Year 5, Day 341

Miles's fifth birthday (!) is rapidly approaching, and as you might expect, he already has ideas for presents in mind. And yet, while you'd think his thoughts would be preoccupied with things like cars, action figures, or games, what Miles really wants is a nightstand. He has made this request to both me and Jaclyn … Continue reading Year 5, Day 341 →

Year 5, Day 328

As part of his year in pre-K, Miles is expected to "read" 100 books, logging each one. While we read with him almost every night, Jaclyn and I aren't always the most diligent about actually recording those books. As some of Miles's classmates began hitting that milestone, we vowed to improve our attention to this. … Continue reading Year 5, Day 328 →

Year 5, Day 284

Every day, Miles brings a book from school home with him so we can read it before bed. Obviously, most of these books teach valuable lessons about behavior, social interaction, and life in general. We were reading The Itsy Bitsy Spider (an extended version with progressively escalating perils and misfortunes), and I wanted to make … Continue reading Year 5, Day 284 →

Year 5, Day 118

It's no secret that Miles loves bedtime stories, both ones that are invented on the spot and more standard storybook fare. When it comes to the latter, he usually insists on three books. I'll then talk him down to two -- we can't sit up reading all night after all. But then, one of those … Continue reading Year 5, Day 118 →

Year 4, Day 252

"Daddy! I cleaned up my room! Go see!" The reality: He ALWAYS thinks pulling this sort of thing is hilarious.

Year 4, Day 133

During a recent trip to Barnes & Noble, I let Miles get two books. He picked out one of them, and I picked out the other. Can you guess which is which? If you think it was easy to figure out, you're probably wrong.

Year 3, Day 288

Nights have been pretty quiet lately. Sure, it might take a while to actually get him to go to sleep, but once Miles goes down there isn't much that will truly wake him up anymore. We might hear him talking or crying out during the night, but this typically subsides quickly as he grapples with … Continue reading Year 3, Day 288 →

Year 3, Day 232

Miles has come to accept that the first order of business every morning after getting out of bed is to hit the potty. What we've had to learn to accept, meanwhile, is that it's less like a bathroom trip and more like an early morning board meeting. One-by-one, Miles will insist on bringing along all … Continue reading Year 3, Day 232 →

Year 3, Day 205

"Miles, what number comes after 15?" "Sixteen!" "Right! And what number comes after 16?" "Seventeen!" "Yeah! And what comes after 17?" "Lollipops!"

Year 3, Day 155

A couple nights ago, Miles started talking about someone he called "Miss Gabby." It was a name we hadn't heard before, so we started asking some questions."Is Miss Gabby a teacher at school?""No.""Is Miss Gabby a friend at school?""No.""Do you see Miss Gabby at home or at school?""At home.""Where do you see Miss Gabby at … Continue reading Year 3, Day 155 →