So earnest and so cringeworthily incompetent. Sayeth Kina: “It says it gets it but it totally doesn’t get it!”

dad

Not being there for this was like missing her first steps, except the baby is telling you about it and getting angry at you for being wistful.

dad

The actual most dangerous playset maneuver is jumping off the swings, but she’s not there yet. It’s for fifth graders.

dad

Come for the impressive drawing of Kina twirling, stay for my first kiss with Laurea ever depicted in these pages.

dad

I really love that she owns her tinyness and mightiness. Two great tastes that taste great together.

dad

I am willing to bet it will be a fond memory, just not for a while.

dad

I am still reckoning with what we heard last night. Trans people need your protection today more than ever. My sister Andrew stood tall in one of the oldest churches in New York and sang her heart out. Neither Kina nor I will ever forget it.

dad

I’ll keep standing by that gate as long as she will have me.

dad

Sign me up.

dad

That’s right, Kina. You never trust the AI overview.

dad

The last water balloons are always bittersweet.

dad

It felt like the last playground of her childhood, but maybe it was just dark.

dad

Her favorite bit by far was the Muppet Babies montage.

dad

Fifth grade might be a doozy, but fourth is fine for now.

dad

She makes the truffle market sound so simple.

dad

Now I’m trying to remember when I stopped having snack time in school. Feels wrong somehow.

dad

today is the only first day of fourth grade kina will ever have, and she is taking it seriously. it’s getting to the point where i can remember being her age a lot more easily, and that is weirding me out. FOURTH GRADE!!!

dad

That was quite a drive home, but at least she was listening on headphones. We survived!

dad

Intoned as if in the trailer of a Hallmark Channel movie: It was cold in the water but warm in our hearts. For Kina, the beach is home.

dad

Bloop! Don’t talk to me! Over!

dad