The children struggle to agree on a show when they’re allowed the rare indulgence of TV in our house, so they take turns picking the show they will watch–usually from the Netflix “babies” channel I set up for them. There are a few shows that all 3 genuinely enjoy, however, […]
dad blogging
My curious new relationship with Puss in Boots
A couple weeks ago, I got a package in the mail from Netflix, and it was a “Puss in Boots” calendar. I wasn’t sure how to react to such, so I took to The Instagram for help: I didn’t actually want a “whores in heels” calendar, but I didn’t actually […]
MLK weekend 2015
For the past several years–actually, for as many years as I can recall offhand–I haven’t had the Monday that is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off. Since becoming self-employed in Spring 2009, I’ve always rationalized not taking the day off by thinking, “None of my employers gave it to me […]
Christmas 2014
I don’t normally take the entire day off on Christmas Eve, but I decided to this year, and we visited the new ice skating arena that opened a couple miles from our house the previous weekend. I hadn’t skated in years, and the 3 children had never even attempted it. […]
How to “single parent” a sick 4-year-old
The day before Thanksgiving, I had a mediation set for 9am. A couple hours later, my client and I realized the insurance company was not going to bridge the still-remaining $500,000 gap, so we left. I checked my phone. My bride and the 3 small children had been at the […]
Halloween 2014
The 8-year-old started reading the “Harry Potter” books a few months ago; she’s finishing the last installment in the 30-45 minutes of extra awake time we give her after bath time. Naturally, she wanted to dress like Hermione for Halloween this year. So, we let her. But what about the […]
The annual St. Simons Island visit as a #healthydad (hopefully)
Every year in October since passing the bar exam in 2004, I come spend a few days at St. Simons Island for a continuing legal education (“CLE”) seminar on workers’ compensation law. The first several years, when I was a 20-something, it was an exercise in seeing how much I […]
DisneyWorld
We didn’t tell the children they’d be spending the weekend preceding the boy’s 6th birthday at one of the 4 Disney theme parks. I unassumingly signed up for a legal conference covering veterans disability claims to be held in Orlando, booked a room at the Shades of Green resort, and […]
Lewes, Delaware
Lewes greeted us with signs declaring its status as the first town in the first state. It was our first destination for spending more than a few hours on our 2,000 mile road trip, as it’s where my late maternal grandparents-in-law lived when my mother-in-law was young, and since neither […]
Avoiding “summer learning loss”
Ever heard of “summer learning loss“? It’s what happens to children who get no mental stimulation over the summer, resulting in their falling behind their more summer enriched peers when school starts back in the fall. Its prevalence goes up the further down the socioeconomic ladder the child is. Our […]