Double Jeopardy: Karin, away for a couple days of work retreat in Canmore, switched me flex days so my “Wednesday Daddy Day” promptly morphed into “Friday (Plus) Daddy Weekend.” Yes, a long weekend. But, a long weekend as a single parent. Claire’s first night away from her mom — and she get’s two [...]

One of the golden rules of parenting: don’t mess with naptime.
And this is why I’m blogging from the car in the parking lot of the grocery store. Any questions?
Brad says: Mmmm… Blackberry Spam.

Something we’ve known for a while is that Karin is off on a work retreat, out of town, this coming weekend. The short of the story is that Claire and I are spending three days (counting Friday) on our very own. It will be Claire’s first night away from her mom, and she’s [...]

With only a couple weeks to go before I settle into my new flexi-schedule at work and drop down to a four-day-per-week long-hours plan so Claire and I get a day together without Karin, I was thinking I should add a new series to the blog chronicling those sure-to-be fleeting days spent with the girl. [...]

The girl seems to have learned a new trick.
The scenario? We keep her clean bibs in a small tub on the floor of the pantry. When it’s time to eat, one of us walks over to the pantry, opens it up, and pulls out a new bib. Claire, smile on her [...]

… visit to the park on a mild Thursday morning in late July.
- four ride-on lawn mowers
- four moderately experienced lawnmower drivers
- six senior citizens
- six pairs of white and/or khaki senior slacks
- three small dogs
- four joggers
- two joggers with small dogs
- one mom-jogger with a jogging stroller
- two groups of day home kids
- [...]

Much to everyone’s amazement, the little Claire Bear took to camping like her namesake, rooting the bushes for tasty morsels and hibernating until well past seven in the morning — and she put down roots in the wilderness as if she’d been born there. The kid, her dad is pleased to announce, is [...]

Sometimes being a parent can be quite a handful. You’d think we’d need to stage this, but no… she just moves so darn fast even the camera can’t catch her.

Either that, or her parents just needed a quiet day at home after a visit to Calgary, including visiting Julia and spending an evening backstage [...]

Assisting dad with his Saturday morning coffee addiction by causing him to tip his long-anticipated morning brew all over the living room floor as he lunges to prevent you from grabbing it just moments before realizing that he could really use three hands in this parenting gig.
Baffling dad with your never ending chatter and babbling, [...]

That’s her new hobby, it seems…
Eat a Cherrio: clap your hands.
Sparkle walks by: clap your hands.
A toy falls on the floor: clap your hands.
Mom walks in the room: clap your hands.
Changing the diaper: clap your hands.
Wash the face: clap your hands.
Dad walks in the room: clap your hands.
Stand up: clap your hands.
Fall down: clap [...]

So…. quick poll. What’s worse: your dad not only ignoring you, but pausing to take pictures of you as you are miserable and crying — or that he posts them on the Internet for all to see?

Some day I’m sure I’ll have some explaining to do. Until then, well, lets just say the [...]

Yesterday, Karin was rooting around in the girl’s mouth and discovered clear evidence of a lower incisor poking through soft gum. Yes, Claire is now officially teething. And she doesn’t seem too upset by the ordeal. Yet.
Good thing we’ve got a dental plan. (Whatever.)
I celebrated by having five yards of gravel dumped [...]