Hi, I’m Josh. I’m a dad of three: twin girls, June and Margo, and their little brother, Theo. When the twins were born, I stayed home with them for two years, which is where I learned most of what I write about, usually the hard way.
What I write about
Where my stories come from
The first thing I ever sewed was two capes for a kindergarten play, at 11 p.m., with a needle from a hotel sewing kit. One came out two inches longer, and the girls still argue about whose it was.
At dinner, everyone names one good thing from the day. Theo picks pancakes almost every night, and I’ve stopped arguing.
How I write
Kid quotes, short paragraphs and honesty about the chaos. I’m not a superhero dad, just one of the two grown-ups in our house.
Off the clock
I grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and live outside Denver with my wife, Alyssa. She’s the one who figured out how to tell the twins apart.
How we check our stories: Editorial Standards and Ethics.
Every night at dinner, June and Margo have to name one good thing that happened that day, and Theo, who is four, has named pancakes 41 nights in a row. Last week Margo asked if grown-ups get good news too, or only bills. These 10 good things came out this year, from a pill that works like the strongest cholesterol shots to a city where the bus is now free.
For the first month, our twin girls were June in stripes and Margo in solids. The system worked perfectly until the laundry ran out. These 13 parents, siblings and grown-up twins share how they really tell twins apart, and the moments when even the parents got it wrong.
Last month Margo asked why nobody has invented a toothbrush that brushes by itself, and June said somebody probably did and just forgot to tell us. Theo, who is four, has since drawn eleven inventions on the back of a cereal box, most of them for a dog we don’t have. These 12 kids and teens actually built the thing, and some of their inventions are in your house right now.
