September 11th was the day I finally realized the person I was dating at the time was going to be the woman that I marry. It's as vivid now as it was 18 years ago. My girlfriend, Jessica, had a doctor appointment on the morning of 9/11 near my apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Rather than stay at her place downtown and commute directly from her job on the 99th floor of the South Tower at the World Trade Center, she spent the night at my apartment so she could arrive at her doctor's appointment on time. On the morning of September 11th, I felt like a boxer getting a round of … [Read more...]
Slow Down! Expanded School Zone Speed Camera Program on in NYC
Slow down, New York City drivers! The new public school year starts Thursday and the city's speed camera program is at full, expanded capability to try to improve street safety. The school zone speed camera program in NYC, on the brink of extinction a year ago, has been increased almost 10-fold since 2018. It now includes more than 2,000 cameras in 750 locations, up from 140 last summer, within a quarter mile of a school building entrance or exit. According to The New York Times, this gives New York City the largest urban network of automated speed cameras in the United States. The … [Read more...]
Sharing Bed with Your Child Great If You Don’t Need the Sleep
So we did it. We finally got ourselves a king-size mattress. Unfortunately, we also got ourselves a kid. My son was always a good sleeper. We cried it out, he got the point, and from a few months in, he was sleeping through the night pretty consistently. There have been speed bumps, but nothing out of the ordinary. So when we converted his crib to a bed we foolishly told him he could get out of it when he woke up, rather than sit there and scream our names for 30 minutes. Not the best idea. Over the last few weeks, he’s been waking up repeatedly, and having a hard time getting back to … [Read more...]
Science Experiment Successfully Bonds Parent, Child
When I was 8 or 9 years old, I wanted to be a scientist. Someone gave me a microscope for my birthday around that time, which was probably one reason why. I would use the tweezers to pull out a hair from my head or tear off tiny pieces of leaves, put them on the slides and examine them. I’d fiddle with the covers for the slides as I tried to figure out how the professionals were able to flatten out a piece of twig between two small pieces of glass or plastic, often breaking the slide covers in the process. I’d play around with the focus and the zoom lenses and pretend I was doing … [Read more...]
Youthful Enthusiasm Something All Parents Should Hope to Retain
Dye your hair, rid yourself of wrinkles, enhance your energy etc. Everywhere you turn, you see some sort of advertisement whose stated goal is to make you look or feel younger. We live in a culture where there is a drive to be young. While I wish I had a full head of hair, when I wonder what it would be like to be younger again, it has nothing to do with the physical. This morning, my oldest son, BR, came downstairs. He looked at my wife and I who were sitting and talking on the couch discussing our daily plans like football coaches game planning for the upcoming foe. He had a smirk on … [Read more...]
Fortnite Obsession a Tricky Bond Between Child, Parent
My son really wanted an Xbox One last year. So, being the first Christmas after my wife and I separated, I got him one. And it was great. I eventually got one myself for when he visited, and for me to play as well. As with all things and little kids, though, he wanted more. What he wanted was to play Fortnite because all his friends from school were playing it. I subscribed to Xbox Live and we use a family set up to give him access to play, without access to buy anything. Which, for the uninitiated, there is plenty of stuff to buy. And not even stuff that helps you in the game. Might as … [Read more...]
Guggenheim Art Museum Offers Family Friendly Programs, Memories
My 2-year-old daughter placed her head on my shoulder while I investigated every face in Picasso’s Le Moulin de la Galette. I explained to her that this painting was an earlier work by Picasso, before he began to create his own unique style. We stood while I chatted away about Moulin being Picasso’s first painting in Paris and the epicurean body languages of the painted figures over to Kandinsky’s Composition 8. I bent down and pointed at the geometric war taking place while circles provide warmth and calmness. With a quiet voice, I spoke about the circles within the painting and how they … [Read more...]
Lying Comes Easy to Children, Easier to Their Parents
No matter how hard you stress the importance of honesty, kids will still lie. It’s human nature. My kid isn’t even 3 and I’ve already seen it happening. I’m not always sure that’s he truly lying about not having pooped or if he’s just so used to having poop in his pants that he can’t tell the difference, but sometimes he’s lying about it. Because he doesn’t want his diaper changed. Because he’s gross. But I digress. Dealing with lying children is part of being a parent. I knew that going in, and I’m ready for it. But I didn’t know how much lying I’d be doing. Pro tip: Kids will … [Read more...]
Ear Piercing Start of Change from ‘Our Baby’ to ‘Our Little Girl’
Her back was straight, a perfect 180 degrees, without the slightest bit of slouch that eventually comes after years of slumping back in chairs or hunching over cell phones. She sat cross-legged on the high, plush white chair, her small body fitting on the seat perfectly. Her eyes were focused upward toward the television – why else would she be sitting so still? – but her face lacked the dazed and empty expression usually found on zoned-out high school students and brain-hungry zombies. “I can’t believe how nicely she’s sitting,” Valentina, the owner of the ear-piercing studio, remarked … [Read more...]
Rain, Like Childhood, Ends Somewhere. We Don’t Know When, Where
It was sunny that day, and then it wasn’t. In the middle of a business call, I had to excuse myself. I ran out to the car and put up the windows and closed the sunroof. The rain was coming down. By the time I finished my multiple apologies for having run out, the rain was fierce. A little while later, after I hung up the phone, I grabbed my youngest son, SJ, and we stared out the windows. It had started hailing outside. I’ve heard the term, "it looks like golf balls are coming out of the sky," but had never actually seen it. We watched in fascination as Leila, our dog, hid under the … [Read more...]
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