Michael shnookered his mom into letting him stay home with her yesterday. This almost always happens when I have to go into work early and leave her in his clutches. He’ll work up a sniffle or a cough and whine to a degree sufficient to tug at her hearstrings and bend her to his will. [...]

It wasn’t even seven AM this morning when I earned a big parenting “fail” badge. On the mornings when my wife goes to work early, like today, I face the task of getting Michael up and ready and off to Ms K’s all by my lonesome. It’s not a difficult task, but it’s always fraught [...]

I felt a little bad last night after shutting Michael’s bedroom door, having said “Goodnight” but not “See you in the morning,” as is the custom these days. I couldn’t rightly say it, because it would have been a lie. My plan was to head into work early in the morning, well before he got [...]

Michael was watching “The Imagination Movers” on TV yesterday morning, when he realized that he had to go pee pretty bad. He hopped backwards away from the TV, and called out to me: “Daddy? Will you pause it?” “Pause it?” “I have to go potty!” “I can’t pause it, kiddo. It’s broadcast. It’s not recorded.” [...]

Saturday morning. Michael and I are fresh out of the shower, and Michael spies our new bathroom scale. Up until recently, we haven’t had one. “What’s that?” he asks. “It’s a scale,” his mom says, and she pulls it out from under the chair with her foot. “What’s it do?” Michael asks. “You weigh yourself. [...]

Why is it so hard to get a straight answer from a four-year-old? Michael came bounding downstairs just a few minutes ago, ready to start the day. “Okay, Michael. What would you like to eat?” I asked him. “Can I watch something?” “You know the rules, sport. You have to be ready to go first. [...]

One morning last week, Michael and I pulled up in front of Ms. K’s as is our standard weekday morning appointment. I got him out of the car, set him on the ground and handed him his coat. My hands were full of his lunch box and other stuff, so I asked him to put [...]

I’d mentioned before that I have a checklist I go through with Michael each morning. This was an effort to help him remember what to do and what to avoid doing during his day at Ms K’s. Like, don’t flush stuff down the toilet, and don’t yank the hardware out of the walls. Basic stuff [...]

I was running late to work again this morning. I practically force-fed Michael his last three bites of sausage, gave him his morning dose of medication, got him dressed and we were out the door like a shot. He was not pleased. He wanted to play with a new puzzle that he’d gotten for his [...]

Michael must have slept well last night. At midnight his sister woke up but didn’t drag him out of his room. Instead, she knocked on our door. I was blissfully unaware of all of this; my wife told me about it later, how sister was having trouble sleeping. I didn’t actually find out what it [...]