No Ifs, Ands, Or Nuts

When you register your kid for school, no matter the age, you get inundated with forms, announcements, declarations, and checklists in all the colors of the papergoods rainbow. After going through a few rounds with Poppy, I felt equipped to sift through the ream when...

Supply Lines

While shopping for school supplies this year, I broke my own rule. I brought my kids along. I don’t know if I’m a slow learner (I am) or an easy mark for kiddie convincing, but I hauled Poppy and London to a big box store to tackle the 87 items on their yellow school...

Share Croppers

When Poppy was old enough to run away from me, I met this mom at the park near our home. She was the type who had strong opinions about most things in this life, including child rearing. Since Poppy was my first child–a daughter no less–I felt pretty clueless, so I...

Amerikid

In April, my sister-in-law Becky flew out from Morro Bay, California, to help Lala with her work and spend some time with Poppy and London. When Lala and Becky get together, it’s best for a guy like me to keep the fridge stocked with beer (for Becky) and stay the hell...

Lyrical Lad

In terms of sounding intelligent or creative, every kid gets lucky once in a while. We were at Lala’s sister Emily’s house when London had just started speaking, and a group of us gathered in the kitchen, desperately waiting for the wine to be uncorked. Someone asked...