Triple The Dad

Milestones. Every parent worries about them. Is my kids learning to crawl at the right time; are they walking at the right time; talking at the proper time; learning to use toys at the right times; can they point at the right times. I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about the milestones that save a triplet parent. Save us time; save our lives; save our sanity. These are the ones that sneak by quietly during the maelstrom that is daily life. They are treated largely without fanfare from the books and experts, but probably matter more to a triplet parent's every day life than any of those I named above. Because pretty much every  kid learns to walk. Some take a little longer than others, but absent some real issue, they all do it. Whether they do it today, or tomorrow, or next week, well, it seems  super important - especially at the time - but it really isn't. Walking just introduces a new level of difficulty to your life and enhances all the dangers in the c...

Father's Day is Sunday. I'm not one for mushy, emotional posts. I have a bit to say shortly, and lots of linking to past posts to do to get a new post up. But this video kind of shows the type of father I am. For now, just watch this: <a href="http://www.somethingcrunchymummy.com/p/just-another-linky.html?m=1" target="_blank"><img alt="thumbnailsize" border="0" src="http://i67.tinypic.com/t9f86g.png" style="border: none; max-width: 100%;" /> </a>

Its Friday, its Summer, and its absolutely gorgeous weather here in suburban Philadelphia. As a result I thought I would pen what I hope is a fun little post about toys. As a Dad of triplets I spend a decent amount of time surrounded by, and playing with, toys. I have some experience in this area, is what I'm saying. The first one compares Legos to Shopkins titled "Shopkins Must Be The Devil."  Hint: Legos win. Don't buy your kids Shopkins. Though the ever wonderful Mrs. Triplet Dad is spot on when she criticized this post for disparaging something my kids love so much. Damn kids. They really are confounding. For instance, I have a son who is totally in love  with the Star Wars characters. Mostly Darth Vader and Kylo Ren. This doesn't differentiate him from pretty much every other almost 5-year-old kids, I realize. What is unique is that he is horrified of the movies, and the bad guys in particular, and hasn't watched more than about 2 minutes of them....

Right off the bat I'm going to say I'm saddened by the shooting of Harambe, the silverback Gorilla who had the misfortune of encountering a human child in his pen. If given a choice between Harambe being alive and him being dead, and all other things being equal, I'd have living. We can argue over whether it was necessary to shoot Harambe right in that moment, but I think we can all agree his death could have been prevented in one way or another. But the meme going around suggesting Harambe was was doing a better job parenting than the child's actual parent? It isn't true. It has to stop. Few of us are veterinarians, and even fewer of those commenting on Facebook about Harambe's unfortunate end know a single thing about gorilla behavior. Was he protecting the child, endangering it, preparing to attack it? We don't know. That isn't  to say someone doesn't know. I'm sure some people can watch the video and figure it out, but the armchair parent...

The number of childrens' toys you can step on are legion, and each has its own home on a pain scale that ranges from "ouch, sharp army man knife in my foot" all the way to "I just tripped over a doll and fell down the steps." Your move, foot. And then there are Shopkins. Now, I know that Legos are the big toy everyone posts about. Posting about how you stepped on a Lego almost seems like a right of passage. And sure, a well placed Lego to the foot hurts.  But so does a Shopkin. And at least I've had fun with Legos. And blocks made it on my list of the only 10 toys you absolutely need to have. You can build towers with Legos. Legos are the original SimCity. Minecraft is Legos reimagined. Both of those are just electronic knockoffs of Legos, really. And Legos are so well loved they remain insanely expensive. You can build the Death Star  (not to actual size I'm assuming...) - for a mere $584 (... but at this price, who knows). At 405 pieces, ...

Parents of all stripes, but new parents especially, are prone to worry. And why not? The early months of parenting are unlike anything you've encountered before. You are bone tired and lost at sea, having never been too sea before and without any way of knowing where you are, or even if you are on Earth. Many parents react to this situation by promptly taking out an auger and drilling a hole right through the bottom of their boat. The question is - right after "hey, where did they get that auger?" - why? Why do parents make it harder than it has to be. For one thing, if your kid does it, its probably normal. Like 99.9% probably normal. You see parents in advice columns and busily pounding away questions at Google like... My kid does X, is it normal? In fact, the first five Google suggestions for "my kid does..." are: 1) doesn't want to go to college 2) doesn't sleep 3) doesn't listen 4) doesn't play sports 5) doesn't eat ...

Mama; mama; mama; mama. My daughter kept repeating the same name and getting no response, which is a shame because my wife was only a room away. Seems sad, doesn't it? And it is. But not for any of the reasons that you probably think. Because while she was saying  mama, she actually wanted me . She was looking right at me, in fact. Mama; mama; mama; mama. If it was a one-off thing, I'd probably chalk it up to a mistake. Heck, I'll run through each of my kids' names before landing on the one I want sometimes. Sadly, its not; a one-off thing, that is. Sadie is notorious for loving when her family is "close." I love that about her. But its one thing to miss Mom; I get that. Look sweetie, I miss Mom too. I should mention Mom is around every weekend all weekend long and for long periods pretty much every day. I'd wager a guess my kids see both their parents more than most kids see a parent who works. Ingrates What gets me is that the minute I corr...