Your kid is recovering from the stress of birth. You’re in what I like to call the false-sense-of-security phase, where they sleep 18 hours a day and basically only require food and changing. It’ll change as time goes on.

Personally, I’m a fan of Montessori. Your kid is a really long way off from math (mine are 3 and 5, and they’re just starting to get even the concept). But his little brain is developing in other ways. Right now, things like singing and bold visual patterns are great (my kids had a black and white book and they’d get super into it). Just try to be patient; take the opportunity to get to know him and enjoy time with him.

When he’s ready to explore other foods, I highly recommend Solid Starts–it’s great for them both for trying new things and for brain development.

And do you best to avoid screens for a couple years. No judgement here (we definitely have more screen time than we should), but screens are more harm than good before age 2.

The best thing we’ve done is visiting some friends (who also have kids that age) who live out in a rural area. We don’t have to spend as much time wrangling them that way (especially because our friends already had a child-proofed house), and after the kids went to bed, got to play board games and drink bourbon. The first night for our kids tends to be a bit rough, so we bring melatonin as well.

Even then, it’s still kinda stressful. It’s a phase you’re in for a while, I’m mostly resigned to it (and saving my more ambitious plans for when the kids are easier to travel with).

Brilliant. Good setup, nice twist at the end.