I am washing dishes when Eli sidles up next to me. He is a gentle presence, watching. Sometimes when he wants to talk you have to help him get his words started. “Where’s Isaac?” I ask, not because I think he wants to talk about his little brother, but because I always get a little …
The wife and smallest whelp are away this weekend, so it’s just me and the boys. The house has seen more orderly times. On the other hand, I’m whipping up my delectable spaghetti, we’ve got the Allman Brothers blasting, and there’s a cold Smithwick’s in my hand. Having grown tired of waiting for the spaghetti …
While at the Kansas State Fair, I was struck by the widespread obesity. How did we get so fat as a country? I pondered this as I ate my corn dog, followed by a basket of spiral chips, onion rings, meatballs on a stick, a slice of pizza, teriyaki on a stick (skewering just about …
I didn’t think Isaiah cared much for my singing. The old standby, “Baby Beluga,” has proved ineffective. “You Are My Sunshine” gets a yawn at best. My lovey-dovey voices work great to get a smile, but the singing, not so much. Tonight, as I got Isaac out of the tub and prepared it for Isaiah, …
We’re going to the Kansas State Fair today. Corn dogs, steaming hot buttered ears of corn, steak sandwiches, elephant ears. . . What happened? I think I blacked out for a second. There are also the rides, not to mention animals. The boys are beside themselves. I’m trying to keep them calm, but did I …
Check out my latest essay in The Wall Street Journal, which includes, among other things, an homage to Thomas Sowell, a swipe at utopian parenting, and proof that Dr. Spock was in favor of, as the famed childrearing expert Barney Fife called it, “bud nipping.”
One of last week’s nights I woke to what I thought was a child crying outside our house. This is one of my fears, that my child will wander out the door in the middle of the night and walk away, more lost with each stumbling step, and I will sleep even as he calls …
