If You Hate Cats, This May Change Your Mind

Posted under VIDEOTAPE

Listen, I’m not a cat fan. I’ve never really liked them. Maybe it’s because I’m allergic to them or maybe I just don’t like creatures that poop in sandboxes but they’ve always seemed unimpressed with me. But this video makes me think cat+human relations could be salvaged. The way this cat shows this baby affection […]



Cleaning Gladiator: Dad vs Son

Posted under VIDEOTAPE

Kids are perpetual mess factories. But, how often does a kid get the go-ahead to intentionally MAKE messes? I wish you could’ve seen the “opening a big present” look on my 7-year-old’s face when I asked him to. Well, at first he looked at me sideways, like I was playing a trick or had simply […]



Recognizing Your Parents…

Posted under SNAPSHOTS

Arden, I've had this beard for 99.9999% of your little life. Honestly, I'm worried what would happen if I shaved it. I remember when I first met your mom I couldn't even grow this crazy thing. It was patchy and took months to even show up as fuzz. Good luck growing your own face sweater, […]



First Mars, Then a Galaxy Far Far Away

Posted under "MY KID JUST SAID...", SNAPSHOTS

I’d been seeing little bits and pieces about Elon Musk’s announcement at the International Astronautical Congress (see article/video) to put plans into hyperdrive for Mars manned missions and even colonization. With the goal of getting us blasted off in less than a decade, he stated, “I really have no other purpose than to make [human] […]



That Time Tom Hanks Crashed Your Wedding

Posted under VIDEOTAPE

Did you have a dream of what your wedding would look like? Did you imagine Tom Hanks would be there? Well, for this couple, that dream became reality. Now, I eloped with my wife because apparently I’m not big on pomp and circumstance, but there’s a part of me that wishes we had done the […]



Our Parents Had It Sooooooo Easy

Posted under NOTEBOOK

You know that old “back in my day” line, where older folks grumble about how hard they had it; carrying half a library, barefoot for ten miles to school, uphill both ways, that sort of thing? Well, you don’t hear too much from them like that about how they had it as parents. Earlier generations […]



What I Say VERSUS What My Kid Hears

Posted under SNAPSHOTS

The number one waste of oxygen on the planet is parents telling their kids things. Probably. Something seems to get lost in translation from the moment sound leaves a parents lips to their kids’ banana-filled ears on the way to the blank slates of the perpetual-imagination machines in their little round heads. Most kids’ ability […]



He Just Wants To Be A Real Boy

Posted under SNAPSHOTS

A photo posted by Charlie Capen (@charliecapen) on Aug 13, 2015 at 4:53pm PDT How does this happen? I need answers. I feel like Geppetto and my marionette son is becoming a real boy. But the truth is I’m the dummy. Every day is a process of chipping away my own woodenness as a parent. […]



This Dad Gets It

Posted under SNAPSHOTS

The following was posted on Facebook and shared into my feed last night. It sums up something I’ve been going through with my older son. Though Finn isn’t autistic he is a special brand of human: sensitive, brilliant, quirky, analytical, impulsive, hilarious. And this boy, below, seems like a brother from another mother. But I […]