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Babyearly developmentfeedingironparenting tipsSolid Food & Finger Food
Six-month-old baby safely gnawing on a slow cooked pork rib bone.

Why You Should Hand Your Six-Month-Old a Pork Rib Bone Today

My mother-in-law nearly dropped her chai when I handed my six-month-old a six-inch pork rib bone. We were sitting on the patio in late July. She looked at me like I had just handed the baby a loaded weapon. The...

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baby developmentbaby toyscommunicationearly developmentparenting humour
A bewildered dad trying to figure out why his baby is making weird hand gestures.

How Baby ASL Fixed Our 11-Month-Old's Communication Bugs

At 3:14 AM on a Tuesday, I was holding a perfectly warmed, 98.6-degree bottle of formula out like a peace offering, while my eleven-month-old son shrieked like a dial-up modem failing to connect. I tried the bottle again. He slapped...

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90s nostalgiababy developmentearly developmentparenting humourplaytimewooden toys
A scattered pile of wooden blocks on a living room rug next to a coffee cup

Analog QA Testing: Why I Replaced The Flashing Toys With Wood

It was exactly 3:14 AM when my bare heel made contact with the plastic singing cow. I was holding a half-asleep eleven-month-old, navigating the dark hallway by memory, when 180 decibels of synthesized banjo music erupted from the floorboards. The...

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A stressed dad holding a silicone panda teether while researching reptile facts on his phone

Letter to Past Marcus: Baby Rattlesnakes & Other Terrors

Hey Marcus from six months ago. It's me, future Marcus. You're currently sitting in the dark at 3:14 AM, the retina display of your phone burning a hole in your exhausted corneas because you tried to Google "best wooden baby...

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A tired dad trying to drink tea while twins dismantle the living room

The myth of the peacefully occupied infant (and how to survive a bu...

I currently have one foot planted firmly on a rogue piece of Tupperware, while the other is trying to gently slide a half-eaten rice cake out from under the sofa before the dog finds it. The twins, at two years...

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baby toysearly developmenteco-friendlyparenting humoursafe playwooden toys
Two toddlers surrounded by wooden blocks and silicone teethers in a living room

The great baby toys invasion: A survival guide for tired parents

It's 4:13 in the morning, and I've just stepped barefoot onto a hard plastic sheep that immediately responded by bleating the alphabet into the dark, silent hallway. I froze, my foot hovering above the floorboards, waiting for the inevitable twin...

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Babyboundariesearly developmentparenting humoursafe play
Sarah holding a cold coffee while her toddler runs pantsless down the hallway

Navigating Baby Steps Nudity and Family Privacy (And Pants)

It was 7:13 AM on a Tuesday, and I was standing in my entryway wearing a stained NYU sweatshirt from 2009, holding a mug of coffee that had already gone cold because I’d left it on the bathroom counter for...

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90s nostalgiababy milestonesearly developmentparenting humoursafe playwooden toys
A wooden baby play gym set with crochet hanging toys against a white background

The Baby Steps Game Disaster and How to Actually Teach Walking

It was somewhere around 3:17 in the morning, a time that I'm increasingly convinced exists solely to punish parents for their past life choices. Maya, the slightly more reasonable of my two-year-old twin daughters, was fast asleep in her cot,...

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baby safetybaby teethearly developmentfourth trimesternewborn
A sleeping baby wearing a cotton onesie resting on a textured playmat.

The Truth About Your Newborn's Baby Skull and Spooky X-Rays

It was 2 AM, the only light in the room was the glowing screen of my phone, and I was holding a three-day-old Tucker while panic-typing "is my newborn an alien" into a search bar. I was staring at his...

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