This past week I’ve gained some perspective on parenting through our travels, but not because of the traveling per se, but because of the environments where I’ve taken Gabe. In the last week we’ve been in two places: on the lovely grounds of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and in inner-city Philadelphia. Continue reading “#SummerofDad Week 7: Playgrounds, Perceptions, and Travel Updates” »
Category Archives: Dad’s Post
#SummerofDad Week 6: 5 Ways This Dad Keeps His Dad Bod
Suddenly being thrust into the world of primary parenting for a 1-year-old means that I haven’t been as physically active as I like to be. In the old days (read: before Gabe), I liked to workout 3-4 times a week. More recently, I’ve been aiming for a workout 2-3 times a week.
But as I’ve taken over many more hours of parenting and we’ve started our epic, nomadic summer, I haven’t “worked out” once in the past week (ed note: Ha, once in the past week? That’s probably what we moms aim for much of the time!). This seems like it would be a disaster for maintaining my dad-ly physique. But, as I’ve found, it’s not. I’ve been able to keep my sort-of-in-shape bod with five major toddler-based exercises:
Continue reading “#SummerofDad Week 6: 5 Ways This Dad Keeps His Dad Bod” »
#SummerofDad Week 4: Travel, News, and Food
This week marks the first week of ten weeks of travel, as we’re now on the road in Philadelphia. It also marks the first week of mostly primary parenting. I say “mostly” because my wife will still be helping out a ton, as will her parents for about a week, and of course the legions of babysitters across the land that will hang out with him. But I’ll be the primary, as Jenny is working on a bunch of really cool projects both on the phone with her agents and directors, and on the ground.
Speaking of which, we just found out that we’ll be covering a new piece of ground, as she was selected for another development project, this one in Chicago. The only time available to do it was the two weeks between our time in Waterford, CT and Seattle, WA—which is exactly where it fits! So now we’ll be doing four playwriting development series in four states (but with only one toddler, thank god). Holy logistics, Batman.
Continue reading “#SummerofDad Week 4: Travel, News, and Food” »
#SummerofDad Week Three: Unexpected Events
The third week has brought some unexpected, but mostly good, developments. We were supposed to travel back to Baltimore earlier this week after staying with my family, but the night before our flight Gabe came down with some sort of illness. Jenny and I jumped into family-planning-logistical-mode (oh, the fun), and we quickly set up a doctor’s appointment for the next morning, called our pediatrician’s answering service, discussed changing our travel itinerary, and madly Googled his vague symptoms.
He had a fever and was irritable, but no other body systems seemed to be an issue. Was it teething? He is pushing out a molar. Was it an ear infection? He was grabbing at his ear, but he does that when he’s tired. Was it some awful, rare thing, like a twist in his intestinal tract? He was grabbing his tummy and rolling around a lot. After a dose of infant Tylenol and a lot of shushing and cooing, he finally fell asleep. He awoke at night several times with more discomfort, but when I awoke in the morning (at 0830!) he was lying in our bed between Jenny and I smiling up a storm like nothing had ever happened—like the previous night was some hallucination on our part.
Continue reading “#SummerofDad Week Three: Unexpected Events” »
Traveling with your Sprout: Pointers from a Wanderlust Parent
After our son was born my wife and I welcomed him into the world and into our hectic lives. In the past year, from June 2014 to June 2015, my son has been on 7 road trips, 4 flights (2 of which were cross-country), and a half-dozen or so day-trips. He has literally traveled every month of his life, and because of this he’s been to 12 states and the District of Columbia. And he’ll add another two states this summer (Washington and Oregon). Most of this travel has been to see family and the rest is for my wife’s work (which is necessary due to my hectic life as a grad student and lack of nearby family).
Traveling with an infant—especially the first time—strikes fear in the heart of most parents. You have no control over your surroundings; comforting routines are strained or broken; you’re dealing with multiple (probably complex) logistics; and you probably forgot something essential for yourself or your child at home. People without kids will probably give you wide-eyed stares and offer you luck like you’re going to face some gauntlet involving minotaurs and mazes. Luckily it’s not that bad, especially if you plan accordingly and are in the right frame of mind. Continue reading “Traveling with your Sprout: Pointers from a Wanderlust Parent” »
#SummerofDad Week Two: Off to Austin
This week will be a short post, as Dad is (mostly) getting the week off.
Jenny, Gabe and I are in Austin—sunny, wonderful Austin—where Jenny and I first met, where I was born and raised, and where my parents still live. It’s also where we’ll be going to a good friend’s wedding. So this week is not too heavy on the #SummerofDad childcare front, as Dad has back-up in the form of energetic and eager grandparents who don’t live close to their grandkid—score! So they’re still excited to not only see him, but to help out with everyday tasks such as naptimes and feedings and diapers—double score! And they’ll take him on night of said wedding, which means we’ll basically have a built-in fancy date among friends—need I say it?—triple score! Continue reading “#SummerofDad Week Two: Off to Austin” »
Intro to #SummerofDad & Week One
Hello!
So, Jeni did a great job introducing me, how we met, and how we came about the #SummerofDad idea. In the last (nearly) 10 years (!) since Jeni and parted ways after graduating from Purdue, I’ve done a lot of things.
I’ve traveled to Costa Rica, Greece, and throughout the US. I worked as a pharmaceutical research coordinator for a couple of years. I applied to grad school a bunch of times (three, to be exact) and even moved to New York City to attend a physical therapy doctoral program. But I dropped out after a few weeks. Luckily, a girl I knew (and liked) moved up from Austin that summer, too. So instead of heading back home, I decided to stay and hang tough in the city and see about a girl. Also, I decided that, since I didn’t know what I wanted to do for graduate school, I needed to try something different: so I got into publishing.
During my four years in New York, two amazing dreams came true: I got to work in publishing for a couple of years at Penguin/Viking (as well as some other very cool places); that girl (Jenny-with-a-y) became my best friend, partner-in-crime, the love of my life, and then my wife. We got married in Austin in 2012 and in 2013 we did an amazing 6-week backpacking trip through Turkey and Greece for our belated honeymoon. About the time we got married I was realizing that publishing wasn’t working for me. Though I love writing, I wanted to get back into science. I learned about genetic counseling and applied — 3rd time’s a charm — for grad school. I ended up getting into my top program at Johns Hopkins and the NIH.
The big life changes kept coming, because almost exactly a year after being accepted, in June 2014, my son Gabriel was born. This past year has been quite a challenge, balancing grad school, family, and my wife’s writing career. I also write, and have published fiction pieces in various places, but most recently I’ve been writing for the National Human Genome Research Institute’s Genome Advance of the Month, where we try to explain interesting developments in genetics research!
So onto the post for this week…