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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

I Am Woman

Posted November 01, 2007
I often wonder what my parents would have said, back in 1965 or so, if they'd been able to see into my future. Here I am, a robust American male, and how do I spend my time? Take one recent Thursday. After squeezing in some morning writing, I dealt with a caterer for an hour over the details (food, flowers) of a fund-raising party Molly and I are involved in. At 12:15 I picked up Larkin and stopped for a visit at my buddy Dan's house.… Read More
4 people found this post helpful 4 Comments

She's So Smahhhht!

Posted October 17, 2007
Before we had a child, Molly and I used to yuck it up over parents who boast about their kids. Couldn't they see how wrongheaded, how tacky that was? One friend breathlessly updated me on what grade level her son was reading at, as each year the little Einstein raced further ahead of his peers. Another spent 20 minutes one time discussing his 18-month-old daughter's "intellectual interests." Meanwhile, the girl was sitting in front of us, dismantling a red wagon with the savage zeal of a Visigoth,… Read More
3 Comments

My Tree Thing

Posted October 03, 2007

One morning last week I took Larkin around the corner to a public meeting concerning three curbside trees the city wanted to take down. People listened to a city engineer explain that the trees were causing a problem. The sidewalk was buckling, its plates of gray slate pushed up by roots. A maximum 1 inch gap was allowed between those sidewalk sections, he said.

When it was our turn, some kids from the grade school read poems ("A tree is something I know," began one), and… Read More
2 Comments

Are We Relaxed Yet?

Posted September 24, 2007

Summer drew to a close, and Molly and I were still asking each other, "Are we relaxed yet?"

For us, summer means travel, and this year's centerpiece was a week in Ireland, thanks to an article I was writing for Bon Appétit. We considered making it a family trip. But with Larkin launched into early-onset Terrible Twos, we envisioned a holiday that started with a sleepless, screaming transatlantic flight and diplomatic crises with fellow passengers, then went downhill from there. So I traveled to Ireland alone.… Read More
2 Comments

Tantrums

Posted September 05, 2007

As I write this, Larkin is in her room, screaming. It's a terrible, soul-crushing sound.

"She's upset that I tried to put her shoes on," Molly said when I went over to see what was up.

Larkin is just a year and a half old, but she has started the Terrible Twos already. She tests boundaries, she whines, she throws the occasional full-blown tantrum -- you know, the kind where she arches her back, goes rigid, and falls to the floor, writhing in… Read More
3 people found this post helpful 6 Comments

Those Little Blue Bags

Posted September 05, 2007

Today's blog is an exercise in pure anxiety. It's about my newspaper problem.

Years ago in my pre-fatherhood life, over lunch with an old college friend, I mentioned something I'd read that morning in the New York Times, and he winced. What with two little kids, he told me, he no longer had time for the Times. Couldn't keep up. He'd begun actually to hate the Sunday Times in particular, he confessed -- it was so big. Finally he let… Read More
2 people found this post helpful
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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

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