Upon picking up Michael from Ms S’s yesterday, I was for the third time this month presented with The Book.
I do not like being presented with The Book.
It is unpleasant. It is distasteful. It is wearying.
I lightly skimmed the words in the book, wincing at reading the narration of Michael’s unprovoked aggression toward his [...]

It was errand time, and Michael and I were finishing out our trip at the grocery store. He’d been his usual animated self throughout our visit, chirping about this and that and asking a million questions. Finally at the checkout, I set the cart against the end of the counter like I always do, so [...]

The part of each weekday morning that I dislike the most is, without question, assembling Michael’s lunch. I’ve mentioned this before.
Yesterday’s episode went like this:
Daddy: “Michael, what do you want for lunch?”
Michael: (no response whatsoever)
Daddy: “Sometime today, please.”
Mommy: “How about fish fingers?”
Michael: “Yeah, fish fingers. That sounds good.”
Daddy: “How many?”
Michael: “Five. Five is good.”
Daddy: “Five [...]

I really need to buy myself a sense of humor.
The fact that my wife laughed at my irritation this morning is a clue upon which I ought to ruminate at length.
You see, I was in a rush to get out the door. This is my normal operating mode on any given weekday.
I knew Michael was [...]

I’m sitting on the couch, trying to pretend I’m not awake yet.
Michael suddenly runs to the bathroom to grab a wet wipe, and quickly returns and starts scrubbing down his little plastic slide.
“Don’t worry, daddy. I’ll get the germs off.”
“What?”
“It’s on the slide, right there,” he points to a black smudge at the end [...]

There is little that can compare with the excruciating torture that is attending a civilized function with a bored five year old. Having bamboo shoots run under one’s fingernails is about as close as I could imagine.
Last night sister S sang in her high school choir’s Christmas program, along with I believe seven hundred twelve [...]

Michael was itching to help me put up Christmas lights today. It’s a big job, and requires use of the much-hallowed ladder, that glorious construct that allows a person of small stature to achieve great heights.
Daddy was up on the ladder, mommy was helping out below.
“I can climb the ladder!” Michael announces, proudly.
“No, daddy is [...]

My poor, dear wife.
This morning, like so many others that have come before, she faced a dread responsibility. A wearying, nigh insurmountable task.
I could see it plainly in her posture as she mentally prepared herself, gathering her inner strength. She slowly closed her eyes, said a silent prayer, took a deep breath, and began:
“Michael, what [...]

Lately I have been buried in my work. It’s the nature of this particular field, and something I’m used to.
As such, over the past few weeks I have not been able to attend to some of the more peripheral things in my world, such as the page you are currently reading. Even some of the [...]

Over the summer, Michael had a month-long vacation from his normal daycare schedule. His mom and I thought it would be good for him to have a restructuring transition period at home with each of us before heading off to kindergarten. We would provide a fairly structured routine that would include plenty of activity and [...]