parenting

Another year of Haiku about my kids

cohenaaron, , , 4 Comments
Every night, since before my son was born, I write a haiku about my kids. I posted a collection of the first year of haiku in 2017 and was remiss in not having posted the collection of the second and third years. Here’s the second year. 365 haiku posted every night so I could feel like I was achieving Minimum Viable Creativity. If you like the haiku, or haidads, consider checking out the children’s book I wrote with my friend Chris Piascik, The Salty Avocado.
2/2/17
Now the big boy is
One year old. Happy birthday,
Buddy, I love you.
2/3/17
On the second day
Of his second year he tried
Milk for the first time.
2/4/17
He was supposed to
Be napping. Instead, he stood
Talking to the cat.
2/5/17
She went to bed at
Halftime, but came out after
The game for a drink.
2/6/17
Sometimes we’re ready
To leave for school way before
We get out the door.
2/7/17
She asked me to send
Oreos to school, but she
Hasn’t tried them yet.
2/8/17
From what we do to
A large pizza, I know that
There are four of us.
2/9/17
Wow. Snow days are not
At all as fun as they were
A few years ago.
2/10/17
For the second time
In two days, we watched Finding
Dory. We love it.
2/11/17
Middle of the night
Poops two nights in a row make
Us the luckiest.
2/12/17
A sense of calmness
Washed over me when I heard
Daycare was open.
2/13/17
The joke was on us,
Daycare was open but the
Boy had a sick day.

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Another year of Haiku about my kids

A year of haiku about my kids.

cohenaaron, , 44 Comments

In the months before my son was born last year, I worried having two kids would reduce my time for creativity even more than one had. To combat what I felt was a loss of creativity, I decided to write a haiku every night. In my mind, it was Minimum Viable Creativity. Before we went from a family of three to a family of four, the haiku were about TV or food or the like, but when my son was born, he was the subject the first night, and the second, and before I knew it, the nightly haiku was now a nightly parenting haiku – or a haidad. It turns out the nightly parenting haiku is not only Minimum Viable Creativity, but also an opportunity to journal milestones every night without having to figure out what to say. Journaling is easier when it’s 17 syllables a day.

Here is the first year of haidad, all in one place. Some of these were originally posted with an accompanying picture, but, um, I took the pictures off for publication here.

2/2
This is my baby
Callum, born today at 2.
Mom and babe are good

2/3
Totally forgot
How to care for a newborn.
Swaddle game rusty.

2/4
If you need a day
Bed in a pinch, you can use
A laundry basket.

Grace taught us that one
When we needed one for her,
But she fit better.

2/5
Only 3 days old
Already louder than his
Sister ever was.

2/6
Not even a week
And I’ve already gotten
His poop on my clothes.

2/7
This little dude has
Now woken up my daughter
Four times in three days.

2/8
I hope I never
Forget the faces this kid
Makes at six days old

2/9
We made it a week
The last seven days a blur
Time marked by diapers.

2/10
A once beloved
Toy jettisoned for something
New is heartbreaking.

2/11
My sleepy little
Boy is starting to wake up.
It’s gonna get late.

2/12
He gained weight back so
Fast, we don’t have to go back
For his two week check.

2/13
I asked, “Hey, bud, can
You stop kicking the seat?” “But
My feet want to dance.”

2/14
Zero degrees and
My nutso daughter wanted
To go to the park.

Continue reading “A year of haiku about my kids.” →

A year of haiku about my kids.

Obama And The Kids

cohenaaron, , , , Leave a comment

Sullivan hates the politicization of kids, whether by overbearing parents forcing their beliefs upon their children, or by, well, overbearing vice presidential candidates using their kids as cheap props. And then a reader of his writes in to say that their kid really does love Obama without any prompting as they voted for McCain in the primary.

And then on a personal level, I’ve heard from 2 different friends with very young children being raised in, ahem, more homogeneous areas of the country who have taken to calling any black strangers Obama.

Obama And The Kids

Another Thing the Bush Administration Has Ruined

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In preparation for becoming a new parent, I’ve been reading (among other things) The Happiest Baby on the Block, by Dr. Harvey Karp. It’s full of what seems like will be very practical advice for how to soothe a crying baby, which will come in handy on the off chance ours aren’t perfect little angels.

So, anyway, I’m reading Appendix B, “A New Parents’ Survival Guide,” in which Dr. Karp lists ten “survival tips” for new parents. There’s nothing earth-shattering (trust yourself, be flexible, etc.) but I was brought up short by this paragraph in a sidebar titled “Rest: The Essential Nutrient for New Parents:”

The extreme fatigue that goes along with being a new parent can make you feel depressed, irritable, inept, and distort your perceptions of the world like a fun-house mirror. (Some countries torture people by waking them up every time they fall asleep!)

Yeah, some countries. Like, for instance, the United States of America.

Another Thing the Bush Administration Has Ruined