The Unorthodox Dad

One Year Old

admin — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:47:30 +0000

The days have been flying by. Work has been intense and the weekends packed even when we have little planned. So it has been a long time since I have posted. Really it is only because I am stuck here at jury duty that I have a moment to write anything at all. Theory has changed so much in the past few months. She is a big little girl now. While she has not gained a lot of weight, she has gotten thinner and longer. Still a little ...

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Daily Babble

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:36:26 +0000

Tara is visiting her ailing Aunt for a few days so I find myself this morning having enough time to blog. I just posted a comment on Daily Babblle which is talking today about paternity leave. Here it is: Most men do not take paternity leave in the US because of two underlying reasons. First the entire society is still built upon an organization of work that is based upon the old manufacturing model. This is finally beginning to transform as knowledge workers become the norm, and as women enter the ...

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Trip To LA LA Land

admin — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:04:44 +0000

Tara and I took Theory to Los Angeles this past week. It was both Tara’ birthday and my mom’s birthday. My father bought Tara the ticket to come out as a birthday gift. It was the time to visit before digging in my heels at work. For many people in the family, it was the first time they saw Theory. For Theory, it was the first opportunity to play with her cousins and second-cousins. The week was terrific. The weather in Los Angeles was perfect and we were able ...

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Front Lines of the Homebirth War

admin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 22:29:56 +0000

ACOG, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has asked for people to submit their unsuccessful homebirth stories in an effort to collect anonymous anecdotal evidence in their fight against the practice. The homebirth community immediately responded by logging into the survey and listing positive homebirth stories. All the birth blogs have been soliciting people to log in and ruin the ACOG database. Immediately, ACOG altered their site, limiting the access to ACOG members. The events are illuminating. For one, it demonstrates how partisan and ...

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The Daddy Shift

admin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:24:29 +0000

I received a desk copy of Jeremy Adam Smith’s new book, The Daddy Shift. It is a must read for any father who is interested in taking an active role in his children’s lives. Particularly if you are the primary care-giver. The core tenant of the book is that we are at an inflection point where male gender roles are going to radically shift, with dads taking a much more active and nurturing role in the raising of their children. I think this is quite right and the author does a ...

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Bananas and Pears

admin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:57:50 +0000

My mom came for a visit a week ago. It was a real pleasure to use this time to introduce Theory to some food. She has been watching us eat for several weeks and had begun to reach out for our food as we were eating. So we decided at 5 months it would be OK to let her try and taste a few things. We mushed up a banana, mixed it with cereal and added breastmilk. She went hog wild! So over the next couple of days we added ...

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Loyalties

admin — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:53:37 +0000

My mom came for a visit last week. She brought in hand a pamphlet from UCLA Medical Center stating that a Federal Court had concluded, there is no evidence that vaccines cause autism. The pamphlet states, it is proven that vaccines are safe. The pamphlet angered me in how disingenuous it was. It is true that there is not any overwhelming evidence to support the idea that the MMR vaccine causes autism. But there is also no evidence to support the conclusion that the current vaccine schedule is safe. Indeed, it ...

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Zutano

admin — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 12:11:36 +0000

Shortly after posting a blog about Theory’s ankle injury, we were contacted by the COO of Zutano. We had a very constructive email exchange and Zutano committed to aggressively investigate and re-engineer the booties that caused Theory’s marks. Tara and I greatly appreciate the responsiveness of the company. We shipped back the booties so that the Zutan product engineers can examine them — and they were kind enough to send us some wonderful outfits in return, including this wonderful blanket (under which there is a beautiful little girl hiding). I do ...

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For Laughs

admin — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:46:52 +0000

Being home with Theory can be a lot of work even though it does not seem like you are doing a whole lot. She needs constant attention and interaction. So despite the fact that Tara and I are both at home, I have found it difficult to go work out on a regular basis. Clearly, some dad’s have been more imaginative than I in solving this problem. Here is a dad who get’s a work out and a self-defense class without leaving the house. Check it out. Post from: The Unorthodox Dad

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Father’s Day

admin — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 10:52:31 +0000

I am in the process of reading the Daddy Shift – which so far has been a really excellent read. The book explores what it means to be a father today, and in the process discusses how many dad’s today do not use their own fathers as role models. This being, in part, because many of the fathers of our generation were absent much of the time, both literally — working long hours — and emotionally It made me sit and reflect a bit, about my own father and the memories I ...

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