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Dad Diary

 As a tutor, I know how challenging it is to stay "plugged in," to dial up one's own interest in an unchanging curriculum, hour after hour after hour.


So I have great admiration for the behavioral coach who works with my son; to me, she is like Chita Rivera, dancing each night with her damaged leg, refusing to "phone it in."

"You need a rubber duckie app, to serve as your potty training aid. The app is called 'Countdown,' and it can be your stopwatch. There are other apps called 'Countdown.' Beware. You want the image of the rubber duckie."

I nod, but I worry that my eyes might lack a sense of earnestness; they might look like they're "performing" (because they are).

"The volume on the stopwatch might soothe your son, as he poops, but it seems to upset your daughter. So be thinking about that. Be thinking about volume controls."

I feel I've entered the set of a Christopher Guest movie.

Our new books are:

*"Amos and Boris" (Beautiful).
*"Uptown" (Light on plot, but it's a smart introduction to Manhattan).
*"Everybody Poops" (Weirdly perfect, from the title to the pacing to the authoritative final line).

Onward and upward.
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