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Day 1,826

Five years ago today, I couldn't quite find the words to express how I was feeling. Since then, I have managed to find words. Lots of 'em, in fact. About fatherhood. About learning. About teaching. About fun. About exhaustion. About growing up and getting older (which are not the same thing...people can get older without … Continue reading Day 1,826 →

Year 5, Day 355

Part of my day job is evaluating prospective students at our learning center to determine what they're struggling with and how we'll best be able to help them. Most of these students are 6 and older, but every once in a while we get a younger child in who is already showing signs of reading … Continue reading Year 5, Day 355 →

Year 5, Day 321

We had just left the house this morning when Miles said, as calmly as could be, "Daddy, I'm really mad at Mommy." "Why are you mad at Mommy?" I asked. "Because she forgot to give me a snack." Truly a cardinal offense. "Well you can tell her when she comes to your fashion show this … Continue reading Year 5, Day 321 →

Year 5, Day 306

Miles and I have assembled a few LEGO sets together, and each time I've done my best to impart on him the importance of following the directions (assuming, of course, that his goal is to build the set as it appears on the front of the box). I'm often doing this in opposition to Miles's … Continue reading Year 5, Day 306 →

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 279: Baby’s First Parent-Teacher Conference!

This afternoon, Jaclyn and I stepped into Miles's school at 3:30 for a parenting rite of passage -- our first parent-teacher conference (as parents, anyway). "All right," I groaned, making a slow, deliberate descent into a chair far too small for me. "Give it to me straight." I was only half-joking, as some of the … Continue reading Year 5, Day 279: Baby’s First Parent-Teacher Conference! →

Year 5, Day 265

Miles continues to enjoy starting every morning with the Question of the Day upon arriving at school, although his reason for enjoying it has changed a little in the last couple weeks. Where he once proudly and thoughtfully selected the best answer to each day's question, he now carefully considers which answer is likely to … Continue reading Year 5, Day 265 →

Year 5, Day 264

Getting better at writing his name. Still working on that spacing though. MILEs

Year 5, Day 251

One of the concepts Miles has loved learning about the most at school so far this year is compound words. Throughout our recent trip (and even before it), Miles would spontaneously toss little nuggets out like, "Hey Daddy, guess what? If I have a pine and I have an apple, guess what I have...A PINEAPPLE!" … Continue reading Year 5, Day 251 →

Year 5, Day 236

We departed Monteverde today and headed back to the coast to the final destination on our Costa Rica trip, but before we settled into the three-hour drive we made one more stop in the mountains, visiting the Monteverde Butterfly Gardens. Our guide Kieron was immensely patient as he explained some of the native fauna to … Continue reading Year 5, Day 236 →