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 47

Before we left this morning, I took a moment to show Miles his sticker chart and explain how it works. Now, I've seen his eyes light up before -- Christmas morning, for example -- but holy COW was he excited about this. You'd think he'd been waiting his whole life for a sticker chart. Granted, … Continue reading Year 5, Day 47 →

Year 4, Day 333

It can be difficult to truly chart Miles's growth (or frankly my own slow decay) when I see him (me) everyday. It usually takes some sort of isolated benchmark event to really see how much he's matured over several months. Today, for instance, Miles returned to the dentist for another check-up. Gone was the sense … Continue reading Year 4, Day 333 →

Year 4, Day 329

After being warned that eating too much junk food would almost certainly result in a tummy ache, Miles stopped rummaging through the candy dish and had a moment of what was clearly deep introspection. After careful consideration, he reached back into the dish and pulled out three pieces of candy. "I want to have a … Continue reading Year 4, Day 329 →

Year 4, Day 289

In the latest of Miles's increasingly unwieldy bedtime stories, PJ Masks villain Night Ninja had shown up at our house (or a fictionalized version of it, anyway) because he had mistaken Miles for Catboy. Although Night Ninja realized his mistake after Miles removed his Catboy mask, Miles had already called for help in the form … Continue reading Year 4, Day 289 →

Year 4, Day 17

As usual, Miles requested a story at bedtime tonight. I decided to make this one interactive. "Once upon a time, long long ago," I started, "Miles found a magic lamp. And he rubbed the lamp and out popped..." "A genie!" Miles exclaimed. "That's right! A genie!" "Yeah! And the genie was Daddy!" "Uh...sure, okay. So … Continue reading Year 4, Day 17 →

Year 4, Day 12

There was a Saturday, probably when I was 13 or so, when my mother woke me up in the morning (it was probably about 10:30), said, "Here," and handed me ten bucks. "What is this for?" I asked, groggy but blissfully naive regardless of alertness. "I sold your Thundercats toys at a yard sale," she … Continue reading Year 4, Day 12 →

Year 3, Day 2

Miles recently moved into the two-year-old class at daycare, a major transition to be sure. Even in the days leading up to the move, he was already talking about his new room, the other kids in the class, and his new teacher.While he's a bit sheepish about the new environment each morning at drop-off, he's … Continue reading Year 3, Day 2 →

Year 2, Day 278: A Sort-Of Review of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Amidst all the holiday craziness this weekend, Jaclyn and I managed to sneak away from Miles today to see a couple of movies. One of those movies was the Fred Rogers biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. "Biopic" isn't quite the right term for the movie. It's not really about Fred Rogers's life. There … Continue reading Year 2, Day 278: A Sort-Of Review of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood →