Jen Wang’s The Prince and the Dressmaker is Great Comics, Great for Dads

The Prince and the Dressmaker art by Jen Wang

I’m late to this. Jen Wang’s The Prince and the Dressmaker came out in 2017. I picked it up earlier this year to read with my 6-year-old daughter.  It’s a 288-page young adult comic book – marketed to ages 12-18. I really didn’t know anything about it, so I figured I would read it first before reading out loud with my daughter.

The setting is a fictional Europe on the cusp between monarchy and modernism – though with a gender-fluidity theme that is very contemporary. (There isn’t anything that a 6-year-old can’t handle, though there is a male character who likes to wear dresses.) The art is wonderful. The characters are sweet. The plotting and pacing are great.

My first read through I cried.

On every subsequent reading – with my daughter and with my wife – I still cry. 

Nearly 3-Year Old Maeve on Girl’s Roles

First page of Oliver Button Is A Sissy – photo via Where the Bear Rugs Are Still Growling

This morning I was reading Tomie diPaola’s book Oliver Button Is A Sissy with my nearly 3-year old daughter Maeve. It’s a sweet poignant 1979 kids book that takes on some gender roles. We’ve read it dozens of times. The opening page states that “Oliver… didn’t like to things that boys are supposed to do.”

I asked Maeve what thought little girls are supposed to do. She thought about it a bit, then responded that little girls are supposed to “sit up straight” especially “when watching Madagascar” (one of her preferred videos these days.)

So it would seem that she’s not all that consciously aware of gender roles. She knows that she and mommy are girls, and that daddy and Silvio, next door, are boys. But, mercifully, she’s not so clear on outdated ideas of what girls are supposed to do.

The neighborhood posse: Silvio, Maeve and Juliana playing cardboard swords earlier this month

(I haven’t posted many daddy blogs lately – apologies. I was trying to think about doing big updates like 2015 in review, but then I don’t get around to it. So I think it’s going to be easier to post short stuff like this, hopefully more frequently… we’ll see.)

19-Month-Old Maeve Is A Climber

Maeve climbing at Shatto Park

I’ve been meaning to post some recent images of our daughter… but between work and parenting and doing a little art and writing about comics on the side, I don’t post often enough. Maeve is 20 months old, and, of course, growing and changing daily. Over the past couple months it seems like she’s been more active, more coordinated and more fearless about climbing up things, especially at the park. 

Maeve’s First 10 Words, Recent Photos

Maeve riding on my back on our hike in the Santa Monica Mountains about a month ago. Photo by Carrie

Our daughter Maeve is 15 months old now. Going to post a fairly quick sort-of scrapbook post here to get down what she’s up to at this age.

She’s talking… I think she speaks about 10 words which she started using in roughly this order:

• mama/mom,
• dada/daddy,
• dog [which is kind of “dah”],
• bye,
• no,
• yah,
• ball [which is kind of “bah”],
• baby [which is kind of “bay”],
• yum [which she says num-num-num which means generally postitive comment on eating/food]
• chick [my wife Carrie heard this, I didn’t – and it’s in the baby chicken sense – from the book Barnyard Dance, one of her favorites]

So maybe it’s a few less than ten? She also uses gestures – pointing  a lot, more-or-less clapping her hands (at least making that motion.) She raises both arms toward us to ask “pick me up.” She understands a lot more: shoes, nose, chin, kiss, diaper, bath, potty, etc.

She was pushing around this toy, really, then stopped to pose for the photo.

She’s definitely mobile

Baby Maeve at Ten Weeks: First Hike

Carrie, Maeve and Joe on the Bearfort Ridge Trail yesterday

Another brief late entry… mostly to get some photographs posted to share with friends and family.

Baby Maeve passed the ten-week mark on Tuesday, a couple days ago. She’s doing well. Sleeping a lot, nursing, pooping, crying, smiling, potato-chip-ping on her tummy, and more.

We’ve been going into NYC a few times, including a trip to the Whitney Museum last Friday, but the big new activity was Maeve’s first hike. We’re car-sitting for Maeve’s uncle Bob, so we took a drive (Maeve’s second time ever in a car) out to Bearfort Mountain, located in Abram S. Hewitt State Forest – in northern New Jersey, near the New York State border.

Baby Maeve at Nine Weeks: Two-Month Check-Up, Photos

My sweet wife Carrie and my great 2-month-old daughter Maeve yesterday

I’ve been a bit under the weather this week – nothing serious – but getting The Weekly Maeve out a whole day late. I am working on a longer entry about a lot of things that we’re not doing… but that’s not ready, so I am just going to post the results of Maeve’s latest visit to the pediatrician… and, of course, photos!

Baby Maeve at Eight Weeks: Trips, Tummy Time, and More

All aboard! Maeve’s first trips on the NY/NJ subway systems

I am continuing my weekly dadblog series, with posts roughly every Tuesday whether there’s really news to report or not. Mostly it’s about posting the latest photos of Maeve to share with friends and family.

Maeve is still sleeping a lot. It may be her favorite activity these days.

As usual, she had been spending time growing, sleeping, eliminating, crying, staring. 

Visiting the Audubon Ballroom’s Malcolm X Memorial

Malcolm X, Maeve and me. Life size statue of Malcolm X at the Shabazz Center at the Audubon Ballroom – the site where Malcolm X was assassinated.

Yesterday, Carrie and I took Maeve across (actually under) the Hudson River for the first time. We visited New York City, specifically the Audubon Ballroom and attended the Bronx River Alliance’s annual Upstream Soiree event – at the Bronx Zoo. The Audubon Ballroom is the site where Malcolm X was shot and killed on February 21st 1965. It’s now the site of the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center.

This post will be sort of travelog – telling the dadblog experience of travelling in the city, and a few thoughts on Malcolm X, whom I am big fan of. I chose (about 20 years ago) the style of my glasses based on Malcolm’s. Read my earlier blog post about Malcolm X here.

Getting going – Carrie, Maeve and stroller – ready for our first trip into the big city.

The day began at our place in Jersey City.

Baby Maeve at Seven Weeks: Growth, Gaze

Maeve asleep on her dad’s chest, this morning.

Maeve turned 7 weeks old today – Tuesday September 16th. This is my weekly dadblog entry – including plenty of photos, but not all that much news.

Maeve about to express herself

Again she’s been spending most of her time asleep and breastfeeding. She poops and pees a lot, mostly in her diaper, sometimes in the adult toilet. My wife Carrie reports that Maeve has smiled twice briefly so far… though I didn’t see it (or photograph it) yet! Maybe I need to scowl less around my daughter, no?

She’s been kind of up and down last week. A few days she slept and hung out fairly quietly all day… then a few days she barely slept at all, with intermittent bursts of wailing inconsolably… generally in the early evening. 

Baby Maeve at 6 Weeks: First Bottle and More

Maeve this week – sometimes pretty focused!

Another week under her belt (though she’s actually not wearing belts yet), Maeve is now six weeks old. She was born July 30th 2013, and I’ve been doing weekly dad-blog posts to share her with family on the West Coast, and the world at large.

A photo to show that the weather is cooling off and we do actually dress Maeve up sometimes.

Again, no earth-shattering developments this week, but plenty of photos and a few updates to post. Maeve has been mainly breast-feeding, pooping, peeing.