mother chose to name her [...]

After five days flying solo with L, I got my parenthood partner back late Saturday, when Powergirl returned from her trip.
I was glad to see my wife for a number of reasons. For starters, I missed her terribly; it was the longest we’d been away from each other in three years. Second, though I savored [...]