Archive for June, 2010

Acceptance — the latest stage of being a dad

I think the biggest hurdle I’ve faced in becoming a stay-at-home dad has nothing to do with the home-based responsibilities themselves — actually, I prefer teaching my kid to read, baking bread, cooking dinner, fixing toys and even repairing the roof to deadlines, meetings and exhortations to be a “team player” (when employed, I’m not […]

Moms vs. guys who happen to be dads

It happens every time. An old female friend finds you on Facebook and asks to friend you. With fond memories (or, maybe, really fond memories) you happily oblige. The first thing you do is head to her photos, hoping to dig out a bikini shot or two to relive the past, or vicariously enjoy what […]

Thanks for the nightmares, Toy Story 3

If it hasn’t yet occurred to an adult sitting in a darkened theater, watching Toy Story 3 with a wide-eyed tyke, the clear giveaway that the long-awaited sequel’s “G” rating is a total cock-up comes about three-quarters of the way through.  That’s when the movie’s beloved protagonists barely escape a shredding by a battery of […]

Hard sell

Yesterday, I mentioned that after the birth of my son, “I raced out and got myself snipped.” Let me elaborate a bit; as with so many of life’s adventures, there’s a story behind those words. I was dead-set on having no more kids. One was enough — more than enough, so far as I was […]

Culinary Interlude: Roasted vegetable spread

I don’t eat dairy, so I don’t put butter on my bread. My wife’s cholesterol spikes if she even looks at butter, so she (regretfully) follows my example to avoid emulating her mother’s triple bypass, or her younger brother’s doctor-mandated Lipitor dependence. This used to mean that we used olive oil, usually with some garlic […]

Kids. Why’d it have to be kids?

I wasn’t going to have kids. No way, no how. I told my girlfriends that: You want kids? Look elsewhere. I told my wife, back when we were just dating, the same thing: I’m the last of my line, baby. You see this fine genetic material? I’m taking it with me. So how in Hell […]

From childless bachelor to primary caregiver, in 1,000 ill-considered steps

I’m not really sure how I ended up here. Ten years ago, I was a confirmed bachelor, professional writer and editor, and footloose child- … well, not hater, but disliker, or maybe just indifferenter. Now, I’m a husband, the cook, “freelance” (read: unemployed but willing to earn a buck), and not just a father, but […]

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