The standoff lasted for weeks. Son #1 thought he was too cool for hugs or kisses from dad anymore. But I’m pleased to announce that after a protracted negotiation, we have reached an amicable settlement: I am entitled to receive up to four hugs and one kiss per day. Some [...]
SonOne said this to me tonight:
Is that all you do at work, is work on a computer? That must not be an important job–manager.
[...]Our friend who is a plumber (ok, how lucky is THAT?) was waiting at the house when Son One and his mother came home.
So, as Mike was getting to work, Mr. Smartypants got a note pad and a pencil, then plopped himself onto the hamper to take notes. After a [...]
Not for a second did I believe that today’s debate would be called off. (For that matter, I never thought that McCain’s campaign was suspended.)
So I have just one wish for my favorite Democratic nominee ever. As we say when we step up to the golf tee, “Grip it and [...]
While running an errand this afternoon with Son One, an overhead pigeon dropped a yuck bomb on my wrist. In response, the little twerp looked up at pigeons roosting and bellowed. “Pigeons One, Daddy Zero. Yay pigeons!”
That’s it. He’s OUT of the will.
[...]Little Bip is a great audience for his daddy’s singing. He has the good taste not to cry or vomit whenever I sing to him. Mostly he goes to sleep. Nobody likes an unruly audience.
Having already raised a boy who so loves his daddy’s singing that I’m still required to [...]
Warning–if you have no experience with Pokemon, this post is going to go right over your head. It nearly went over mine.
Dad: If you were a pokemon, what type would you be?
Son One: Probably a psychic type. I could confuse people with my thoughts.
Dad: Wow, you would be [...]
I was up with Little Bip at 2 AM last night. The house was quiet. After he downed his bottle and let forth a mighty burp, we stared at each other for a long time. He considered me. I looked back into his searching eyes. I started to tear up. [...]
So it was red meat night at the Republican convention, and one expects the usual attacks and swipes at the opponents. Third night at political conventions for both parties can get rough.
I’m just wondering if there are any Republicans out there who are aware of the semiotics of an arena [...]
Little Bip went to a specialist’s office yesterday. Despite hours of waiting and miserable testing, he was a champ. The results of the test were a relief. An issue with potential long-lasting impact is clearing up and he should be fine in the end.
The doctor, a middle aged man, told [...]
Contrasting my parenting experience with a preemie six years ago with my current preemie parenting experience, I have reached this conclusion.
Back then I had more energy. This time I’m calmer. I am able to do this only because I’m running with more emotional efficiency.
[...]Sarah Palin became Governor of Alaska after serving two terms (totaling four years) on the “city” council of Wasilla Alaska. And then she became mayor of the same “city.” For residents of Pennsylvania, Wasilla would roughly translate to “borough.” Wasilla’s population is equivalent to sleepy little Hummelstown or Swarthmore, PA; [...]
Sweet Bippy came home from the hospital today, 3 months and 2 weeks after his birth. Getting out of the hospital was a bit of an adventure. Loaded down with our oxygen tanks, monitors, and bags a-plenty, we’d gotten about five steps out of the NICU when red lights started [...]
It’s been a quiet summer in Lake Wobe-blog.
Scratch that. It’s been an eventful summer, but I’ve been building up my reserves and ignoring the blog. The biggest news item can now be shared. We’re adoptin’ a baby boy, and we’re all-a-twitter with anticipation, and a little bit crazy with preparations. [...]
Fortune cookies tonight. The lad’s fortune: “New doors of opportunity will open for you soon.” Mine: “The great man never forgets the simplicity of a child.”
[...]The first time I ever canvassed door-to-door for a political candidate was in 1976, when I knocked on every door of every little brick row home on our block stumping for my candidate.
Tonight I rediscovered an old elementary school project, for which I’d written the following:
Go Ford
Well, it’s election day [...]
As part of his orientation for first grade, our son received a handwritten letter from a boy at his new school:
Dear Friend,
I’m glad that you are here at _ _ E! I will see you next year. Our gym teacher is nice. Art class is fun. We get to take [...]
Our son has gone baseball crazy. He’s not so interested in hitting; it’s pitching that’s grabbed his attention. Despite my insistence that he just learn to throw a basic overhand throw with good mechanics, he’s totally absorbed in the variety of pitches that pitchers throw.
Lad: What if I make it [...]
Continuing with the theme of math concepts, kindergarten style. We had a hilarious conversation this evening. As you’ll see, I really walked into this one:
Dad: Remember when we were at the garden store and we were picking up those big bags of dirt? How many bags of dirt do you [...]
I have to assume that the good teachers at kindergarten played some role in this little pre-algebra lecture from the lad:
This is very strong. It is twice as strong as you are. I’m using you as a kind of symbol for how strong something can be, and then I’m saying [...]
I just got back from a few days of business travel. Lisa reports that this conversation with our boy took place this morning:
Mom:Â I know you missed daddy while he was away. I missed him too.
Lad: Yeah, well, I missed him more than you. I cried you know, and [...]
I was polled this evening by Zogby International.
Wanted to know if I was registered to vote in PA. (check)
Wanted to know if I was very likely, somewhat likely, or not likely to vote in the primary. (Whadda you think?)
Wanted to know if I was a registered D, R, NP, or [...]
The lad has been having trouble with anxieties around bedtime. While we’re working harder at winding down the day with relaxing activities, he’s coming up with some of his own ideas about soothing his jumpy nerves:
Wouldn’t it be great if we had a robotic version of you? Then you could [...]
This was the conversation as he was getting ready for bed this evening:
Lad: I think that George Bush was worrying way too much about Iraq. That was his big mistake. It’s like he wanted to start a war. He should have worried about other things, and not started another war.
[...]
If Michigan revotes and Obama wins, will Clinton drop out then? Doesn’t that take the remaining wind out of the big state fallacy? Just wonderin’
[...]It’s a little hard to get your message out with Ferraro ranting and Spitzer folding, but Obama had a good event today in which he received the endorsement from a lineup of retired flag officers from the Army, Navy, and Air Force. It was a good counter to the insinuations [...]
I’ve been one of the Obama supporters who has also been quick to defend Senator Clinton. To date, I’ve been proud of them both.
But as the crossroads for the Democratic Party approach, I’m getting increasingly disgusted with the tortured logic of the Clintons and their surrogates. Barack Obama has the [...]
So, my son is standing in front of the TV a few minutes ago yelling:
What is a superdelagate? I don’t understand what a superdelegate is? Will SOMEBODY PLEASE tell me what a superdelegate is?
Kid, you and just about every other little-d democrat in the world.
[...]In honor of Potomac primary night, I recite this passage from the P.D. Eastman children’s classic, Go, Dog. Go!
A big dog party!
Big dogs, little dogs,
red dogs, blue dogs,
yellow dogs, green dogs,
black dogs, and white dogs
are all at a dog party!
What a dog party!
Go, Democrats. [...]
Super Tuesday redux: Hillary Clinton wins states that Democrats win. Obama wins in states we need to win. I don’t want the electoral college map inherited from 2000 and 2004. I want a new map.
Hillary Clinton’s case used to be inevitability. Now she’s struggling to spin her margins as nominal [...]
I think that the question of judgment is a credible one for Obama to raise. Of course, past performance is not a perfect indicator of future success, but clear thinking about Iraq in the runup to the war seems like a good test.
My ears pricked up at a new wrinkle [...]
The Giants win the Super Bowl in a gigantic upset, while the Obama campaign has a Super Bowl ad in the hopper to run right after the game. That’s one way to raise your profile.
[...]Tonight my son made the poignant observation: “Daddy has too many meetings for the Democrats.” I was at the Delaware County Democratic nominating convention last night. There was a local meeting last week also, so I guess it does seem like a lot.
Not too much to report of general interest [...]
A former Democratic president, and the ostensible leader of the party, should never, never, never resort to this form of dog whistle politics, no matter how stupid the question was. It’s interesting to note that President Clinton didn’t say “John Edwards won South Carolina in 2004 by 15 points, [...]
No this isn’t a post about eliminating student loans at wealthy colleges and universities. (I have some thoughts about that, but maybe another day.) Nor is this a post about 529’s and other investment vehicles.
This is a post about our son, who at six, is already thinking about college. While [...]
It has been a weekend of birthday festivities. Thanks to all who helped us celebrate. As is our tradition, we use the occasion to review what occupies our boy’s thoughts.
Favorites
Bedtime [...]
For the first couple years, the lad had a speech delay. We didn’t hear much of his voice, and we pined for it. But the last couple months, he’s been a motormouth. And LOUD.
Would be glad for some advice if you know how to get a minute of peace without [...]
On the way to catch a basketball game together–see, I expose him to normal things–the lad explained to me how he sizes up the current election field and his own future in politics:
I don’t know who to vote for. You just need to vote for whoever will STOP THE WAR. [...]
Not unlike the general election, where a candidate can win the general election and still lose on electoral college votes, it’s really odd to crow Clinton’s victory tonight. Clinton and Obama actually split the open delegates evenly, 9-9. Obama had three superdelegates lined up to Clinton’s two. So the final [...]
So while you political junkies are sitting there waiting for the early returns out of New Hampshire, here’s our kindergartner’s sense of the Democratic primary.
[...]Who’s that guy I like? Oh yeah, John Edwards. I like him. But I like all of them, so I don’t really care who wins.
Better get a Democrat elected in 2008. Then hope that he/she has a successful first term. Reallocation of house seats, and therefore electoral college votes, is likely to create the net effect of the loss of one mid-sized blue state. Based [...]
We celebrated the new year by taking the lad to the movies with a bunch of his friends. We saw Enchanted. For my part, I’m grateful both that we weren’t going to see Alvin and the Chipmunks, and that the movie was sufficiently ironic about its genre. (I’m not a [...]
Now that we’re officially past the holiday, a final post in 2007 from the profane world of politics.
As recounted in an earlier post, I continued to be involved in electioneering for municipal candidates in 2007. If you don’t care to read the whole [...]
Most of the time I feel like a natural at fatherhood. But there are those moments when I hear myself talking and I have an out-of-body sensation. Could that voice saying these words really be me?
Example from dinner tonight: “No matter good you think it’s going to taste, I do [...]
The wife and I may have rather domestic moments of triumph, but we think that we deserve some forms of accolade for raising a child of not-quite-six who can exclaim at the dinner table:
I really, really like my green vegetables! Can we have green vegetables every night for dinner? I [...]
Our son came running up to me with a panic-stricken look on his face yesterday morning:
Lad: Daddy, Daddy! Am I on the naughty list or the nice list?
Dad: You? Are you kidding me? You’re such a good boy! You don’t really think you could be on the naughty list, [...]
My work life has been a preoccupation for the last few weeks. If you are a reader who knows me well, you know exactly what I am talking about. You’ve probably been sucked into the vortex already. And if you’re somebody who just happens to drop by the blog, you’ll [...]
This morning the lad expressed the extent of his gratitude.
[...]I am thankful for everything in my life. Everything in my life except for photography. Too much click-click, flashing in my eyes.
Our son still isn’t hip to all my clever daddy tricks yet. Tonight he “made” brownies from a mix. We put the pan in the oven, then sent him off for his bath while they baked. As he anticipated going back to the kitchen to sample warm brownies, he asked [...]
The following note was found on the outside of our bedroom window this morning, accompanied by a dollar coin. The lettering on the note was tiny.
Dear nice people in the house, I’m leaving some money to pay back your mommy and daddy. Please don’t be scared. I am a nice [...]
The following note was dictated to the lad’s mother, then posted on the window in his room, facing out.
Dear Tooth Fairy,
I feel nervous about you coming in my room, so my Mommy and Daddy gave me a dollar so you don’t have to. Next time you can come on the [...]
Post mortem time for the failure of Democratic victories to materialize in the Philly suburbs. What follows is the full text of a letter that was sent to all of Delaware County’s employees before the election.
The Democrat[sic] candidates for Delaware County Council have launched an all out assault on the [...]
Between a crazy few weeks at work, and the run-up to the election, I fell into one of those blogging wormholes. I’m only now beginning to emerge from it.
Like many Dems in Delaware County, I’m still stinging from the failure to make headway against the Big Red Machine at the [...]
My father called to tell me that on the first anniversary of my mother’s death, my old scoutmaster passed away:
Frederick H. Neumann, 90, of Shiremanstown, passed away Wednesday, October 17, 2007 at the Holy Spirit Hospital, Camp Hill. He was a retired field engineer for [...]
At the end of last week, David Landau made another installment in the “Case Against the Courthouse.” This time the department in the spotlight was Data Processing, where 36 out 36 employees are registered Republican. Sounds strange doesn’t it? This is an area where experience [...]
I made it through yesterday. I kept myself pretty busy–I don’t know if I was subconsciously trying to avoid thinking about the first anniversary of my mother’s death.
It took months before I could shake the powerful sense memory of her final weeks. Providing 24-hour hospice care at our family home [...]
With only a few weeks left in the campaign, Delaware County Council candidate David Landau has already delivered five installments in his “Case Against the Courthouse.”
In a nutshell, what Landau has been explaining to voters is that their invisible County government is nothing but a pure patronage mill. It’s not [...]
On his ride back from soccer practice, our son heard the news that Phillies were not picking up the option on slaphitting utility infielder Abraham Nunez. (Thank heaven for that, by the way.) Here’s our conversation:
Lad: Abraham Nunez! Is he fired?
Dad: Basically, yeah. But his time that he was [...]
This past weekend was spent preparing for and celebrating the 95th birthday of our son’s grand-nana, my wife’s maternal grandmother. Nana is the undisputed matriarch of our combined family. When she’s having a big birthday party, even all of my family shows up.
A large group of people gathered in a [...]
A couple weeks ago, Delaware County filed a lawsuit against the FAA challenging the FAA’s flight path redesign plan. In Swarthmore, the Republican mayor and a Democratic borough councilman joined as plaintiffs to the suit. The Swarthmorean carried an item on the topic that should be useful for anybody who [...]
After the Phillies clinched the NL East, an event that triggered a tremendous amount of celebration in our household, we had a father-son trip to try on Halloween costumes and grab a bite to eat.
At first he played it cool, saying that he didn’t care what he was for Halloween. [...]
One of the things we see more of at our son’s current age is an increased level of ideation about the future.
He wonders about marriage. He mentions things he’ll do when he has kids. He’s thinking about jobs he’d like to have.
On that front, by the way, Lisa reports that [...]
…what our little guy’s just experienced for the first time?
[...]I don’t think the pit of despair is a good place to be. I wouldn’t want to be there. You’d need a giant to come rescue you.
Gil Spencer’s started doing his usual hit jobs on area Dems in his column, taking aim at David Landau last week. (And on a high holiday–REALLY classy, Gil!)
David can politic for himself, and nobody but the local wingnuts listen to Gil anyway. (He was so very [...]
The young one was sorting out the intersection of girls and love this week.
Lad: Can I like a girl but not have to marry her when I grow up?
Dad: Sure! You can be friends with a boy or a girl, and friends love each other. When you grow up, [...]
I can’t say with authority to what extent Americans are actually forgetting September 11th, but the “Never Forget” brand is continues to show year-over-year growth. Last year, I noted that a one-day blog search on “Never Forget” returned 593 results. The [...]
No, the subject title isn’t referring to a future presidential election. No, it’s not about the London Olympics either.
2,012 is the staggering number of consecutive unanimous votes conducted by the all-Republican Delaware County Council since 2003, according to The Evening [...]
First day of kindergarten, lost a tooth.
Second day of kindergarten, lost another tooth.
The morning of the third day of kindergarten, he comes to me with the money he received from the tooth fairy:
That tooth fairy is going to be very tired. She has to flap-flap-flap her wings to get to [...]
The three Democrats running for Delaware County Council held a press conference on the steps of the Media courthouse to advance their list of proposed reforms to county government. In the course of Alex Rose’s reporting of the event in the Delco Times, it sounds to me as if County [...]
[Ed. This post is the first guest blogging entry from Lisa, the mom of this here joint.]
Today was our boy’s first day of kindergarten.I’ve been more excited about it than he has been. Each new piece of correspondence from his school or his teacher would leave me jumping up and [...]
Yet to grapple with some elements of the story:
Lad: When did I first meet my grandparents?
Dad: On the day you were born. The night before, when you were on the way, we called them all up. The next morning they were there. They couldn’t wait to meet their first [...]
As reported in the Delco Times, Rep. Mike Carroll (PA-118) is sponsoring a bill to outlaw all non-wood bats for youth baseball and softball in the Commonwealth.
Even though I’m a loving and protective father [...]
History is the present. That’s why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth. –E. L. Doctorow
My favorite political post of the week was by Barabara O’Brien’s “The Power of (Right Wing) Myth.” [...]
I did my roundup of Delco council election news on Wednesday night, only to discover that the Inquirer ran an article the next day about how David Landau’s aggressive campaign for Delaware County Council is pressuring the GOP. A couple key passages stand out.
The [...]
Most of the serious jousting in municipal elections happens after all the kiddies have returned to school, but the Delco County Council race has been unusually hot this Summer. In case you’ve missed anything, here a a bunch of links to help you catch up.
Above Average Jane posted an [...]
Today’s little anecdote is offered as an example of the finesse that parents must display when handling exposure to popular culture.
The latest family activity at our house is playing a new video game, Boogie, which is a combination rhythm/karaoke game. Everybody in the house likes to sing the dance/disco-oriented tunes, [...]
Last year, Megan and Amy got legally married in Massachusetts. As married couples sometimes do, they changed their names. All the documentation they needed was easily obtained, including new Social Security cards. All was easy, that is, until they tried to get new passports.
That’s when the [...]
Employers in the Delaware Valley region received a brief word from Independence Blue Cross that they’d reached an agreement with the Crozer-Keystone system.
To our members who receive care through the Crozer-Keystone Health System
We are pleased to have agreed on terms for a new four-year contract with Crozer-Keystone Health System.
Our members [...]
For those who missed the August 5th program, the NBC10 Live @ Issue program is available online. Both Congressman Joe Sestak and State Representative Bryan Lentz are interviewed.
Bryan Lentz also has posted video of the July 23rd hearing [...]
For red-meat Republicans, he still seems to be seen as a technical guru on electioneering. To Democrats, he’s a demon. Possibly because he rarely appeared in public interviews, or because he’s part of an intensely secretive administration, we have only vague impressions of what the truth might be about Karl [...]
Congressman Joe Sestak (PA-07) will hold a town hall meeting in his district this week. The topic will be Iraq. Sestak plans to give brief remarks and then take questions from the audience.
When: Thursday, August 16th, 6:30 pm
Where: The Science Center, Room 101, Swarthmore College [[...]
Lord knows, I try to be ecumenical.
Lad: Is Pop a Republican?
Dad: Yeah, your Pop-Ball is. I think your Pop-Beard is more of a Democrat.
Lad: But you’re a Democrat?
Dad: Yes, mommy and I both are.
Lad: Is it okay to vote for a Republican?
Dad: Yes, it is. [...]
On the one hand, Rove’s plan to leave the white house is as sure a signal we’ve had that the white house is hunkering down into full lame duck mode, particularly on any domestic agenda items. On the other hand, Tom Tomorrow points out what will be lost when [...]
Labor Day is approaching. In addition to the start of a new school year, Labor Day is also when local campaigns will start to heat up in anticipation of the November elections.
The Keystone Campaigns blog is a useful sourcebook for ideas if you’re a municipal or regional candidate running in [...]
One thing that will take your blog out of my newsreader and blog roll: delete my comment on your blog. I left a perfectly civil response on a conservative Montgomery county blog a few days ago. Germane to the topic of the post, no offensive language, no ad hominem attacks. [...]
My transmission died while I was out on my lunch break. I was stuck on the side of the road with no cell phone, and (garrgh!) I’d even forgotten my wallet in the morning. It was staggeringly hot in the noon sun.
I was standing on the side of the road [...]
