Vote Harris—early, if you can—on the Working Families party line. It is the thing we can do right now to make space for arguments we need to have. Any alternative closes off any room for debate—and not in ways that serve the people we care for the most. For Kina.

Thank you

dad

Mommy is goofier, calmer, and more intense than she lets on.

dad

She’s like, “You look like you’re watching a video by National Geographic—just like oh yes how interesting”

dad

The door has been open all week.

dad

Apparently you can come back to your elementary school for a little while after moving to another country, which I did not know. You can also go to the Apple store for field trips. Man breath.

dad

What do I even know about makeup?

dad

Only a fool would let somebody take their toys.

dad

I don’t know why it was surprising to me that a third grader hadn’t been introduced to the theory of evolution, but I enjoyed the opportunity to think it through with Kina, who was really hung up on the idea that Lucy–an australopithecine ancestor of modern humans (with whom Laurea and Kina are both obsessed)—had parents who might have been chimps.

When did we stop being chimps and start being humans? Was one generation chimp-ly and the next human-ly? What was so different about Lucy?

I told Kina that we don’t stop being one thing and start being another. I am a little chimpier, maybe, than she is. She is closer to the future of who we are than I am.

I did not spend one second thinking of the election this weekend.

dad

If you ever want to watch the modern equivalent of a Laurel and Hardy sketch, just hang out near me and Kina when we are having dinner together and I’m trying to explain common colloquialisms.

dad

When I think back on my childhood, I often remember my parents taking me to the bookstore, and so that is what I have been doing with Kina, now that she is a more avid reader. What I did not consider is the net cost of all those trips to the bookstore.

Time to build a library habit.

dad

The cat on North 6th is definitely planning a whirlwind adventure with Kina. The wink is just the first act.

dad

I just get so few opportunities to call out when Kina doesn’t know what a thing is called. “Construction Thumpers” is so good. Also, she really did spend the entire day just making raspberries.

dad

She’s right. A naked skeleton is just not that scary.

dad

Neither Kina nor I have signed onto Laurea’s plan to go to space in the next four years. Laurea insists that “LEO is open for business.”

dad

I’m not sure how much longer this couch will last. I fear for the new bed.

dad

Happy anniversary to us, now please stop talking.

dad

Just watch this girl and her butterfly clip arbitrage game.

dad

Let’s hear it for the snakes that don’t strangle.

dad

Every vintage turtle desk lamp can be a beloved hypoallergenic pet if you just believe in yourself.

dad

My inner ear cannot tolerate more than one round on even the tamest kiddie coaster anymore, but once the girls figured out they could just ride together, it was all over for the operator of Coney Island’s famed Sea Serpent.

dad

Once you hear “Funky Town” as “Pumpkin Time” you will never go back. I can tell you this with real authority, since I have not stopped singing it in the last two days (to Kina’s consternation).

dad

Every time Gia or her sister Diane come by to babysit, they bring a new game for Kina to play. This is one of her favorite things about having a babysitter—and probably the only thing that makes it possible for us to go on dates without her. She has never met a game she didn’t like, and she somehow always wins. Now we have to buy Battleship.

dad

By this standard, I am also jealous of butterflies. Have a good weekend, and don’t get smooshed.

dad

It’s a busy morning on the street outside, and Kina has her eyes on you.

dad

She thinks I disapprove of her hacking her math test because I am jealous that she can do it.

dad

We regret the error and promise to showcase our Publisher’s long tresses more accurately in the future.

dad

Screaming is health.

dad

Let it be known that we are the house that lets you throw confetti at the end of the sleepover.

dad

They really thought midnights would come and there would be so much mischief, but at the end of the night it was just pizza and exhaustion—but fun exhaustion. More sleepover news in the Sunday edition.

dad

Kina just observes the goofball-scold spectrum, but considers herself above all this.

dad

I don’t know what “mischievous” means here, and I suspect Kina doesn’t either.

dad

If they are soft, they are pajamas.

dad

“Ways of life” in the sense of “existential phenomenology”, I think? Kina is fine with your ways of life.

dad

I mean, it literally gave me nightmares.

dad

My blood child wants you to know that she painted all the clothes in this piece herself—and she did quite a good job, if I do say so. I’m particularly fond of my tie-dye t-shirt at top right, which she achieved through my sophisticated “accidentally paint too much and blot off” technique. Like father, like daughter.

dad

How can this child get any longer??

dad

I just want you all to admire my yellow shirt and red rose pin that caught the eye of a fellow school parent all the way in the East Village on the night of our first handshake while Laurea and I were on a date.

dad

As a lifelong reader, this sudden transition makes me particularly proud, even if it sometimes delays her bath.

dad

Nurses have some pretty gnarly techniques these days. Respect.

dad

THREE EQUAL GROUPS OF FIVE IS DIVISION.

dad

It took eight years, but we are finally waking up earlier than Kina.

dad

We are all so proud.

dad

Kina has been to many mountains more amazing than your own.

dad

There is apparently a rich tradition among third graders of saying you’re going to the bathroom and sneaking down to see Mr. Ortiz instead.

dad

It’s a pretty shocking thing, I imagine, returning from two weeks in the Philippines with your mother and dropping directly into the third day of school. Kina was fine on Monday, but I think she woke up on Tuesday realizing that she was going to be spending a lot less time with Mommy. This all led to a bit of a morning breakdown; we told her that I’d be taking her to school, and things got clingy. I eventually got her out the door, but she needed a little cry to come to terms with the many realities of September.

I was glad to be there for her, even if I’m not Mommy. I have my own signature moves, and they come in handy.

dad

Okay, now that we’re mostly back on track…

This is the fourth first-day-of-school post in the history of the Daily Kina—technically the third day of school for New York City, but her first, since she was at the time tossing out flowers at a wedding halfway around the world. Kina came back from the Philippines about 7% more responsible than the day she left, and you could see that responsibility and independence with brilliant clarity as we took her to school yesterday. She waltzed into the gate without much of a fuss, barely looking back at us as she marched towards another year of education. The fact that this morning was more of an event for us than for her feels like a turning point for this publication.

I’m not ready to consider what that turning means.

Oh no! I am so far behind! Gonna give you a huge anthology post to catch up. tl;dr: When the post begins, it’s over a week ago, and Kina and her mother have returned to Manila from the islands. By the end, she’s a third-grader.

Sep 2: Publisher Thanks Mommy for Planning Trip, Declares It “Best Two Weeks of My Life”

At this point, Kina’s barely halfway and already it’s the best two weeks of her life.

Joy is nine. She lives in Canada. Kina wanted nothing more than to see her before she left today.

The bureau is back in Manila.

dad

Second time snorkeling’s a charm, apparently. Maybe it’s the mist.

dad