Generally speaking, I’m pretty easy to please. I like being outside. I appreciate conversation. I don’t need diversions to have fun.
Naturally, then, I have been looking forward to the day when L is old enough to walk and talk and talk with me, enjoying my company while the two of us enjoy everything that comes [...]

Everything came up Bryophyta (that’s “moss,” for those of you who aren’t familiar with your scientific classifications) yesterday on a walk with L around the neighborhood.
Initially, the idea was to get out of the house. It had rained for most of Thanksgiving weekend here in Sonoma County, and an afternoon break in the weather provided [...]

Our family’s first trip to Disneyland is complete, as the three of us returned to Healdsburg late last night. In general, I’d say it was a successful trip. Fun, however, might be an overstatement.
Sure, there were highpoints: L’s smile of wonder when the Dumbo ride took flight; her excited pointing at the ducks in “Small [...]

We embark Thursday on a rite of passage in my wife’s family: L’s first trip to Disneyland in Southern California.
Personally, I’m not exactly pro-Disney; I’d rather go for a hike in the woods. But considering how much our daughter likes Mickey and the gang (especially princesses such as Ariel and Cinderella), I’m actually looking forward [...]

In the olden days, back when L was nothing more than a cute little sedentary lump of carbon, days on the town were pretty easy. Because she didn’t actually do much, Powergirl and I didn’t have to deviate from our usual strategy of schlepping all over the place (hey, I’m a travel writer, what do [...]

Long before Powergirl and I even talked about making babies, I wondered what it would be like to hold my child’s hand on a stroll around the neighborhood.
I figured we’d go slow, taking everything in. I figured the kid would grab on to nothing more than a finger or two of mine. And I figured [...]

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 [...]

Look out world, after about a month of fits and starts, L now ambulates just like the rest of us.
She took the, er, leap tonight, staggering/shuffling from her toy chest in the living room, past the coffee table, to her high chair in the kitchen. Thirteen steps in all, confident as ever she’d reach her [...]

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 [...]