It has been quiet out there, which explains my lack of posting. But it looks like I have more to talk about. For starters, we're now one A-list celeb away from a trend of at-home fatherhood in Hollywood. Russell Crowe told USA Today that he would take a break after his first is born. And remember that in April, Michael Douglas said much the same thing. In the newspaper biz, you need at least three examples to qualify for an emerging trend. So whaddaya say Mr. Farrell? It's almost September, isn't it?

And there's a good piece on at-home fathers out of Waterloo and Cedar Falls, Iowa. The piece goes a long way to dispell some of the stereotypes (I'm ignoring the Mr. Mom reference. It's just too tempting to leave out, I suppose.) Again, another reporter is honestly struggling with the number of us at-home dads, deciding to say that there are 1.7 million kids cared for by at-home dads, a jump of 70 percent since 1990. No idea exactly where those number come from -- they don't quite match my understanding (which shows more than 2 million preschoolers alone under fathercare in 1999).