Posts Tagged ‘
fun ’
Tuesday, February 19th, 2013
2 years, 3 months.
Dear Jack,
My biggest fear in life is not of public speaking or of heights; it’s that I’ll have to be bored for more than 30 minutes. Yes, that’s a giveaway sign that I’m part of Generation Y.
However, as long as I have you around, I don’t think that being bored will be a problem.
The clock does not generally seem to slow down when I am with you. You keep life interesting in your silly, weird, and challenging ways.
This morning I spent ten minutes wrestling you as you resisted me getting you dressed. I was actually sweating a little bit by the time we finally headed out the door. Seriously, you put up quite a fight.
While I generally don’t look forward to having to pin you down to get you dressed, it’s little things like that that keep life interesting.
I mean, the normal way to leave for work in the morning wouldn’t include such a physical and psychological challenge. But with you, it just might.
On the lighter side, your ideas of fun and passing time are much more different than mine.
For example, every night after your bath, you like to run into your closet and find a new treasure to carry to bed. Last night, it was a cow print cloth diaper.
This is especially funny to me because you never really wore your cloth diapers in the first place. But because you find entertainment in discovering random items stored in your closet, you selected the cow print cloth diaper.
I could tell you were slightly disappointed that your choice wasn’t as exciting as the one from the night before, which was one of your baby monitor speakers.
Even still, you committed to it. You did your best to convince yourself that you actually wanted to sleep with a cow print cloth diaper.
My life is not boring, thanks to you. Needless to say, I live in interesting times.
Love,
Daddy
Monday, June 25th, 2012
19 months old.
This past weekend while in Alabama celebrating Jack’s cousin Calla’s first birthday, Jack decided that his new plastic pet dog and duck needed a bath.
My dad, who Jack calls Papa, found a make-shift wading pool so Jack could take proper care of his furry friends. I mean, I’m sure Cujo and Mutant Duck needed a good cool-down as they were getting pretty smelly in the hot summer sun.
So Jack was introduced to a new power tool: The water hose.
I imagined he would go crazy with it right away. But instead, he took on the demeanor of a middle-aged man joyfully yet carefully working on a weekend project involving power tools.
My dad helped show Jack how the nozzle on the hose could change the speed and intensity of the water shooting out.
It was at that point that the inevitable finally happened:
Yes, Jack turned the weapon on his Papa.
As you can see from these pictures, Jack had a blast…
Or maybe it was my dad who had the blast, literally.
This was definitely one of those unplanned, accidental good memories that wouldn’t have been quite as good if it were planned.
It was completely spontaneous. Jack didn’t have time to switch to swim clothes first.
All I know is I was talking to my mom and sister in the kitchen, then Jill walked in and said:
“Come here, you have to see this!”
It was the perfect result of my son’s quest for adventure and my dad’s knack for making adventures out of ordinary things lying around the house.
On the drive back to Nashville yesterday, Jill and I were talking about how we wish there was some way Jack could actually remember this event happening.
Well, I have a feeling we’ll be doing this spontaneous, unplanned water show again the next time we visit.
For more pictures of the water show, visit The Dadabase’s Facebook and click on the photo album, Jack’s Farm/Zoo.
Categories: Growing Up, Must Read, People, Story Bucket, Storytelling, The Dadabase | Tags: fun, fun in the sun, hot water, summer, Summer 2012, summertime, toddler, water
Saturday, March 31st, 2012
16 months.
When my son Jack was 9 months old, I wrote about how I was over eating out at restaurants. It just wasn’t enjoyable or relaxing in anyway. Seven months later, things have fortunately gotten easier for my wife and I to the point we actually want to take him out to eat.
My wife told me about this trendy place in Nashville, just 8 miles from our house, called The Pfunky Griddle where you make your own breakfast right there at the table.
Understandably, I was silently skeptical; not just for the thought of having to cook my own meal but also imagining Jack sticking his hands on the hot cooking surface.
But, you know, it works… enough so that we actually have gone to breakfast there for the past three Saturdays!
For one thing, Jack is now able to sit in a booster seat as long as he’s entertained. The sights, sounds, and smells of cooking your own pancakes (or French Toast, as I always choose) is definitely fascinating to him.
Secondly, he gets his own spatula to slap against the tile table in front of him, allowing him to believe he’s actually cooking like my wife and I are doing.
Thirdly, they always seat us in the sun room where Jack can hear the birds singing in the morning; not to mention, if he does get antsy, I can easily run him outside for some fresh air.
My wife and I are confident in the food because they provide whole wheat batter and bread (or gluten free if you request). Plus, they make really good coffee. Their dirty chai is nearly $2 cheaper than Starbucks’ version.
And at about $6 per person for all you can eat, it’s hard to complain about the prices.
Taking Jack to the Pfunky Griddle has become our new Saturday morning tradition. But we have to get there early, by 8:30, because after all, it is a trendy place.
In fact, so trendy, that back in October 2008, Parents magazine featured it in an article called “8 Reasons To Visit Nashville,” which The Pfunky Griddle has framed and featured on the wall as soon as you walk in.
The next time you’re in Nashville, you’ll probably see us there. Bring your toddler and see if he or she enjoys it as much as Jack!
