Sometimes a thank you is just not quite enough.
Read MoreGetting Totally Schooled
Don't wait. Push for it now.
Read MoreLearning from the Pros at the Global Genes Summit - part 1
Holy toledo. As soon as I got to the summit, I realized I was surrounded by powerful people.
Read MoreThe Magic Sentence
Pretty much every night these days, after dinner she and I coax the kids into bed. We shake off the evening weariness, the yearning to binge-watch a delightfully mindless season of a TV show, and put on a pot of tea. And we get to work.
Read MoreAnswers
There's a new email in my inbox. "To whom it may concern," it starts off. "My name is Mike Fountain and I conduct research at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. I believe I have some answers for you and Tess."
Read MoreBones and Teeth
This week the boy broke his arm. Broke it right at the elbow, which is hard to get healed up. He's in a cast. He got some signatures on it, and then novelty wore off pretty damn quick after that.
Read MoreNot Giving Up
When you have a child with a rare disease, the unknown, the unsolvedness, gets into your bones. Finds its way into your nights and shakes you awake.
Read MoreThis Isn't Over
My wife and I are a tiiiiiny bit type A. We try to be laid-back and pretend we aren't, but we totally are. We run marathons, we get up in the dark to work out, we engineer our diets for maximum performance. In her career, she constantly seeks ways to be better, to give her patients an even higher standard of care. As for me at home, I scour reading lists for the kids, scout out nifty DIY science projects, and hatch sneaky ways to stimulate growing minds. This intensity is what drove my wife and me to marry each other. Our first date was a 17-mile run, essentially on a dare. We pick the hard things. And then we do them until we succeed.
Read MoreMight As Well Jump
Now that Tess is starting kindergarten this fall, something completely insane but also necessary is about to happen in our house.
Read MoreSummer Madness, or Three Rules to Keep Me Sane with the Kids
Summertiiiime, and the livin' is actually not so easy. This is my sixth summer being at home with the kids. It is without structure. It is free form. It is a freaking disaster. Or at least it can be, if I don't do it right.
Read MoreOn the DL
As you may know, I had knee surgery a few weeks ago. You see, Last December I went to a trampoline center. I was enticed by something that'll probably never happen for me without significant elastic assistance: dunking. That's right, they had a giant trampoline under a basketball hoop. How could I say no? What could go wrong?
Read MoreNight-Night
For some time now, we've suspected that Tess has an auditory processing disorder. She's slow to respond to sounds. Sometimes she doesn't appear to register them at all. We narrate her day, singing, "Okay Tess, let's walk walk walk," or "Want to eat? Eat eat eat?" I'm sure we sound like nutballs.
Read MoreOh No
School vacation week is coming to an end. As in other years, with time off Tess blazed new trails. We never know when she'll hit a new phase of development. She's on her own timeline. But it's safe to say that this week she finally reached a new phase. One that we've been dreading in a big, big way.
Read MoreOh Yes
This week my wife and I both got an email. It was one of the greatest messages I've ever gotten in my entire life. It was from Tess's teacher.
Read MoreNo, I Am Not on Glue
For a few months when we lived in another state, I sometimes drove our car, even though I had let the inspection lapse. "What are you, on glue?" my friend wanted to know when he found out. "You could lose your license. You can get fined. They can take your car away."
Read MorePixie Cut
Tess got herself a nifty hairdo recently. It's what's known in tonsorial circles as a pixie cut. Yes, it's a bit boyish, I know. My wife was slightly horrified when she and I returned from the haircut place. Barrettes were assembled, to signify to the world that she's a girl. But aesthetics aside, we had a good reason for giving the T-Bird such a short 'do.
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