Triple The Dad

 Hello and welcome along with me on this journey.  Hopefully by the end I'll (we'll) accomplish a handstand.  Though, to be honest, I'll be perfectly accepting of a headstand. I've already started a little bit with some core strengthening exercises and lots of Pinterest research on the steps needed to get to handstand.  The TRX app I use also has a Pathway to Headstand session I've been using pretty much every day.  Here I am - after warming up - trying a headstand with the TRX straps:  That is assisted by the strap obviously, but I'm pretty proud I got that strap foot to float all by itself there.  Getting it all the way vertical is the trick. I mentioned some of the steps I'm taking to get there.  This series of posts will probably be an ongoing update of my progress and how I'm feeling.  Plus a little about what I've learned and relied on to get there. Should be a fun ride.

  It’s just a little stormy.

Gin and soda.

Almost there!  Have collected pretty much every license plate on the East Coast.  Missing: Mississippi.

On the road.  Virginia.  Seen 33 state license plates.

A couple months ago I posted about a push up challenge , and at the risk of pushing this blog into a self-help section, I'm going to post something else that I really enjoy that I think might help a reader or two (all two of you!). Lifehacker.com currently runs what it calls "Mid-Week Meditations," which is a short story on some piece of ancient wisdom.  Oooohhhhhhh, its ancient.  Just so you know, I'm not one to fall for the whole "ancient" is best meme. But this is legit good stuff.  They take a quote or concept from a philosopher in the past - think Marcus Aurelius - translate what the sometimes mumbo jumboish phrase means, and then kind of detail how you can apply it. This week, its all about how to train your mind for constructive thinking . One thing I love about the series is that it doesn't dress up the knowledge too much.  It doesn't make it out to be more than it is, or suggest that its great simply because some Greek guy said it 2...

Parenting is super tricky. You do a thing you think is great - look, I've set very strict guidelines that will make my kid a super adult and prepare them for the world - and all you do is instill them with the thought that you never let them have fun and kept them from being able to adjust to the world as it is. OTOH, you give them no rules and be their friend, and they long for you to have given them direction and guidance and pushed them so that they didn't end up with no skills and a habit of laying around on a couch all day. It is really the ultimate no win situation in a game that feels incredibly important to win.  As a result, I'm hesitant to give hard and fast advice on how to parent a specific child. But there is one piece thing I think we parents need to stop doing across the board: stop telling kids they are "perfect the way they are."   This is also a tricky, mine filled field to traipse through, because honestly, self esteem requir...

If you follow me on Twitter, you know I enjoy a good short workout.  I'm all about HIIT workouts.  Get in, get out.  You can follow @triplethedad over there if you want to see my recommendations and what I use.  Or look for the #dadfit tag. If you followed the former version of this blog, you know I love push ups.  In fact, on at least two or three occasions, I've done the 100 push up challenge.  The idea is that if you follow the six-week program , you'll eventually be able to do 100 push ups (surprise). Push ups are awesome and underrated both as a workout and as a health measure.  Here are some of things being said about push ups: NY Times: the  u ltimate barometer of fitness. HuffPost: If I could only do one exercise for the rest of my life, it would be the pushup. LiveStrong:  Of all the exercises you can do, though, pushups are one of the most effective . They are accessible, scalable to your fitness level and beneficial. ...

This headline from the *usually* reputable, non-clickbait WebMd had me nearly spitting out my tea: Hot Tea Linked To  Esophageal  Cancer Risk I drink between 1-5 cups of tea a day, have a bit of a fascination with health, love to read news, and have never seen a study or article suggesting tea was anything but beneficial to your health, so of course I was clicking on that link. Thankfully, the lead gives you the true story right off the bat:    Tea  lovers who take their daily cup scalding hot are raising their chance of having  esophageal cancer  if they also drink  alcohol  every day or if they smoke, say researchers. Couple things here: the "scalding hot" from the lead and study is not the "hot" the article promises. If you know much about how cancer works, you probably wouldn't be too surprised to find out that repeated scaldings could lead to cancer.  Cell damage causes replication and requires repair, and that proce...

Its January, so it must be time for resolutions.  For years I did this process called "Better Bryan" where I would try to come up with resolutions that bettered myself.  If you want to make the world, a better place, take a look at yourself, then make that change,* after all. So in 2016 I continued with tradition and I set some goals.  The following January I would set new goals, and in that post go back and look at the goals for the year.  Inevitably I missed on some.  But I have to say, somewhat proudly, that I generally keep my improvements going.  But 2016 was different. I failed.  Spectacularly. My goals for 2017 were to post every week.  Failed . Goal 2 was to grow the blog.  Despite only posting twice in the first three months, my site visit numbers were awesome.  So, thank you Russian crawlers, I guess, for that..  Failed. The Book Project was #3.  I'm going to give myself a pass here.  After months of pu...

The holidays are over.  It only seems like life is over. There is a solid three month period where holidays of various degrees are hitting you one-two-three style.  You have Halloween, which takes some of the sting out of the cooling temperatures and the disappearance of summer.  You have Thanksgiving, with rare foods and the promise of Christmas.  Then you have a month of prepping and joy for Christmas.  You are so busy, you hardly notice how cold it has gotten.  And this year it got pretty darn cold.  And then Christmas itself.  My wife and I take a week off between Christmas and New Years, so we have that.  Its a period so full of life.  And then the aforementioned NYE - when the cold decided to take it up a notch. With triplets, its a little like being shot out of a cannon and taking three months to land. But when you land, you land firmly in what I call the Dark Months. There are no more holidays.  Yes, I realize ML...

... write an ode to Yunnan jig tea. It's great, honestly.  Smooth and delightful with just the right amount of punchy flavor.  Not coffee, but nicely caffeinated.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, find some loose leaf Yunnan jig and brew away.  May I suggest something from www.adagio.com? ... creatively write more.  I have a few story ideas.  At least 3, including the one I've already written and desperately need to edit and round out.  But its such a ... chore.  I really like reading, and I don't mind writing.  I actually enjoy writing one-off stuff like I do here.  But putting together 75k-100k in a complete order that makes sense and completes a story arc?  Ugh. Its all ... so much.  Blame my years in journalism, where I write tons of one-off stuff where the narrative is kind of half written for (Speaking of this blog and writing) ... post more here.  As with all things, I guess, time is hard to find, whi...

A) The other day I took time out of my schedule to play dolls with my daughter. B) The other day, I took time away from playing do lls with my daughter to cook dinner. Which really happened? A, or B? From a certain perspective, both are true. As Obi wan Kenobi warned: What I told you was true… from a certain point of view I n the moment, I considered myself a heroic Dad. Here I was, valiantly cooking dinner for the kids and their Mom while also  managing to get in some one-on-one time with one of the kids. And  playing one of her favorite things, too boot. That is perspective A.  But it occurred to me that from her perspective (B), what I was saying might not be true.  Instead of a Dad demonstrating superpowers of multi-tasking, she might simply be seeing me as too busy to really give her my full attention.  When I look back in 10 years I might well remember the hectic but great times when I played dolls with her while cooking. And...

No, not to blogging; though you'd be excused for thinking that, based on my posting rate lately. Instead, I'm talking about saying goodbye to a long-time friend: our dog Duke. We had known the decision to put him down was coming. It was no surprise. At somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 years, he had already lived a longer life than was probably normal for a dog of his size and assorted minor health issues. Add to that the fact that his health slowly faded over the last year, and then took a nose dive over the summer. By the time August rolled around he was not doing well. We managed to make him a little peppier, and more comfortable, but there is only so much you can do for a 15-year-old dog with what I'll paraphrase the vet as describing as "either 1 big problem, or 10 little ones." I had honestly hoped I would just walk down one morning and he would be lifeless. As bad as that would suck, at least I wouldn't have to make the call. But no. Man in the ...

Its January, which means we've turned the page on another year. Usually, that means new leaves overturned and resolutions. I did that last year. I did awful.  Some of that is events that transpired in November that I think impacted my writing (No, not the election, but its a story for a different time), but honestly, the failing failed fully before that; likely *checks stats* Yep; probably before that. So this year, I'm not doing Better Bryan. Call it a Better Bryan Break. This year, instead, I'm going to make all of YOU better. How, you ask? Good question. There is one thing that really bugs as a parent that a LOT of you are doing. And I realize, you are doing this as a kind act. You think this makes you a sweet and nice person and you probably pat yourself on the back a little when it happens. I'm here to tell you, you are secretly impeding the ability to raise safe kids while making my job as parent harder. Let me set the scene: I'm crossing the stree...

So says this study mentioned at webmd. Your brain evolves to handle the new threat... er... little one. Ho hum, right? I know. But two things kind of caught my eye. The first:  According to study co-director Oscar Vilarroya: "The findings point to an adaptive process related to the benefits of better detecting the needs of the child, such as identifying the newborn's emotional state. It occurs to me, having had triplets, that "detecting the needs of a child" and its "emotional state" are relatively easy. Early on, the child is either hungry, has pooped, is generally angry, or is content. Generally, if the child is screaming its upset. If the child isn't screaming, its content. Determining a newborn's emotional state is as simple as reading their face. Is the newborn crying? Its upset. Is it cooing? Newborn is happy. Later, the second one goes away, but the rest generally remain. Its about that simple with newborns. At least now my theor...

Ok. So we moved on and accepted that Trump is president elect  (not king). What now? We can't change the election. So what do we do? For this exercise, lets assume Trump's rhetoric stokes the fire of hatred in the country and his policy proposals are to 1) try to build a wall, 2) imprison Hillary Clinton, 3) deport Mexicans and 4) put Muslims internment camps. For the record, I think 1, 2 and 4 are never going to even get proposed, but lets say they do. What do we do? We fight those proposals. Democrats who have been deporting people at record numbers under Obama are going to have to object. Democrats who hated gridlock are going to have to be that gridlock for 2 years, after which structural realities of our politics mean that that Congress will likely fall to the Dems. And they are going to have to work with Trump. Not every policy of his is bad. He was a Democrat for years and diverges from Republicans on a number of issues. And we focus on the local. We raise go...

I've seen lots of posts about how you explain the election of Donald Trump to your daughter. I'm just not sure what all the anxiety is about. I say this as a man who didn't like Trump, who didn't vote for Trump, whose wife probably didn't vote for Trump, and whose daughter cried when told "the girl" didn't win. All three of my kids voted for Hillary Clinton in their class' mock election. So I write this not from the Trump Train in some gloating fashion but with honest and open eyes. How do you explain this to your daughter? First, it might help if we stopped defining every single life event as if it was the apocalypse. Not every election is the "most important one of our generation," even though someone inevitably trots that out ever stinking year . How am I explaining it? Like I would any election. As this post from Popehat.com suggests: W e move on.  (Seriously, read the l inked article , its awesome). Elections are won and lost...

Something pretty amazing happens every year at this time. Back to school pics. Facebook is absolutely flooded with them. At least it is if you are of a certain child-bearing age. Its pretty much a right of passage. First day of Kindergarten, first bus ride (EVER!), first day of high school, college drop off, first job, first day on the job wearing a blue shirt, etc. If  you send kids to school, you almost have to take a pic at this point and post it on Facebook, complete with Pinterest-cutesy sign, or it didn't happen. Que the 100 likes you'll inevitably receive on that pic. If you aren't posting these, you might as well not have kids. Pics or it didn't happen.  Or maybe you just really care about your kids. Because think about what those pictures really are.Those cutesy "first day of school" pictures are really "I sent my kid to go get sick" pictures. After we sent our kids off to school this year (obligatory pics take and pos...

1) Babies are essentially fool proof. They will feed when they want, walk when they want, talk when they want. Almost nothing you do will change that. You can worry endlessly over this and that and the other, but relax and you'll have a better time. 2) Who you are, genetically speaking, probably matters a lot more than what you do. At conception your kid has the genes to have a certain IQ. You can nurture that or degrade it, but otherwise, its fairly set. Your kid's genes also affect whether he will be driven or lack focus. Twin studies confirm this. So you if your genes connect in the right way and you get a smart, driven kid out of the dice roll, pretty much nothing you can do will change that. 3) Your kid faces more of a risk of injury from being a passenger in a car than from vaccines. Vaccinate your kids. 4) You'll get an amazing amount of advice. Notice I didn't say amazing advice. Pretty much everyone who is anyone, especially if they have or ever had kids,...