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.
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Tags:
fun, fun in the sun, hot water, summer, Summer 2012, summertime, toddler, water | Categories:
Growing Up, Must Read, People, Story Bucket, Storytelling, The Dadabase
Wednesday, June 20th, 2012
19 months.
Yeah, I know.
Today is the first day of summer and I’m supposed to be all happy and nostalgic about it, saying, “Ah, summer… takes me back to when I was a kid, enjoying Otter Pops and Sharkleberry Fin in the hot sun, and watching Hey Dude and Inspector Gadget on Nickelodeon. And now I get to see my own son enjoy summertime!”
Well, that’s not at all what’s really going through my head.
Instead, what I’m actually thinking is, “Okay, if today is the longest day of the year, then that means starting tomorrow, the days will be getting shorter, meaning there will be less sunlight, meaning Jack will start sleeping in longer!”
Sorry to be so goth about it, but that, my friends, is what summer is really about for me.
It’s about me gradually getting more sleep because less sunlight shining through the window will help my son sleep longer.
Yeah, we hung up thick brown curtains over the window blinds in his room but they only help so much.
Several weeks ago, Jack started waking up at 5:30 AM, as opposed to 6:15 which I am accustomed to. I know a lot of parents have it worse; they have kids who don’t sleep through the night like I taught mine to.
But for the sake of the ultimate balance in the universe, my son sleeps from 7:00 PM until the rooster crows each morning because I become a monster without a solid night of sleep.
I go from mild-mannered, Members Only jacket-wearing Bill Bixby to painted green with a bad wig Lou Ferrigno. It’s not good.
Jack and I have had this understanding that he doesn’t wake up his mother and me in the middle of the night. But too much sunlight has compromised that.
With Jack waking up 45 minutes early, it not only means I’m grumpy, but it means he’s even grumpier; as seen in the top picture of him in his Radio Flyer wagon.
Not to mention, his daytime naps have often been non-existent; here lately.
But I can’t blame Jack that he thinks that during these longest days of the year he’s been living in Nightmute, Alaska; where it’s hard to distinguish night from day.
All I know is, things are looking up for this grouchy hibernation-deprived dad.
For Father’s Day, I was able to cash in my “1 Hour Uninterrupted Nap” Daddy Coupon. Plus I received my first official Father’s Day necktie, hand-crafted by my son.
Come, winter. Come quickly.
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Tags:
Alaska, grumpy, nap, Nostalgia, sleep, summer, toddler | Categories:
Health, Home Life, Story Bucket, Storytelling, The Dadabase
