posted by steve on July 1st, 2009

Okay, your new child is two days old.  You’ve been camped in your bedroom for the past 36 hours, wrapped up in all things baby.  But you’ve run out of bread and milk and coffee and so it’s time to go to the grocery store.
So you leave your partner with the child, throw on some [...]

Continue reading about Papa Tips #3: Asterisk Mode




posted by steve on July 1st, 2009

This one is probably obvious to most people, although the reasoning behind it might be a surprise. The days after your baby are born are amazing, energetic, frantic, sleepy, exhausting, exhilarating times. You don’t want to miss a second of it. It’s a no-brainer that you’ll want to take a week or [...]

Continue reading about Papa Tips #2: Take Time Off


posted by steve on June 9th, 2009

Now is a great time to become a father.  Never before has our culture granted men such leniency in defining the role they wish to play as parents.  You can be more engaged in all aspects of your children’s live.  And there’s no better place to start than at the birth.
Among many little joys and [...]

Continue reading about Papa Tips #1: Be There For The Birth


posted by steve on April 28th, 2009

Here’s a great recipe that is perfect for those days when I come home from work with no ideas for dinner, some random ingredients in the fridge, and a Ruby who wants to spend time with Papa.
The recipe is simple: just put a carton off chicken broth in a pot, turn on the heat, and [...]

Continue reading about Ping Pong Soup


posted by steve on April 27th, 2009

The Princess Party has come and gone and Ruby is none the worse for wear.  Despite the omnipresent generic princess decor, Ruby has yet to ask to be saved from any dragons (although she does need rescuing from the occasional uncooperative button).
Ruby chose to dress in her bee costume (her other option was ladybug) and [...]

Continue reading about Princess Party Redux


posted by steve on April 22nd, 2009

It was bound to happy sooner or later. Try as we might to shield Ruby from the infectious outside world, we knew that eventually she’d be exposed.  Sending her to preschool only increased the odds, and now, finally, it has happened:  she’s been invited to a Disney Princess Birthday Party.
Kate and I both anti-princessification, for [...]

Continue reading about Pretty Pretty Papa Princess


posted by steve on April 13th, 2008

Earlier this month, the NY Sun published an article by Lenore Skenazy, a woman who let her nine-year-old son ride the bus home from Manhattan, unaccompanied, as an exercise in building confidence and independence. She was subsequently labeled the worst mom in the world.
I’m totally in support of her goal to break us out [...]

Continue reading about Trust and Failure


posted by steve on February 11th, 2008

I’m starting off another work week with a sore back. It’s now been six months that I’ve had constant lower back pain. I’ve tried both resting and exercising, and neither has seemed to work — although I’m still working hard on the latter and have only recently started making decent progress towards some [...]

Continue reading about Heave Ho


posted by steve on November 28th, 2007

Work is ramping up for a big release next week, and so I’m working longer hours than usual. And that means I’ll be spending less time with Ruby.
Right now my work hours are shifted a little early than in the morning so that I can come home and have dinner with my family. [...]

Continue reading about Missing Ruby


posted by steve on November 7th, 2007

On this morning’s bus ride there was a woman with two little girls (2 or 3 years old?) in a double pram.  One of the girls was unhappy and would occasionally scream.
This was a bus at 7am, full of morning commuters.  The pram took up a bunch of extra space.  Screaming on a bus at [...]

Continue reading about This Morning On The Bus