Triple The Dad

If you are a parent, or on the internet in anyway, really, I’m sure you seen those listicles. Articles/lists of things.  In honor of the many websites and listicles covering similar topics, I’ve decided to take a crack at the genre myself. Every single one of these is true.  Every. Single. One. So without further ado… Why is one of my triplets crying? 01) My wife carried him up 2 of the 13 steps 02) He only managed to hook one of his feet onto the crib before being placed in said crib 03) I mentioned peanut butter as a food option 04) I responded by telling him he didn’t have to have peanut butter 05) I may have mentioned food 06) I offered him a hug 07) I didn’t understand a word that sounded a lot like hybgibberit 08) I gave him the exact lollipop he asked for 09) "Over The Rainbow" is being sung by Izreal, not Dorothy 10) I put raisins on his plate and not his hi-chair tray

“Daddy, guy” my daughter said as she crouched down in the stall of men’s room, pointing at the pair of shoes in the stall next door. I calmly told her that, yes, there was a guy over there and we had to focus on pottying. “Daddy, guy” she reiterated.  She crouched down once again, her bottom hovering ever so slightly above the bathroom floor.  She leaned forward, trying desperately to see up under the wall.  “Daddy, guy in there.” I hadn’t been sure at first whether her interest stemmed from the fact that there was a stall with a toilet next to ours, or whether someone was actually using that stall.  “Daddy, guy in there.”  Yep, sure enough, there was a man in the stall next to ours. I need to explain a couple things at this point.  First, the fact that my kids call all strange men “guy” is my fault.  On vacation last year we saw someone sitting on a balcony near where we were staying and I said “Hey, look at the guy.”  For th...

I've written about the Picky Eater Panic in the past.  But I'm a vegetable eater and my three have all eaten pretty well.  Each has his or her own fav: one loves vegetables; one clearly loves fruit; and one appears to love carbs, but overall they've eaten what we have given them. Then, in the last month or so, things changed.  It crept in slowly.  First is was more of the green stuff left on plates, not a lot, but enough to notice, as if someone was trying to sneak through enemy lines.  Then it became a little more. And finally, it moved to the point where we were having to tell them to eat their vegetables or they wouldn't get anymore Mac & Cheese.  Picky eaters had arrived.  Would the Picky Eater Panic be far behind? I admit, I was concerned.  But then I went a Googling, and learned what a serving size is for 2-year-old kids. Did you know that for a 2-year-old kid or toddler, a serving is about a quarter or half of an adult serving? ...

Hi. I’d like to introduce myself.  I’m that Dad you are tsk-tsking at the playground as I bury my head in my phone.  I see you; and I know what you are thinking: “He’s missing all the great things his kids are doing.”  “What an uninvolved Dad.” “What if his kids need him?” Here is what you don’t know: On any given day, by 9 a.m. I’ve changed each of my triplets and fed them.  Over the first two years of their lives I changed close to 7,200 diapers and served 1,500 meals.  That is 1,500 meals per kid , or 4,300 meals in addition to those diaper changes. I spend at least an hour every day, and sometimes two or three hours, parenting my kids solo.                                                  ...

[Warning: today's Tip is on the expensive side.  But if you are looking at spending this type of money on a playset, you might find this review helpful.] Now that Christmas is in the rear-view mirror and we stuck in the doldrums of winter I thought I'd post a nice Trip Tip that looks forward to spring.  I know, you have big Christmas bills to pay off, but keep and open mind, because Spring really is just around the corner. Last Spring we made a big mistake when we took the neighbors up on their offer to let our triplets play on their play set.  Because once we did that, its all the kids wanted to do.  The first step into the outdoors immediately prompted pointing and shouting towards the play set. Now, our neighbors are nice enough - I'm sure they wouldn't mind if we used it.  But when you have triplets, you use  stuff.  I didn't want our three ruining their singleton's plaything.  Also, I didn't want to spend the rest of my summer in their ...

College tuition is in the news a lot lately and I've had some college-related stuff at work lately.  And then I wrote my last post about the least helpful advice I received as a teen and it got me thinking.  There is a variant of this least helpful advice that also rears its head in high school.  It comes when guidance counselors are doing their thing regarding college choices and careers.  Now, I’m a pretty well rounded, “jack of all trades, master of none" type fellow.  That isn’t bragging.  I’ve often longed to have some overwhelming natural talent to direct me.  And as a result of what boils down to “be yourself” when choosing a college or career, this lack of direction gave me fits. I’m 37, and have had what amounts to 3 careers.  I'm pondering a fourth.  And that isn't because I'm the untethered, wandering type; if anything, I'm the exact opposite.  Nor have the career changes come as a result of job losses.  All of t...

Looking back, do you know what I remember as the worst advice I received as a child? No, it wasn’t to stop making that face because otherwise it might stay that way; it wasn’t to avoid “scary” strangers (who almost never exist).  It certainly wasn't the DARE advice to avoid the "future killing" drug that each of our last four presidents and pretty much everyone around me has smoked. It was to “be myself.” Don't misunderstand me.  This isn’t a “poor, lost me” column.  I actually think I’m pretty good at knowing myself; maybe I’m fooling myself.  Because even now, at 37-years old and a Dad to triplets, I’m just beginning to figure out what "be yourself" might mean.  How we expect kids to know who “they are” at 8-years old, or especially 15-years old, is beyond me.  I’m not even sure you can “be yourself” at 8-years old. But this advice strikes me as especially unhelpful when told to high school kids about dating.  Who hasn't, when face...