Spain Dad, a baby blog

The woman in front of us was holding her sleeping daughter in her arms. Her husband was in front of her pulling their luggage and pushing a stroller with a sleeping baby through the herd of backpackers and the men picketing with their signs for hotels and cars for hire and wine tours and excursions [...]

“Why is she crying?” Josie asked. I sat down on the couch next to Alleke and lifted her into my arms. “Because Alleke has to say goodbye to her cousins, and she’s not going to see them for a very long time. Not until Christmas.” Alleke screeched again like tires skidding through an intersection, then [...]

Alleke would like to show you her wooden shoes and how to scrub the streets before the parade…

Especially when April loves nothing more than to travel, and Amsterdam is one of her favorite cities on the planet, and I offered to keep Alleke at home with me while she was gone. The idea was to send April to Amsterdam for a weekend conference while Alleke and I stayed in Madrid. April often [...]

Shani wrenched the steering wheel and bumbled off the highway towards a gas station. She brought the car to a screeching halt, the doors sprung open, and all six of us scrambled out—as if the car were swarming with bees. In fact, Alleke had vomited in the car. She was too young to know to [...]

I don’t sleep well on planes, and having been slung shot across the ocean, effectively winding the clock forward seven hours, I found myself sitting at home in front of a bowl of cereal wondering when I could go back to bed. I still had the whole day in front of me. So when April [...]

St Mary’s Church by roytsaplinjr. I spent Saturday afternoon in a tank top weed eating around tombstones in the cemetery where my grandmother is buried. The stones are scattered around a rural church, which sits like a schoolhouse on the corner where two highways cross, giving a handful of folks a reason to pull into [...]

Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-232 by Cubbie_n_Vegas. I expected to be in Madrid this morning, but I’m in Atlanta. I was one of thousands of people stuck at the airport. A delayed flight, then a missed flight, and eventually standing in line for four hours to rebook for the next day was everyone’s story. I [...]

Alleke sat at the end of the bed and held her blankie. She watched as I lowered the curtains, dimmed the light, and kneeled down next to her. “I want to tell you something before you go to sleep tonight,” I said. I ran my fingers through her hair. “Tomorrow dad is going to go [...]

Who would have thought a vacation at the beach would demand so much courage… Watch Courage on Vimeo. For more, see photos of Alleke’s first trip to the beach… …and thanks to everyone who left suggestions on games we could play with Alleke at the beach.