I took a big swing on capturing this face today. I confess I am better at faces when they are circles, but I had to convey the side eye with real accuracy to remember it twenty years from now.

dad

I feel like this chapter of the Daily Kina is really about her growing sense of independence and a need to try her tween identity on for size. She negotiated hard for the boundaries that Laurea gave her for her “walk n’ talk” with her friend Raf—from the top of the park to between the softball fields. In all of that space, they could be as grown as they wanted to be, along with all the other twenty-three-year-old children enjoying the sun and learning about each other. And when they wanted to go home, we would be right back where they started, holding their bags, looking out over the grass, and watching them on their journey.

dad

Kina does not necessarily recommend the boring video thing at the Shed by Doug Aitken; my take is that it’s weirdly regressive and also Amazon-washing? The credits thank Lauren Sanchez! What is art?!

dad

It’s not that we have never slept a night without Kina in the next room, or that she can’t sleep over at her grandparents’ places, or that she can’t have a sleepover. It’s that this is the first sleepover at a friend’s house when she’s slept through the night. A small sample size of two, but a great sample last night. We have not eaten alone at our dinner table since Kina was born, I think. Wild.

dad

I mean, I don’t want to overstate the number of blueberries Kina and Sloane came home with. It is possible a few were consumed in the field.

dad

Come for the pupusa-making instructions, stay for the image of Kina’s entire body weight about to land on my thumb.

3.2 stars.

dad

My, how the tables have turned. We knew this day would come.

dad

Eka and Kina have graduated to their “friends seven years apart in age walking around Williamsburg alone and shopping” phase, which seems a far cry from their “friends seven years apart eating lunch with their parents” phase.

dad

This was a particularly powerful trip to the Bay Area for us—an emotional pivot point. As we moved through the week, we acquired memories and feelings that will take some effort to hold onto as we dive back into the city and our work, but there’s lots of coziness ahead for us, no matter where we are. It’s just that we are all here, and I love that.

dad

Laurea had me buy this book when I was in London, and it’s been her vacation reading, or was, until Kina decided she would perform it as a serial during bath time. Still trying to get Kina to take up the other family business, but seems it’ll have to wait a few years.

dad

Kina has always been a beach child, and while Laurea and I mostly love to watch the ocean and feel the movement of the wind, Kina’s love for the place is vigorous and muscular and messy. It has been a good few days with this beach, and we will be sad to go.

dad

It took basically the entire vacation, and we barely made it, but Kina has now enjoyed her annual California strawberry agua fresca, and all is well with the world again—at least in this small way.

dad

I asked Kina to write down what about yesterday felt the most important to her, and it was the candy—not the time our rental car broke down in traffic in the Financial District. We can all learn from this child.

dad

Amoeba Music is still around, and that makes Laurea feel like we are still in our twenties, but god bless Kina for reminding us of the insatiable hunger of time.

dad

Thank you to Jack, the Bolinas resident who in 1957 made a magical little path and built seven perfect bridges across the gully running down to Agate Beach. Thank you also to Cindy and Giorgio, for Kina’s time—and ours—on the mountain.

dad

Tito Giorgio’s green beans and green tractor make a lifelong impression on the publisher today.

dad

Sorry late on the posting. Admiring the deer.

dad

The scratches were worth it, says the publisher.

dad

My dad used to take me in runs around the block in Cambridge as a little kid, and now my own kid is out running with me, and it really is mind boggling and wonderful and invigorating to be alive.

dad

I’ve been saying this to Kina a lot, when she’s scared or frustrated or ashamed, and it really calms her down. It caught me by surprise to hear her say it to me when I noticed that her pedals on bike were hitting the ground on our ride. Maybe nothing to be scared about. Maybe keep riding.

dad