At the end of the visit, the spy museum sends out a dossier about your kid, and it says that Kina is either a fashion designer or a social worker.

So, no lasers.

dad

Cheddar Cheese and Bacon makes its first showing in The Daily Kina in a secondary headline on August 13 of 2020, in the height of outdoor dining, when Kina discovered the wonders of a good bacon, egg, and cheese. Then, about a year later, we had a celebratory visit to Cheddar Cheese and Bacon. We haven’t documented a morning visit to the mothership since then, and so it is with great pleasure that Kina and I walked to the local coffee shop for a sandwich on a day off from school, splitting it straight down the middle and talking about dogs. I missed it, really.

dad

This is that adult, pierced-ears Kina showing up to keep me accountable.

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“We call them strong ladies, Kina,” responded Mommy.

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I don’t know that I’ve felt the passage of time so keenly as I did when I watched Kina’s face transition between cusp-of-weeping anxiety and confident adulthood as she got holes punched in her earlobes.

I can’t say it any other way than that she is this much closer to growing up.

It was worth an entire issue.

I’m really proud of my Garfield.

dad

Honestly, anybody could have guessed that she was going to order the chawanmushi.

dad

They would have played Guess Who, but only one party had the game close at hand.

dad

Who among us has not enjoyed some chicken and rice with a friend?

dad

For those of you who have been receiving your daily (sometimes) copy of this publication for more than four years, you may recall a storyline about a mysterious toy called “Oakwul” that consumed a few weeks of newspapers in the midst of the pandemic lockdown.

Last night, I pulled out one of seven archival storage boxes containing every edition of The Daily Kina and walked Kina through a few at random. Watching her read about herself at the tender age of three, from a time she barely recalls, was deeply satisfying for me.

I’ve always said that this newspaper is for Kina more than it is for anybody else, and now that I can give it to her in little chunks, it feels like I’ve kept a promise.

It’s a bit late for Valentine’s Day, but the teachers got the flu (I thought they’d get off scot-free, but nope) and then there is a random week of vacation that probably should happen in December but doesn’t, and so here come the valentines.

It’s a nonsense holiday, but the way kids do it is kind of nice. People like her drawings and how she picks people up. It’s a vibe.

dad

It’s really hard to paint a well-lit finale from a Broadway show with watercolors when you’ve never seen the show and your kid won’t tell you anything about it.

Baby’s first Fierrrrooooooooo

dad

I think that a publisher who gets out of the taxicab chair and sits in the Big Girl Chair after six years of haircuts deserves a little strand of fairy hair or two. Just a little older. Just a little.

dad

I feel like this is why parents buy little leg-breaking trampolines. The beds can’t handle it!

dad

It took her a few times to get the clues straight, but she’s a real Encyclopedia Brown.

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She doesn’t need to know the name. It’s just that street.

dad

No scab is truly safe from craziness.

dad

On one hand, there is a fairly substantial reality gap in Kina’s understanding of the current situation with housing costs in America.

On the other hand, I think it’s hilarious that she would spend three times the cost of her mansion on beanbags.

dad

I Like: Taking Kina to the kids’ vintage store.

I Dislike: Ball pits.

dad

There are few things that have made me as proud as Laurea sending me a text saying “Kina ran three laps!”

Go slow to go far!

dad