Barnabas Monkeypants

A short break from Ladies Week for our regularly scheduled “What We’ve Learned.” As we’ve mentioned several times before, Henry is a terrific mimic. Stick out your tongue and out goes Henry’s . Say “dada-dada-dada-dada-dada” and he’ll reply with a “de-duh” (which is close enough to get a big hug from me). Click your tongue [...]

(This is part 2 of “Ladies Man Week”, where we highlight each of Henry’s girlfriends. Today is his main squeeze, Vivi.) As I’ve mentioned before, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, Henry shares Super-Nanny Silvia with another child, Vivienne, who just turned two. Henry adores Vivienne, Vivi adores Henry, and she barely tolerates me. Before we [...]

(This is part 1 of “Ladies Man Week,” where we profile each of Henry’s girlfriends.) Henry’s a charmer. And while men have been taken aback by his sweetness, he’s a real heartbreaker with women. And, like every good ladies man, he does not discriminate with age. Octogenarians love him. Pre-teens adore him. And babies and [...]

Many years from now, Henry will, after not allowing him to stay out after midnight when all his friends can, tell me that he hates me. I’ll be firm, explain to him that midnight is his curfew, and, after he storms out of the house, cry a little because he broke my heart. Now I’m [...]

The weather has finally turned, and the past three days have seen highs in the 80s. The 80s! After what was the usual 9 months of winter in Chicago, this was a nice change. Of course, in my eyes, it was too much of a nice change, as I’d much rather it only get up [...]

The best part of my day comes at Henry’s bedtime. That’s our special time together, when I nurse him, cuddle him, sing to him, kiss his forehead, and finally put him gently in his crib. Most nights he sticks one (or both) of his pointer fingers in my nose, flails an arm around searching for [...]

Five years ago, Kristen and I were standing in the bell tower of the Santa Barbara courthouse as a flighty, granola-y woman told us all the things we loved about each other while an equally flighty, granola-y woman took pictures. It lasted all of 5 minutes (about 30 seconds of which were spent with me [...]

I’m not much one for routines. I’d love to be, of course, but I always seem to go astray after only a day or two. I try and set a schedule of doing X for Y minutes every day, but I soon find something else to X and Y. Kristen would love me to stick [...]

Sometimes we tend to overestimate Henry, mostly because he’s progressing so well and growing so fast. His dexterity is terrific; he’s moving around as much as possible without actually crawling (although he’s so close); and his personality is only getting better. Henry’s also been eating a lot of new and exciting things (peaches, pears, plums, [...]

Today is Kristen’s first Mother’s Day as an actual mother. (She’s had quite a few without, naturally.) I try and tell her every day what a great person, wife, and mother she is, and, well, everyone knows it. Especially Henry. One of the great fears we have is that, because Henry spends so much time [...]