Welcome back to the second half of Episode 31 of the "Gray Hair & Daycare" podcast! Older dads Frank and Carlo continue their journey of raising kids in the face of escalating parenting mistakes and difficult decisions.
In "I Was Wrong," Frank clarifies his previous baby advice on baby led weaning, detailing the difference between the palmar and pincer grasp for feeding, and adding a note on spices (no salt or sugar, though!). The core of this episode is a frank discussion about a potential apple allergy scare and the difficulty of balancing his (more scientific) approach with his wife's (more cautious) instinct. This Gen X dads conversation explores the anxiety of being a dad and the pressure to not make a single mistake, offering valuable fatherhood tips on how to find alignment with your partner.
Frank also shares his birthday dinner at Delmonico's, where a charming old lady declared Josie highly intelligent, and reveals a "terrible" new product in the "Icopuca shopping cart cover" that features a phone holder for the baby. Despite the challenges, they reflect on the rewards of dad life, enjoying a family parish picnic and Josie's fascination with music. Tune in for honest fatherhood advice and humor in life from two older dads still learning the ropes!
Chapter Markers:
0:00 - The Back Half of 50s: Less Patience with Young People
2:48 - I Was Wrong: Pincer Grasp vs. Palmer Grasp
3:31 - You CAN Use Spices (Just Skip the Salt!)
3:52 - The Apple Allergy Showdown Begins
5:08 - The 48-Hour Allergy: A Scientific Challenge
6:48 - Alignment is Everything: A Marriage Discussion
8:29 - Allergies Come and Go (and Alcohol Allergies)
9:49 - The Fear of Being Wrong (And Cross-Pollinating Birch Trees)
10:41 - The PA Who Googled: Questionable Expertise
13:42 - The Stone Fruit Escape (Peaches are Safe!)
15:28 - Birthday Dinner: Delmonico's & the Astute Old Lady
18:21 - The Joy of Restaurant Return
18:48 - Short Ribs, Pumpkin Purée & the Hammy Baby
19:44 - The Icopuca Cart Cover: TV for Babies?
21:52 - Parish Picnic & the Cute Kids
23:25 - Holiday Catholics and the Struggle to Keep Going
29:39 - First Time Playing Guitar for Josie 🎸
31:47 - Josie Only Waited 6.5 Months for the Guitar Serenade
Relevant Links Mentioned:
Delmonico's Steakhouse (Syracuse, NY):
https://tinyurl.com/DelmonicosSteakhouseSYR
Icopuca Shopping Cart Cover for Baby:
https://tinyurl.com/Icopucacartseat
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[Frank] (0:00 - 2:48)
I think when you're in your 40s, I think the ravages of time have just started to show up and you really start to feel it. But you also have a lot of things figured out for the first time in your life. I know for me, because I'm a very, as you would know by the fact that I just became a parent, I'm a late bloomer.
So it took me until my 40s to figure out some of the more basic things about life. So it's like a, it's an okay trade. You wouldn't trade in your 40s, you wouldn't trade, you wouldn't trade places with a 30 year old.
No. And because 30s was, but now that we're in the back half of 50s, you start to go, you start to, it's not that you resent young people, but you just, I think you have less. I know me, I have less patience with young people sometimes.
This is the gray hair and daycare podcast with a combined age of 111 years and a combined IQ rate in that same range, your hosts, Frank Cereo and Carlo Russo. So now this is one we have not done in a while because I think the amount of effort that we put in to always being correct, but we are going to move right into, I was wrong. So I was wrong this time.
What do we got? It was about, we talked about last time, baby led weaning and the whole, how we're giving her the solid food and letting her play with the food and that stuff. So it really, this is one that I left some information out that is important.
Kelly helped us out with this and then there was also something that I was a little bit wrong on because I said like, you can't, you don't season the food at all. You can include spices, but no added salt or added sugar. Makes sense.
But if you want to put some, I don't know, cayenne pepper, some other stuff, you can do that stuff. The other thing was just kind of more context. So right now we're at six months and she gets the big chunks of food or spoonfuls of stuff.
Once she gets to nine months, then you can give her cubes and I asked, why would you do that? And of course my lovely wife knew the answer and that is right now she has a palmer grasp, which means if she grabs something, she's grabbing it with her
