The gifts are all unwrapped and put away (and there were a whole lot of them, just as the Times reported there would be, causing Ted with some justification to roll his eyes). As our house has slowly become littered with brightly colored baby gear, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to keep …
Monthly Archives: December 2009
Capoeira, Samba, and International Child Abduction
I have nothing against the great Republic of Brazil. I’ve never been there, but I understand they are world leaders in hairless crotches and bearded presidents. But the recent resolution of David Goldman’s five-year fight to get his 9-year-old boy Sean back to the States (the boy’s mother absconded to Brazil with the boy in 2004 and …
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To Pee or Not to Pee (Standing Up)
Over the weekend, we excursioned out to Pound Ridge, N.Y., to meet some old friends in from Cleveland. Among the usual sports of child-gawking and midday beer-drinking, there was this conversation: Our friends are raising a son who is almost 2. Now that potty training is on the horizon, they let it be known that …
Hating the Baby
I am a pretty peaceful guy, relatively patient and understanding—mild, you might even say—but on Christmas Day I found myself in an angry and resentful mood, all directed at the baby. First, I woke to find her at my bedside, tearing the cover off a 1960’s edition of “Europe on $5 a Day” that a …