Over the summer, in particular, I bring my kids down to my office with me fairly regularly. This past summer, my college student daughter, Stephanie, worked here as an intern, so I always had family close at hand, but the real fun is when my younger daughter, Katie, crashes the party. I’m smiling and remembering …
Continue reading When the Kid’s Come To WorkDavid Niall Wilson
For those of you who have not yet enjoyed the work of Neil Gaiman, shame on you. You’ve possibly seen the movie Coraline, based on his book of the same title, and the movie Stardust as well. What you might not know is that he’s one of the finest, most entertaining narrators out there, and …
Continue reading Neil Gaiman Reads “Instructions” Live…I wrote here a while back about how my two boys, Zach and Zane, came to live with us permanently at the end of November. To say that our holiday season was crazy, filled with ups and downs, and tiring would barely scratch the surface. Throughout this time, Trish, the love of my life, and …
Continue reading This Weekend the Boys Get a RoomMy son wants to be a movie director…among other things. He asked for a green screen setup this year for Christmas, and we got it for him (not cheap). One of the things we’ve been trying to do, since our family grew by two boys, is to get them all to do things together, to …
Continue reading The Princess & The Dragon – Christmas MagicMy son Zane got a tripod for his birthday. His birthday is actually on Christmas day, but wae celebrate early to keep them separate. Anyway…he filmed me reading “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” …and we thought we’d share. Enjoy: ÂÂ
Continue reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas … From MeI’m in the middle of one of those periods where I look at my daughter, about to turn six, and am amazed. I guess I shouldn’t be. When I was five, I started reading Dr. Seuss books to my grandfather. When Trish was very young, she was reading and speaking two languages. Katie will turn …
Continue reading Daddy, Can I Read to You?For many years, I’ve seen my two sons only on alternate weekends. I’ve hated the separation, but somehow that’s the hand life deals; you do what you can. About a week ago, the world changed. The boys’ mother passed on suddenly, and my household grew by two very smart, very polite teenage boys. There are …
Continue reading Families, Apparently, Can Grow SuddenlyI was going to post a story here to share with your kids, but I posted the only kid’s story II have had published that is scary last year…in case you missed that you can find Cat Candles Here: CAT CANDLES If you are in the mood to have someone tell you a story… I …
Continue reading This One is for the Dads … Two storiesI’ve always held onto my boyhood dreams of rocket jet packs and flying cars. I read the old pulp magazines when I could, devoured paperbacks and hardcovers that spoke of journeys to the stars and little green men from mars. I loved the feeling I got when I read the tales that brought dreams and …
Continue reading My Little Girl Builds Rockets…It’s not that many times in life you get to share magic on the magnitude of visits from the Tooth Fairy. This week, yesterday and today, as a matter of fact, we were doubly blessed. Katie had two loose teeth, and her obsession began. First she wanted to know what to do. When we told …
Continue reading How To Help the Tooth Fairy & Other MagicI expected all sorts of problems when the day arrived to let go of Katie’s hand and send her off to kindergarten. Today was the fateful day, and — of course — it was easier and harder than expected, as most important parenting moments are. Last night we attended the school orientation. Katie met her …
Continue reading First Day of Kindergarten. Hard on Dad & Mom TooLife in our little world is about to take major shifts. In only two weeks, Stephanie will be off to college, and Katie will be starting kindergarten. The family dynamic shifts, and every couple of years more kids will hop out of nests and disrupt it further. There was only one answer. We planned a …
Continue reading Those Lazy Hazy Days of SummerThis weekend I spent a good number of hours watching the original Scooby-Doo cartoons with my daughter. Of all the shows that I loved as a kid, this is the one that has had the most universal appeal throughout my lifetime. Our children range from five-year-old Katie to eighteen-year-old Stephanie, and all of them have …
Continue reading Scooby-Doo – Spanning the Generation GapMy daughter goes in today for her first official test. She’s entering Kindergarten this fall, and very excited about it. We’ve been going over colors and vocabulary, math and very basic spelling, and everyone was in great spirits right up until yesterday afternoon. We are a pretty informal family. Katie is just…Katie. Now things have …
Continue reading Kindergarten Assessment – The First TestMy daughter Katie and I recently discovered a website I thought worth sharing. Heck, you don’t even NEED kids for this site, it’s cute and guaranteed to make you smile. ZOOBORNS is a site where they post pictures of baby animals born in zoos and wildlife preserves around the world. There are some oddball critters …
Continue reading Nothing Bonds Like Baby AnimalsWe signed up a little over a year ago to receive DVDs and Blu-Ray disks through the Mail from Netflix.com. We don’t get out much as a family to the movies, and this has allowed us to catch up on a lot of movies and TV that we’ve missed out on, but what I really …
Continue reading The Roku Box – and Netflix – Kid GoodnessWe are always looking for ways to do new things with the kids that will also serve as learning experiences. When I was young, we gardened. I had a huge strawberry patch, some tomatoes and beans, and a lot of fun working with my mom to plant, care for, and harvest them. The other day …
Continue reading In Search of the Great PumpkinMy job doesn’t require a lot of travel. Now and again, though, I have to hop into a rented car and head off into the world, leaving home and family behind. Recently this happened for the first couple of times since my daughter was old enough to really notice and be bothered by it. She’s …
Continue reading When I'm On the Road and Wishing I Was HomeWe are always buying things because they look cool, or sound cool. What we are not big on, apparently, is thinking things through. When you see a book that says Guinness Book of World Records longest bubble was made with this, and that book is attached to a few pieces of plastic and some mesh, …
Continue reading The Giant World Record Bubble Wand…(with a nod to Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss) Currently, one of the greatest pleasures in my life is reading stories to my five year old daughter, Katie. One of the things that make this fun is the work of some very clever authors. My two personal favorites are Dr. Seuss, and Shel Silverstein. I’m …
Continue reading Fox in Sox and Runny Babbit – Kid's BooksOur daughter Katie has been through some serious pet angst. She loves animals, but at the same time she loathes being licked or chased. She gets along with the cat because the cat requires nothing of her, and she only has to deal with him for a few moments at a time. We are animal …
Continue reading Kids and Pets … a Study in Patience Pays OffEvery night we put our daughter Katie up on the big bed where Trish and I sleep. She gets her hair braided to keep it from tangling in the night. Billy (15) lays across the end of the bed, and Stephanie (18) comes in to sit at the foot of the bed. While Trish fixes …
Continue reading Beware of the Stories of Your Childhood. Seriously.This past weekend we gathered the clan in the family room and plugged in the new comedy from Dreamworks, Kung Fu Panda. This film features the voice talents of a star-studded cast, Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, and Jackie Chan, to name a few. In our family, we like to find a film every …
Continue reading Kung Fu Panda – a Family Movie With a MesageAbout Two years ago, when I was out shopping, I ran across an amazing rocking unicorn. If you squeezed its ear, it came to life. The head bobbed, the mouth moved, and it made horse sounds. There was the clip-clop of hooves and a good, spirited neigh. I was captivated by the thought of my …
Continue reading Rocking Unicorns : A Cautionary TaleIt’s kind of cool to have my first chance to post here at Dad-o-Matic on the final day of a year, and the dawn of a new one. 2008 and 2009 are incredibly important years for me as a father. In 2008 my step-daughter Stephanie turned eighteen. She’s an adult now, and I have to …
Continue reading Fast Moving Clocks and the End of Another Year