As I sit down to write this, I'm in a hurry. But I'm always in a hurry. The hoofbeats of all the things I haven't done thunder after me, a posse that never stops.

Since Larkin arrived, Molly and I are perpetually behind. Laundry piles up. Bills pile up. The yard grows thick as a jungle. A light bulb in the bathroom burns out, and we don't replace it for days. Who has time to replace light bulbs? We have a cleaning woman… Read More

What to do when your child becomes a finicky eater? With Larkin, quantity isn't the problem. The girl puts down enormous amounts -- but of about five things only. She eats oatmeal, Cheerios, mac and cheese, sweet potatoes (bottled, BeechNut brand), fruit, and peanut butter. That's her comfort zone, and you nudge her out of it at your own peril. No meat of any kind; and just try to get something green into her!

It's funny, because this is a toddler who otherwise… Read More

An old college friend, visiting the other weekend, mentioned that he'd recently learned to play squash, and was having a blast at it. "How often at our age," he asked, "do we get better at something?"

Too true! And could anything bring this home in a more humbling way than having a 15-month-old daughter? Every day, it seems, a toddler can do something new. Larkin is constantly learning things, perfecting fledgling aptitudes and adding to her picture of the world. It is relentless and… Read More

A couple of entries ago, I wrote about how having Larkin affected our sex life. But there's something far more important to new parents than sleeping together: sleeping at all. I mean the crazed struggle, in the first year of your child's life, to get your six hours' worth, or whatever baseline amount you need to stay sane.

What sleeplessness does to the fabric of marital cooperation is not pretty. Sooner or later every slumber-challenged couple gets there -- those moments when the buffer of… Read More

It's been a stubbornly cold April in New England, but we're assured that spring is in fact almost here. That means Molly and I will soon be taking Larkin in the stroller to Elizabeth Park, a lush rose garden with a gazebo on the grounds of a former estate. The park is one of our most cherished places in the world, a place of delight for us, and of sorrow, too.

Starting parenthood this late in life -- I'm… Read More

Yesterday Larkin took a fall.

She's been walking for all of three weeks now, and on an open stretch of living-room hardwood she toppled forward, face first. Boom.

I was sitting with my morning paper and a cup of coffee. Molly swooped by and scooped Larkin up. There was that lengthy pause between impact and reaction, always a bad sign. Waaaaa! came the outrage at last.

"Is there blood?" I called out.

"Yeah," Molly said, and… Read More