Sit the kid down, and he promptly starts to bawl. Pick the kid up, he quiets down and starts examining everything around him. Put him down again, he cries. Pick him up, and he stops. This I understand. Attention and contact are soothing–there’s nothing hard to understand about that. But here’s what I will never …
Author Archives: Christopher
Santa Claus? What’s that? Who’s he?
Baby’s first Christmas is coming! Yay! Except… he’s too young to know it. So we’ll be joining in a silly tradition: picking out presents for him that are just things we’d buy anyway. Believe me, I’m not grousing about gifts–in fact, Christmas seems more meaningful this year, with a new baby in the house, than …
Our Warm and Hazardous Home
As the Age of Toddling approaches, my wife and I have determined that our apartment is a deathtrap. The tall cabinet in which we store toys and baby blankets? The bottom door’s latch is a little stiff, and if our guy tugs on the handle hard enough, he’ll pull the whole thing over on himself. …
What the Frak Am I Doing Here?
When I was a kid, a neighbor mom — a nice-enough woman, though one whose depth approximated that of a sheet of Saran Wrap — giggled to my mother that she’d taught her two small daughters to curse, “because it’s cute.” My mother went slackjawed at this, and, looking back, I’m with Mom. As I’ve …