My wife thinks my thing for Patrick Stewart is creepy. And maybe it is. I mean, he's really fit for his age. And really rocks male pattern baldness. And the voice... But really, he reminds me of my dad. Both balding, both basically soft-spoken and reserved. Similar ages. I have a real soft spot for my dad, and stories about fathers will make tears well in my eyes. Even the stupid stuff that I've seen Stewart in is great to me, because I always imagine my dad. The made-for TV movie Safehouse where Stewart plays a spy with Alzheimers...there's a moment where Stewart curls up in fetal positions crying because he can't remember anything, and my wife walked in on my tears and shook her head and walked away. Anyway, it's amazing what dads seem to hold inside themselves. At least the dads who grew up before blogs.

It's hard not to love the guy. Colbert does a great interview with him here: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/406902/january-25-2012/grim-colberty-tales-with-maurice-sendak-pt--2

My wife thinks I'm a total wimp. Never had back pain, and only started complaining about it when my two year old was born. Try back LABOR, she says. Try routine surgeries to BURN and KILL the nerves in your spine after a rollover car accident, she says Ok, so she has it harder. But I'm still going to chalk up my debilitating (for a man who's never broken a bone, had stitches, or pushed a bowling ball out of his nether regions) back pain to my heroism as a father who bends over to do things for his kids. I want a medal for Father's Day, I think.

We have our Baby Jail in the attic, and every time I try to bring it down, my wife makes me put it back up. It's been eight months since our 28-month old was incarcerated, so the training may be ruined, but I'd figured that if we could train her young, we'd still be able to use the thing when she was 16. You know how they tie baby elephants to a stake in the ground, and then when the elephants are large enough to pick up a bus, they still don't pull the stake out? It could work for kids, right? Also, people made fun of us for using old oatmeal containers (eight of them, before my mother-in-law recycled them) and the cardboard toilet-paper roll things for toys. We'd just toss 'em in there, and our Addison would gnaw on them the same as Boynton books or fisher price toys. By the way, enjoying your blog.