728x90


Dad on a Lark Blog

by Rand Richards Cooper

Lark (lärk): noun. 1. a carefree or spirited adventure. 2. a harmless prank

Dad on a Lark Blog

Lark (lärk): noun. 1. a carefree or spirited adventure. 2. a harmless prank

What She Can Do

Posted September 05, 2007
An old college friend, visiting the other weekend, mentioned that he'd recently learned to play squash, and was having a blast at it. "How often at our age," he asked, "do we get better at something?"

Too true! And could anything bring this home in a more humbling way than having a 15-month-old daughter? Every day, it seems, a toddler can do something new. Larkin is constantly learning things, perfecting fledgling aptitudes and adding to her picture of the world. It is relentless and… Read More

The Politics of Sleep

Posted September 05, 2007
A couple of entries ago, I wrote about how having Larkin affected our sex life. But there's something far more important to new parents than sleeping together: sleeping at all. I mean the crazed struggle, in the first year of your child's life, to get your six hours' worth, or whatever baseline amount you need to stay sane.

What sleeplessness does to the fabric of marital cooperation is not pretty. Sooner or later every slumber-challenged couple gets there -- those moments when the buffer of… Read More
1 Comment

In My Mother's Shoes

Posted September 05, 2007
It's been a stubbornly cold April in New England, but we're assured that spring is in fact almost here. That means Molly and I will soon be taking Larkin in the stroller to Elizabeth Park, a lush rose garden with a gazebo on the grounds of a former estate. The park is one of our most cherished places in the world, a place of delight for us, and of sorrow, too.

Starting parenthood this late in life -- I'm… Read More

The Ostrich

Posted September 05, 2007
Yesterday Larkin took a fall.

She's been walking for all of three weeks now, and on an open stretch of living-room hardwood she toppled forward, face first. Boom.

I was sitting with my morning paper and a cup of coffee. Molly swooped by and scooped Larkin up. There was that lengthy pause between impact and reaction, always a bad sign. Waaaaa! came the outrage at last.

"Is there blood?" I called out.

"Yeah," Molly said, and… Read More

Did We Forget Something?

Posted August 28, 2007
It's Friday, our daughter Larkin's first birthday. Molly's home from work, we're racing around getting ready to drive to her mother's for a little party. All afternoon I've been in typical stay-at-home-dad mode, paying bills, finishing some work, making phone calls, playing with the Lark. Now it's almost 5, and guess what, we're running late.

It's the usual madness. Pack up Larkin's food, get the birthday cake out to the car, find the camera (a photo of her in… Read More
300x250

About Me

I began as a fiction writer (my first novel, "The Last to Go," was made into a really bad TV movie, starring Tyne Daly), then branched out to other writing. By now I've written for over 50 magazines, including "Glamour." "The New York Times Magazine," "Bon Appetit," and "Commonweal." Away from my writing desk, I'm a chess fanatic and hopeless basketball addict. Oh yeah, I'm also the family cook.

My next blog update: December 24, 2008

View My Profile View My Guestbook
April 2010
November 2009
September 2009
August 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
300x250
728x90