Magazine

A toddler holding a wooden toy looking like they are trying to speak to their mother.

When Should Babies Start Talking? A Real Mom's Messy Timeline

I was sitting cross-legged on my faded floral living room rug, aggressively thrusting a plastic cow at my nine-month-old son, Wyatt, and loudly mouthing the word "MOOO" like a deranged person. He just stared at me, blinking slowly, probably wondering...

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Exhausted dad on sofa checking a baby kick counting app while staring at ceiling

Exactly when do you feel baby kick: A very unscientific timeline

If you read the glowing, sepia-toned maternity forums, you’d think the very first time you feel a tiny foot move is a transcendent, magical event accompanied by a soaring acoustic guitar soundtrack. This is a spectacular lie. My wife was...

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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 leggingsβ€”the ones with the questionable yogurt stain on the left knee that I'd just sort of given up on washing out entirelyβ€”and holding my third cup of lukewarm coffee. It was a Tuesday at...

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A frustrated mom sitting on a messy rug trying to get her toddler to clap.

What Nobody Tells You About the Clapping Milestone

I was sitting cross-legged on my living room rug, completely covered in pulverized Cheerios and dog hair, aggressively patting my hands together while chanting "yay!" like a deranged cheerleader. My oldest son, Tucker, who was about ten months old at...

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Sarah holding a cold cup of coffee while stepping on a glowing plastic baby toy in a dark living room.

The 3 AM Plastic Crisis & The Truth About Baby Einstein Toys

It was 3:17 in the morning, November 2017, and I was wearing my husband Dave's oversized college sweatpants with an unidentified gray stain on the knee. I was doing that frantic, desperate bounce-sway dance with my four-month-old daughter Maya, who...

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A tired dad holding two toddlers covered in unidentified breakfast mush.

Surviving the First Five Years: A Twin Dad's Messy Guide

Yesterday at 6:15 AM, I found myself holding a dollop of peanut butter on a baby spoon, staring at my daughter Florence like I was defusing a bomb, while her sister Matilda was busy trying to lick the skirting board....

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Worried mom holding coffee while toddler plays on the floor

When Do Babies Start Talking? My Meltdown And What I Learned

I was sitting on the sticky laminate floor of the community center at 10:45 AM, wearing black leggings that definitely had dried yogurt crusted on the left knee, while a 14-month-old named Brayden pointed at a plastic truck and clearly...

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A confused dad looking at an NHS red book while a baby chews a measuring tape

Why I Stopped Treating the Baby Growth Chart Like a High Score

It was a bleak Tuesday morning in November, and I was standing barefoot on the cold bathroom tiles, holding a completely naked, furiously wriggling two-year-old on a digital scale, trying to do basic mental subtraction while she actively attempted to...

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