Magazine

A tired parent's perspective on when babies finally learn to hold their own feeding bottle.

When Do Babies Finally Start Holding Their Own Bottles?

Dear Tom of eighteen months ago. You're currently sitting on the IKEA armchair that smells faintly of sour milk and big defeat, a twin wedged in the crook of each arm. You're trying to balance two plastic bottles using your...

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A baby pushing backward on an organic play mat while a dad looks at his smartwatch.

What Age Do Babies Start Crawling? A Tech Dad's Reality Check

I'm lying flat on the cold oak floor of our Portland living room with a digital laser measure, trying to calculate the exact trajectory of my eleven-month-old daughter. She isn't moving toward me. She's pushing herself violently backward like a...

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A baby sitting on an organic playmat holding a wooden teething ring

When do babies start clapping: a letter to my panicked past self

Dear Priya from six months ago. You're currently sitting on the jute rug in the living room. Your knees hurt. You have sung some variation of pat-a-cake forty-seven times today. Your coffee is cold and your eight-month-old is staring at...

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Baby pulling up to stand on a wooden coffee table wearing no socks

When Babies Pull to Stand: The Messy, Exhausted Reality

I was wearing my favorite black leggings—the ones with the questionable yogurt stain on the left knee that I'd just sort of given up on washing out entirely—and holding my third cup of lukewarm coffee. It was a Tuesday at...

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Coffee cup next to a baby crawling backwards on a rug

A Letter To Myself About The Chaos Of The Baby Crawling Phase

It's 2:14 PM on a Tuesday. I'm wearing black yoga pants that haven't seen the inside of a gym since 2018, and a gray t-shirt stained with breastmilk and what I'm desperately hoping is just mashed sweet potato. I'm nursing...

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Tired dad looking at baby's gums with a small silicone teether

Decoding Baby First Tooth Symptoms: A Late-Night Debugging Guide

Dear Marcus circa six months ago: It's currently 2:14 AM, you're holding a glowing digital thermometer like a tricorder, and you're staring into the mouth of a very angry tiny human. You're convinced her entire operating system is crashing. You're...

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First time dad holding his baby who is wearing a cranial therapy helmet

The Panic Over Getting a Baby Helmet for Flat Head Syndrome

Dr. Lin pulled out a pair of large plastic calipers, and my stomach immediately dropped. We were at the four-month checkup, and I had fully expected a standard firmware update—weigh him, check his reflexes, use the scheduled vaccines, and send...

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Baby sitting in a high chair wearing a silicone bib eating a baby back rib

Creating A Salt-Free Dry Rub For Baby Back Ribs To Feed My Baby

It was 2:14 PM on a sweltering Sunday in late August, and I was sitting on that one patio chair that always mysteriously pinches the back of my left thigh. I was drinking my third iced coffee of the day...

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A grey silicone busy baby mat suctioned to a messy wood restaurant table

Dear Past Priya: You Need a Busy Baby Mat to Survive Restaurants

Dear Priya from last October. You're currently sitting in booth three at the diner on Lincoln Avenue, pretending you aren't about to cry into your lukewarm coffee. Your six-month-old just threw his wooden teething ring onto the black-and-white tile floor...

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