Magazine

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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Exhausted mother holding her standing nine month old infant in a crib at night

Surviving the 9-Month Sleep Regression and Absolute Chaos

It was 3:14 AM on a Tuesday, and I was standing in the dark wearing a pair of maternity leggings I should have burned six months ago and my husband Dave's faded college hoodie, staring at Maya. She was gripping...

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A baby grabbing their mom's finger tightly with a messy living room in the background

The Wild Strength of a Grip Baby (And What Not to Do)

My oldest son, bless his heart, came out of the womb clutching the collar of my hospital gown like he owed somebody money. He had this vice grip that left tiny red half-moon fingernail marks on my chest, and if...

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A wooden push toy sitting in a messy living room next to a cold cup of coffee

The Only Sane Guide to Finding the Best Baby Walker Right Now

When Maya was eight months old, we went to a family barbecue where I received three entirely different lectures about baby mobility in the span of twenty minutes. My mother-in-law cornered me by the potato salad to insist that I...

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A vintage tv showing a 90s baby's day movie next to a crawling infant

Why the Baby's Day Movie Gives Me Major Panic Attacks Now

I was elbow-deep in a basket of aggressively stained toddler socks yesterday afternoon, desperately trying to find a single matching pair, when my husband walked into the living room and slapped a DVD on the coffee table. He’d found it...

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A close up of a baby's changing blue and brown eyes in the bright sunlight

The Great Eye Colour Waiting Game: A London Dad's Guide to Melanin

My mother-in-law leaned over the Moses basket on day three and declared with absolute certainty that Twin B's eyes were definitely turning brown because she spotted some microscopic muddy flecks near the pupil. The NHS health visitor popped round on...

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Tired mom drinking coffee while watching her baby try to hold a milk bottle on a playmat.

When Do Babies Finally Learn To Hold Their Own Bottle?

It was 3:14 AM on a Tuesday, and I was wearing a stained College of Charleston t-shirt that smelled heavily of sour milk and sheer exhaustion. Leo, who was about five months old at the time, was doing this infuriating...

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Tired mother holding a coffee cup while looking at her babbling baby

The Honest Truth About When Your Baby Will Finally Say Mama

My mother-in-law cornered me by the spinach dip station at my cousin's baby shower when my son Leo was seven months old and confidently declared that because he was currently blowing spit bubbles, he was practically reading. "He's making the...

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