Called the pediatrician and he suggested to watch the poop for 3 days. I'm so worried though! Any other dads with similar experience? Kinda freaking out..

Hey fellow dads! Lego and Gaming is a great thing if you be a dad, i think🥰

If you like zelda, we also made a video from it with all the sound, music and bit of a story🥳

https://youtu.be/YDes6mTK4U4?is=wM31k6H_Q8HSDRDo

Red Delicious apples are the three truths and a lie of the fruit world.

With the great day of candy acquisition approaching, I'm genuinely begging you all to stop driving to the "nice" neighborhoods to trick-or-treat if at all possible.

I've lived in three different neighborhoods in my city. All were perfectly safe, walkable, and had a decent mix of families and people of all ages. None have had any trick-or-treaters in years. Because everybody drives to one of three wealthier neighborhoods across town.

We now live on the outskirts of one of those neighborhoods, so we get to witness the other side of this from 2 blocks away. And I've got a few gripes.

• The traffic is ridiculous.

Every road is packed with cars, both from across town and from smaller communities outside the city. And probably half the people out there aren't even getting out of their cars. They're just slowly cruising the streets while their kids hop out to hit houses. It gets so congested that it's just straight up unsafe.

• You're screwing over your own neighbors.

This is my biggest gripe. At every house we've lived in, we've decorated, bought candy, and gotten maybe one or two knocks all night. My wife loves holidays, and it genuinely guts her every year.

And I know we're not the only ones. There are people in your neighborhood who would love to hand out candy, see the kids in costumes, and participate in Halloween. But after a few years of nobody showing up, why would they keep bothering? Then fewer people decorate, fewer people buy candy, and the neighborhood becomes even less appealing the next year. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

• The candy jackpot is mostly a myth.

The whole "go to the rich neighborhood for full-sized candy bars" thing is overblown. I can think of maybe one house in our town that does it, and they're out by 6 p.m. anyway. After that, you're getting the same miniature candy you could've gotten anywhere else.

• It's gotten so bad that some neighborhoods are doing their own pre-trick-or-treating.

At least around here, some of the popular neighborhoods have started doing early Halloween activities just for their own kids because they know the rest of the city will show up an hour later.

You can call that exclusionary if you want, and I wouldn't necessarily disagree. But it's pretty sad that a neighborhood feels like it has to carve out a private window for its own children just to enjoy Halloween before the crowds arrive.

Halloween isn't a "rich-neighborhood"-exclusive holiday. Odds are good that if this stopped happening, your neighborhood might just be worth trick-or-treating in, too.

Sure, your kids might come home with a few more off-brand Jolly Ranchers and Tootsie Rolls instead of Snickers and Sour Patch Kids. But do we really think they care that much? They're little kids in costumes getting free candy from their neighbors, that's the whole point.

It might take a couple of years to turn things around. Neighborhoods that haven't seen trick-or-treaters in a decade aren't going to magically bounce back overnight. Maybe organize a block party or get a few neighbors together to decorate? I don't know.

Caveat: I'm talking about a solidly suburban city of about 100,000 people, where perfectly walkable neighborhoods are being bypassed for a handful of popular destinations. If you live somewhere genuinely unsafe or so spread out that walking door-to-door isn't practical, obviously that's a different story. But when 20,000 kids descend on a neighborhood of roughly 300 homes, maybe we've collectively lost the plot a little.

There was a post on here a while ago about dad shoes. Somebody mentioned these bad boys. They are on Amazon for 25% off right now. Sensible deal.

As soon as I slipped them on, I felt the uncontrollable urge to subscribe to Consumer Reports. I made a comment to my wife about when my neighbor was thinking about starting to work on the leaves in his yard. I felt compelled to announce that the days are getting shorter.

Join me brothers

Skipping ahead, he's fine.

Basically, my wife and I went to the cinema with friends. Trusted baby sitter is with him and my 2 year old. She clearly thought he was asleep and was getting the youngest to sleep. He crept downstairs, unlocked the door and went outside topless and with no shoes. All the way down the road.

I literally only saw him because the doorcam notification popped up on my phone as the movie was starting and I thought it was a bit late. Called the baby sitter immediately and the road WhatsApp group. Baby sitter found him 1 minute later.

He's not thick, but he is diagnosed as autistic but is very high functioning and social, just clearly lacking in common sense.

How do I react/explain what he did is wrong? Please bear in mind I've already told him don't answer the door to strangers, don't go outside without mummy or daddy etc.

Don't be afraid to make noise when you're kids are sleeping. My wife and I have never once turned down the tv/music/our own voice while the kid was sleeping. We got her a sound machine for her and just do what we would as normal. Yeah we woke her up a few times, and yeah that sucks. But shes slept like a rock since she was very little.

I play Forza and watch movies at theater level with an 7.4.2 sound system and she doesn't flinch. I play my electric guitar at mid levels and she's fine. All this from across the hall with the doors open. She's 13 now and still doesn't bother her.

My brother and sister in law used to tip toe around their house. They would invite us over and we'd have to watch a movie on closed caption. It was miserable and I swore I wouldn't do that.

YMMV of course, but it worked for me.

Hold on dads. This one may be a tear jerker. Proceed at your own risk.

This October marks the 17th anniversary of my daughters mothers death. She was killed by a drunk driver in her early 20’s. Because of work, I wasn’t around for a decent part of my daughter’s early years. After her mom’s death I wasn’t sure how to raise her. Best I could think of is to raise her as her mother would’ve. Do my best not to fuck up what she started. Her mom was an amazing person.

Music was always special to her mom. She enlightened me on the finer points of rock music. Everything from Beatles to System of a Down and Ozzy. After her death I made sure to include various music genres as much as I could in our lives.

As my daughter got older, I started taking her to concerts. Eventually she began buying her own tickets and attending concerts out of state by herself or with friends.

Last Christmas I gifted her 2 tickets to the Sick New World in Texas so she could take anyone she wanted. She. Chose. Me.

So at the concert, System of a Down began playing Aerials. This song always held a special memory for me and her mom. I shed some tears during a metal concert. I wished the three of us could’ve attended it together.

I honestly feel like I did it. I raised a fantastic person. One her mom would’ve been so proud of. I managed to not screw up what her mom started. I’m sitting on an airplane next to strangers right now balling. This weekend had so much emotion for me and I don’t know who could truly appreciate this wave other than other dads.

For those struggling, keep at it. It gets better. There is no greater success than raising a great person.

Also, this post contains way too much personal information but I wanted to share it anyways. I’ll just delete it in a week or so. Thanks for listening.

42M married to a 40F. We've been together for a while. We have an 8 year old boy who is the crowning jewel to this family.

Unfortunately, the love isn't there with the misses. I have stated once before, that once my son is old enough to grab a cold one with his old fart, I'm going to probably break down in tears at the bar with him.

I love my son damn death.

Hey y’all, my wife and I are expecting in April! I’ve been a 95% pc gamer for many years. I recognize my time sitting at the desktop rig will be greatly reduced, and it’s been dwindling naturally anyways over the past few years with home maintenance, longer commute, etc.

Did any PC gamers switch to a handheld, laptop, or something else to fit in some gaming when possible? What did you find worked well? Anything you tried and didn’t like?

I recently tried XR glasses + moonlight/apollo on my phone and it worked alright but not quite smoothly or comfortably enough, the glasses are probably getting returned. Handhelds are hot right now but it seems like it’s tough to get performance and value for the price. Laptops seem like a better value but aren’t quite as convenient as the handheld idea.

If relevant, I normally play fairly recent single player games on Steam or Epic, but nothing my AMD 6700 has struggled with yet.

Title might seem harsh, and let it be known that I LOVE my 6 week old son. I would do anything for him and readily rise up at my most tired to make sure he’s clean fed and healthy. I’d empty my bank account at a pin drop to make sure he’s healthy and not think twice.

But he is very annoying. The loud cries that turn him purple for the slightest inconvenience , keeping me up all night and forcing me to hold a siren directly to my face, the constant guessing what’s wrong, worrying about breathing and chest movement when really all he is doing is trying to pass some gas, he won’t take a bottle anymore for some reason, he overreacts, squirms and makes terrifying noises in his sleep, the list goes on.

I don’t even feel guilty about thinking my little cub is annoying. He isn’t supposed to be easy. I hear about people’s angelic perfect babies and don’t even get jealous, mine just kinda stinks at being a baby and that is okay.

If you kinda think ur baby is super annoying and don’t look foward to every second with them I think that is A-Okay. I’m not raising a baby, I am raising a man who just happens to be a baby right now. And I think it’s okay to let yourself feel annoyed.

I love this little baby but I fantasize everyday about him being older, and I see this as the trial I have to persevere through to get to my little man.

Winter is on its way to the North-East before too long, and that means outside time with the baby (almost 6 months!) Is about to be deeply limited from the cold, dry air and inevitable snow/ice. I decided it would be a fun idea to put a bucket swing in the warm basement for when the little gremlin gets bored during the day or fussy in the evening/night and little squeals and sing-screams wont bother neighbors or anyone in the house (wife works from home on 1st floor, no office door).

Wife loved it and got excited and ordered the little bucket swing. I told her I was going to make a trip to the store for a set of carabiner clips and a pair of swivel plates, maybe some wood anchors if I didn't have the right size.

She said "I ordered those too, the hardware stores on either side didn't have the right size." I was surprised neither had them but told her "Nice, good job checking. I'll get it all put up when they come in." Didn't think anything of it, went down stairs and decided where I'd put it up and put laid out the foam safety pads to secure the swing path for falling.

3 days later, swing shows up, about a pound and a half of a plastic bucket swing and little ropes. Nice.

The next day, a little box also shows up, about the size of a football. Swivel plates and anchor bolts. About +8lbs worth of metal. She bought an iron ductwork suspension anchor kit! Not expensive, but look at the photo! These things are bonkers! Its for a 19lb baby! 10in by 1/2in anchor bolts!

I thought it was a misorder. I went and showed her what showed up going "Gee whiz, look how fat they think our baby is!" She tells me that she did order that size she wanted to be safe, she said it was for max 300lb in case we use the for a bigger swing in the future. She goes to show me her phone, each anchor is rated for securing 2,000lbs.

I said "Its for a baby swing, not mooring in cargo ships!" and she just started giggling. It was a rough week so this was a genuinely funny interaction and we both needed a little laugh. Just gonna run out before afternoon nap for some eyebolts instead.

My son has unfortunately reached the “I want this toy!” stage of toddlerhood and it’s making going to target quite hard since he wants to first, see the monster trucks, then he wants to of course buy one when we leave.

We have like 20 trucks already at home, don’t need more.

This of course leads to a tantrum as we say no and then have to rush out the store/check out with a crying 2.5 year old.

Any tips on how to get him to understand that he can’t get a new toy every time we have to go to the store?

Gonna rant but need some advice on how to turn the ship around. We have a 2 year old girl (she’ll be 3 in December) and a 9 month old girl. We moved a little over a year ago to be closer to my family and my wife quit her job to make the move. She’s been a stay at home mom for the first time (plan to return to work fully next September).

Since this new baby I’ve been getting consistent feedback from my wife that I care more about the girls than her. In an essential way, that’s true, but they’re also babies and therefore need more love and attention. It’s showing up in moments where I have no more patience to give, or co-parenting nit picks or comments that simply make me respond with sarcasm and a terse tone.

I’ve been chewed out for this both in and out of couples counseling sessions (my idea btw) but it happened again just now after I was short this morning. Our 9mo has been sick 7 of the last 8 weeks as her immune system builds and we’re not sleeping well. So in the mornings I try to let my wife sleep in while I prep everything and juggle the girls. She asked me some questions this morning during handoff and I didn’t snap but I wasn’t levelheaded, and man…I’m just tired of it all.

It feels like there’s no time for a relationship and I don’t have the patience to be a loving and kind husband. My cup is just empty. Anybody feel this way?

Honestly much respect on the random Ramen seasoning packet. 😂😂

Middle schoolers, man

First time soldering a circuit board like this. Baby monitor speaker connector came off. It works!!

Ive soldered simple easy stuff before but nothing like this. Very pumped.

I am back at work as normal and my wife being on maternity leave has taken this next long weekend to spend time with relatives in Scotland. I have Thursday and Friday evenings free then I travel up north on Saturday morning for the weekend and I have Monday booked off work too so it should be a nice trip. But I am acutely aware I have not had this s much time alone since my wife has been pregnant and I actually haven't had any spare time free since my 5 month was born and I don't want to waste it!

I have all the streaming platforms available (except Apple) what would you recommend to watch? I can stay up as late as 11-12/1am if I must (finish work at 5pm averagely)

I just don't want to waste this opportunity

(If you must know I am planning on Thursday being taco/mexican fajita night -I might get a few coronas or desporados in then Friday night I am going all out with steak and chips, thinking blue Stilton cheese and a cheesecake to finish, I am keeping myself to two pints of Guinness as I am driving 8 hours the next day to Scotland)

I try to log some overtime for work each night after the kids go to bed. Lately my 3yo has decided to make a game out of nighttime routine and see how many times she can be put back into bed. Every single night this week

Shower, brush teeth, read story, put her in bed
Go to my office across the hall, log in, hear tiny footsteps
Put her back in bed
Back to office, sit down, read two lines of an email, tiny footsteps
Put her back in bed
Repeat for the next 20-40 mins

About the only thing I’m getting out of this is the core workout from sitting and getting back up. The problem is her window to stop coming out of the room varies so much that sometimes it only take three times of putting her back and sometimes it takes 15.

I consider myself a reasonably handy guy. I do basic plumbing, change my own brake pads, build furniture without calling for backup. I felt ready for fatherhood.

so on Saturday afternoon, I stepped into the driveway to install our new convertible car seat. Just a simple swap. Click the little metal anchors into the back seat, tighten the strap, check the level. Ten minutes, right?

Two hours later, I was drenched in sweat, bleeding from my right knuckle, and kneeling in the back of my Honda with my entire body weight compressing the upholstery into a DIAMOND.

The manual calmly says to "apply firm pressure." Firm pressure? I had both knees in the plastic base, pulling the tether strap with both hands like I was trying to deadlift an engine block. I pulled until my vision went blurry.

I step out, wipe the sweat from my eyes, and look at the little plastic bubble indicator on the side.

Still half an inch in the red zone. Not even close.

I grabbed the seat and shook it with one hand to test the fit. The entire rear axle of the car moved, but the seat still slid three inches to the left. Its like the laws of physics simply do not apply to child safety hardware.

Why do car seat engineers assume every father has the grip strength of an industrial hydraulic press?

Title says all. How on earth did this replace door to door trick or treating? Literally the whole time my kids getting stepped on by the family behind us trying to get through the trunk or treat for the free hot dogs at the end, and we spent more time waiting in line than we did actually doing the trunk or treating.

Back in my day you’d go out for 2-3 hours with pillow cases and come back with damn near a tote full of candy while being a hooligan through the neighborhood. Great times were had. Your parents would decorate and you’d help to get your house as spooky scary as possible. I cannot communicate the joy all of that would bring me. And it’s been mostly replaced in my area by this absolutely horrid trunk or treating. I hated it before I ever tried the trunk or treating and now I’m just viscerally pissed off something so awful could replace something so key to my childhood.

Anyway, rant over. Fuck whoever thought up trunk or treating, I hope the depths of hell burn you for eternity for depriving so many kids the opportunity of being miscreants and getting candy the old fashioned way.

Specifically, the spouses of your siblings. My 8yo son and 13yo nephew are very close. My nephew is the youngest of five kids so he likes being in charge and looked up to. My sister remarried about four years ago and I don't know her husband too well. He has no kids of his own and they do not plan on having any children. My son and nephew are going T/T in my nephew's area and spend the night. I found out that the only adult supervision will be my nephew's stepdad. He'll pick up my son and will take them out t/t and to the beach/IHOP on Saturday morning.

I don't distrust my sister's second husband, but I also don't know him well. My nephew is indifferent towards him.

My wife has been saying lately that I make bedtime difficult. I like to think of myself as helpful and involved. My ideas might be a little unorthodox but I don’t think I’m crazy.

After my 10 and 8 year old sons were done getting ready for bed, the three of us were in the living room. The two boys were reading books and I was fiddling around on my acoustic guitar. I was singing an older song by Toad the Wet Sprocket called “Walk on the Ocean.” Well, the 8 year old asked some questions about it.

We started thinking about different lines and what they might mean, and then when I sang through the song again I didn’t realize that he started crying. He just thought the song was so sad he was moved to tears. I stopped playing and went to comfort him.

In comes the wife, seeing a crying child, and thinks that I’ve done something horrible. I tried explaining that he was just moved by the song. She said “This is how you make bedtime so difficult, you should know better than to play sad songs before bedtime. You ALWAYS play sad songs and you should be more aware of your highly emotional children!”

So, yup, I can’t argue. I made bedtime way more difficult. I sang a song and made him cry.

We read a few picture books together. I read some Calvin and Hobbes strips to help him start laughing again. He’s in his room now reading away.

Tomorrow night we go back to AC/DC and the Ramones.

Worst dad ever.

Seriously, when is it going to stop with the glasses full of water that keep getting knocked over the table?

If it's not the baby, its the toddler. If it's not the toddler, it's me.... I'm just so tired of cleaning everything in the middle of dinner and again after. And all the time... Bah

Our very verbal two year old has a few key stories that she constantly brings up and loves to talk about. It's very cute, but I'm wondering if we're alone or if this is a known two year old thing, as I don't recall her older sister doing it. So far the stories we have on repeat are:

• Deer ate the pumpkin (This actually happened, we saw a deer pick up a pumpkin someone had thrown into the woods, start munching on it, and wave it around in the air. Big day.)

• Bear went up and down (She went on a carousel ride at the zoo and cried the entire time, despite generally loving carousels.)

Do you all have fun ones too?