Tag: adulthood

“Daddy Lives Work!”

Dear E,

I’m writing this to you the day before Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. I wrote a little about Yom Kippur in my last blog post but something else happened this week for which I have to apologize before the “holiday”1 starts tonight.

You and I eat breakfast together almost every morning. I wake up, come out of the bedroom to shower and start getting ready for work, and you usually wake up just as I’m finishing getting dressed. Your eyes squint as they adjust to the light in the kitchen and you half-walk/half-stagger over to me. You look up and ask, “Daddy bowl hereal?” I smile and ask what you would like for breakfast. Your usual choices are cereal or the frozen mini pancakes that I can pop in the microwave, though sometimes you also have the option of French toast. You chose cereal on this particular morning, though, so you helped me pour the Honey Nut Cheerios into your bowl, we added the milk and I gave you two spoons.2 We sat down together at your little red table and started eating.  Continue reading ““Daddy Lives Work!””

The First Day

E started school this week.

It’s not a long program; three days per week, for three hours each day, and they’re only doing two hours for the first month to help the kids adjust. It’s a program for two-year-olds, after all, and most of the kids are attending an organized school program for the first time. Still, we wanted to make sure E was ready. We’d spoken with a few other preschool parents and our new principal and heard a mix of stories about their kids making the transition to school. Some kids cry for a minute and then go into the class and are fine. Some walk into the classroom and barely remember to say goodbye to their parents. And some kids blow out their vocal chords from screaming too hard.  Continue reading “The First Day”

One Day At A Time

Learning has always been enjoyable for me. I like understanding why things are the way they are, although, to be honest, I’ve always been more drawn to the theoretical arguments as opposed to the practical ones. For instance, I don’t care very much about the ways that the hydraulics and various mechanical parts of an airplane work. I’d much rather have a discussion about the ethical uses of airplanes in warfare or why people need to fly in the first place. I generally approach machinery with my grandfather’s attitude: if it works, great. If not, you find someone to fix it.1

I’ve always wondered about deeper questions, though. What are we doing here? Why is there pain? Is there a God? Is there a right or a wrong way to live? Why is it important to treat people with respect? Does anything really matter, one way or the other?  Continue reading “One Day At A Time”

Dear E: Be A Man

Dear E,

It’s been a little while since I’ve written to you. We’ve all been busy, you and your mom and me, between work and going to the beach and playdates and all the other stuff that manages to occupy people’s time. We’ve been having a lot of fun together at the pool, playing catch and getting into tickle fights at home. And I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing it is to have a mini-dance party with you in the living room while Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” plays in the background. But there’s something more serious we have to talk about.

We have to talk about girls.  Continue reading “Dear E: Be A Man”

His First Game

This post would not have been possible without our friends, Daniel and Stephanie Rensing, and Stephanie’s father, Mr. Bob Jordan. We owe all of the memories of E’s first baseball game to you guys. Please take a minute to check out their amazing line of baking products at The Smart Baker.

Also, this post is part of the “Future Fanatics” campaign being run by Fanatics, the leading online retailer of everything sports. Fanatics is a one stop shop for everything sports, from your favorite team’s baseball hat to the Cubs jersey E will get when he’s older (and we don’t have to worry about him spilling food on it). Check out their site to see how other “Future Fanatics” are getting their start.

I don’t remember my first baseball game.

I went to four baseball games in person when I lived in Chicago: three to see the Cubs at Wrigley Field and one to see the White Sox at the “new” Comiskey Park.1 The truth is, I don’t remember much of any of them. I remember that Andre Dawson hit a home run at each of the Cubs games. I remember thinking that the Sox were cooler than the Cubs because their stadium had a jumbo-tron and Wrigley Field had that boring charming manual-operated scoreboard. I remember that at my third Cubs game, we sat next to the railing in foul territory on the first base side, the last three seats in the row between our section and the bleachers to my right. At that game, I remember furtively waving my hand every once in a while just in case a television camera was filming me without my realizing it. Continue reading “His First Game”

Thank You For Not Saying Thank You

Last night I was alone with E for most of the evening.

I usually work late on Thursdays. One of the families I visit doesn’t get home until after 5:00 and because of scheduling, I usually don’t get to them until 5:45 at the earliest. That means that I don’t usually leave before 6:30 or 6:45, which, in turn, means that I don’t get home until around 8:00. I get maybe a half hour to see E and most of that time involves bathing him and getting him ready for bed. I’m not looking for sympathy here; I’m just explaining how Thursdays usually go.  Continue reading “Thank You For Not Saying Thank You”

Peace: The Beach

It’s quiet.

Not silent, since I can hear the breeze making its way through the air, the faint sensation of salt tickling my nostrils, but quiet, nonetheless. The ocean laps at the shore, voicing soft greetings as it’s waves curl and shift from green to white before fading quickly into the sand. Some young children run into the water just in time for a larger wave to playfully test their resolve, sending most of them squealing back to steadier ground. The bright orange umbrellas whip softly in the wind but hold their posts like sentries protecting a town’s citizens.  Continue reading “Peace: The Beach”

Every Little Bit Helps

Quick note: there are a lot of links in this post. You can click on all of them or click on some of them or don’t click on any of them. But if you’re going to click one, please click on the link at the end.

I’ve never met Oren Miller.

I’ve read his writing. Oren is the man behind A Blogger And A Father and the founder of the Dad Bloggers Facebook group. His blog is a collection of stories he’s found in other blogs, plus musings about his own experiences as a father raising two kids with his wife, Beth.

I’ve heard his voice. He was a guest on the Life of Dad After Show,1 so I’ve heard him speak in his thick Israeli accent that is so strong it makes me wonder how a man whose first language was Hebrew gained such an incredible mastery of English writing. I remember being surprised when I found out that Oren was originally from Tel Aviv because his writing flows so effortlessly that one would swear the words were put down by someone born and bred in the U.S.  Continue reading “Every Little Bit Helps”

Musical Notes

I had a friend in college who had the ability to guess the kind of music that a person liked with remarkable accuracy. We were in an a capella group together1 and we went on a few road trips to sing at other schools. On one such trip, each of her passengers rotated picking the “soundtrack.” When each person chose a CD from her massive catalog she was able to guess the genre, and sometimes, the exact album that the person had picked. I wasn’t so impressed when she said that a friend of ours had picked Aretha Franklin; frankly, that was a pretty easy one if you knew the girl. But I’ll admit, I was kind of surprised when she said, quite confidently, that I would choose something in the alternative/hard rock vein. She had nailed it; I was holding Live’s “Throwing Copper.”  Continue reading “Musical Notes”

It Takes A Village

I ended up missing a day of posts this week because work piled up and there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to finish everything that needs to be done. But I made it back on the horse for Friday of the week of posts and, as happens so often in parenting, it may not have been perfect, but it worked out pretty well all the same. I’ve been pretty pleased with the way my posts this week have turned out, though they were mostly shorter than usual. I hope you’ve enjoyed them too.

I was checking out the Dad Bloggers Facebook group yesterday – yes, there’s a Dad Bloggers Facebook group – and one of the dads had posted a request for advice for expectant fathers. Apparently his friend’s wife is pregnant and he figured he would cull the dad blogger community for some pearls of wisdom that he could give to his friend. I’m not going to post the answers here; there were a ton of them, plus I’m pretty sure the guy who asked for input is going to use them in a blog post of his own. As far as my own bit of advice is concerned, I said that nobody really knows anything about parenting and that the new father should figure out what works for him. I also included a link to my post from last June about the things I didn’t expect when I became a parent.  Continue reading “It Takes A Village”

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