The Diaper Chronicles

When my son, Eden, was born in 2004, I decided to become a stay/work-at-home dad. I had two reasons for being so eager to immerse myself in dirty diapers, drool, and strained peas. First, I had developed some unusual theories on how to raise great kids that I wanted to apply, such as the Power of No and The 4N theory. And second, I was dying. I was born in 1970 in Tel Aviv, Israel and moved to Pittsburgh in 1996 to pursue my master's degree. Shortly after my arrival I met a beautiful French woman named Michelle and fell in love. A year later, during a routine physical, I learned I had an irreversible and life-threatening kidney disease. I was twenty-six years old, and the doctor doubted that I'd see thirty. In the face of this news, I refused to give up my dream of marrying Michelle and raising a multi-national family in the US. Living on borrowed time, and despite everyone I knew telling me I was crazy, I decided to become a stay/work-at-home dad and shoulder most of the responsibility of caring for my son for his first year of life (and, potentially, the last twelve months of mine). I wanted to offer him proper guidance, using some very unconventional methods, through the first steps of his journey to becoming a fantastic kid and a great man-a journey I feared I might not be around to witness much of. This humorous book takes the reader through my many successes (and failures) in my effort to properly care for my son while balancing my professional and personal life on this twelve-month journey. The book is also full of advice, tips, and insights on how to lay the foundation for raising independent, well-behaved children.