Willful

If today was an adequate indication of things to come, my daughter is going to make her stubborn old dad look easy-going in no-time.
The little punk decided she was too big to nap. So she fought it. All. Day. Long.
Eventually—on her mother’s watch, of course—she dozed for no more than 40 minutes, making it the [...]

Card shark

Look out, professional poker community: I introduced L to playing cards this weekend and she loved them.
Since the moment of truth, the girl has been absolutely obsessed, learning the word, “cards,” and playing with them every chance she gets. Yesterday, she spent 20 minutes inspecting every member of a 52-card deck, over and over and [...]

Alone

It’s been more than a year since Powergirl and I vacationed just the two of us—a huge deal, considering I’m a travel writer and she loves to travel. Our last trip came when she was five months pregnant with L; naturally, we have not gone anywhere together without the baby in the eight months since [...]

Panthorns

It has become one of L’s favorite new games: a little ditty I like to call “Panthorns.” All you need to play: a pair of baby pants, a ridiculous clown voice and a crazy imagination.
As the name suggests, the pants are critical.
Every time I change the baby, I take her pants off, turn them inside [...]

Send in the clown

Either I’ve got a second career as a stand-up comic, or my baby daughter thinks I’m a professional clown.
Since the girl started laughing (oh, about ten days ago), she quite literally cracks up every time she sees me or hears my voice. It doesn’t matter if she’s eating, crying or completely distracted by the ceiling [...]

My buddy

Growing up as an only child with two working parents, I spent inordinate amounts of time alone. To entertain myself during this solitude, I invented a cadre of imaginary friends who joined me on all of my various (and usually fictitious) adventures.
These invisible buddies were with me through thick and thin, hanging around far longer [...]