Disclaimer: if you have a habit of keeping your house picked up all the time, this blog post is probably not for you. Balancing being a work at home parent, a ballet-dad, a theatre-dad, and an involved husband and parent often means something has got to give. More often than not, it’s more than…
Poop and Snot- MY PRECIOUS!
For all you who have toddlers, had toddlers, or will have toddlers, I’m here to comfort you with a story of one of my parenting fails. I fail daily but always with style. Epic style it seems, straight from Mordor. At any moment I will have destroyed at least one of my children’s hopes…
Bookstore Date
Jessica and I had one of the best dates last night, revisiting an activity that was a staple in the early years of our relationship: hanging out at a bookstore. We love books. Going to a bookstore is like revisiting old friends. Revisiting ourselves, the way we were, and retracing what we’ve become. Stories dot…
Fighting Alongside Our Children
Parents are teachers. How many times do we say the same thing over and over in the same exact way and the message just doesn’t seem to get through? As a private piano teacher for 20 odd years, it has been my job to find the exact formula that would reach my student; the metaphor,…
A Bedtime Song for Daddy
Singing has been a part of our bedtime routine for as long as we’ve had children. It provides a moment to quiet down with one last shared experience for the day. Jessica and I each have our own selection of songs we tend to sing, but they are always slow and calm. Our kids each…
My Anger Problem
I was recently asked by someone who has known me for a very long time: “Why are you so angry?” I was shocked at the question but it led to a good, long conversation. I do get angry, and it has been known to come out in my writing, but I don’t think of it…
My Favorite Part About Parenting Alone for Days
My wife is away on a business trip this week, extended to a week so she can spend a few rare moments with her parents, and her brother’s family. Lucky her, she gets to hang out with them where they live in Florida – in mid-August. Lucky me, I get to parent alone for a…
How a tattoo helped me heal my mothering spirit
Ever since I was a child I have admired tattoos while finding them scary and thinking the people sporting such body art were a combination of confident bad-asses who were insecure about their body and felt the need to modify it. It was confusing. For a long time I thought only a certain type of…
Beyond Yelling
We have chosen not to spank our children and we aim to parent with respect and gentleness. This is a departure from how we started (though, to be honest, we would have told you we were parenting with respect and gentleness with spanking and yelling because we believed it was necessary) and it has been…
Ophélia- dancing for water in India
Ophélia (AKA: Earth Baby) sent out a newsletter and we wanted to share it with you here. This is the story of a dreamer audacious enough to dance against the odds and how you can be a part of that dream becoming a reality. If you didn’t see the email from this weekend, keep reading…