The Brutally Honest Guide to Early Baby Learning and Brain Growth
My mother-in-law handed me a set of high-contrast vocabulary flashcards when Kabir was exactly twelve days old. She sat on my couch, tapping the cards on her knee, telling me that his brain was a sponge and we were already...
My Disastrous Attempt at Raising a PokΓ©mon Fan (And What Worked)
It was a Tuesday in 2019, I was running on maybe three hours of broken sleep, wearing a pair of Target leggings that smelled vaguely of sour milk, and I decided this was the perfect moment to introduce my then-two-year-old...
Why I Threw Out Most Of Our Learning Toys And What Actually Survived
It was exactly 4:13 AM on a random Tuesday in November, and I was wearing my husband Daveβs oversized college sweatshirt which had a highly questionable yogurt stain on the left shoulder. I was holding a lukewarm mug of yesterday's...
A Portland Dad's Honest Guide to Picking Gifts for Infants
It was 3:14 AM on a Tuesday when our system completely crashed. My son had just executed a flawless, database-corrupting diaper blowout, and my wife and I were running on maybe ninety total minutes of fragmented sleep. The nursery thermostat...
Dear Me: Put Down the Flashing Plastic Crap in That Toy Store
Dear Sarah from six months ago, It's 2:14 PM on a Tuesday. You're currently standing in Aisle 14 of that massive, soul-crushing infant toy store off Interstate 80. You're wearing those black lululemon leggings with the mysterious yogurt stain on...
The 3 AM Plastic Meltdown That Redefined Babys Spielzeug For Me
It was 3:14 AM on a Tuesday, and I was wearing my husbandβs inexplicably stained college sweatpants. Leo, who was eight months old at the time and deep into a sleep regression that made me question all my life choices,...
Raising Gen Beta: AI Anxiety, Wooden Toys, And Finding Peace
I was sitting in the dark nursing my son while the Chicago winter tried to break my living room windows. My phone screen was the only light in the room. I had fallen down a 3 AM internet rabbit hole...
The Truth About That Devil May Cry Baby Search You Did Last Night
Dear Jess from six months ago, I see you. You're standing at the kitchen island, up to your elbows in mashed sweet potatoes, trying to finish two custom embroidery orders for the Etsy shop before the post office in town...
The Circus Baby FNAF Incident: Why My 7-Year-Old Stopped Sleeping
It was exactly 3:14 AM on a Tuesday. I know this because the glowing red numbers of my alarm clock were practically burning a hole in my retinas. I was wearing my husband Daveβs old Villanova hoodieβthe one with a...