Thursday, May 9th, 2013
2 years, 5 months.
Dear Jack,
If weather permits, Mommy and I are taking you to the zoo this weekend.
However, I think you’ve made some assumptions about what will be on exhibit there.
As I walked you into school this morning, you couldn’t hold in the excitement:
“We see dinosaurs at the zoo!”
It was at that moment this occurred to me: You have no idea that dinosaurs haven’t existed on this Earth in a very long time.
Really though, why would you not think dinosaurs are still around?
After all, I just bought you a plastic T-Rex to wrestle your monster trucks. Therefore, you have assumed that dinosaurs and monster trucks are age-old rivals.
It doesn’t help that over the weekend you watched an episode of Transformers: Rescue Bots, as well as the 1981 animated Spider-Man series, where the plot involved dinosaurs coming to life in modern day, causing chaos and therefore invoking the help of the good guys to save everyone.
When your teacher, Ms. Lauren, asked you what else besides dinosaurs you are excited to see at the zoo this weekend, you quickly responded: “Trucks. Fire trucks.”
Son, this may be a very disappointing visit to the zoo. Hopefully, I can pass off the iguanas as “baby dinosaurs.”
It’s just that I feel compelled to protect your belief in dinosaurs. I kind of don’t want you to find out the truth about them.
So that’s what will happen. I will encourage and build up your version of reality where dinosaurs are still alive in the world. Because honestly, that sounds like a pretty cool version of reality. Who am I to mess that up for you right now?
Love,
Daddy
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
Twenty-four weeks.
As my wife and I have begun registering at Babies “R” Us and Target, a major theme I couldn’t help but notice, particular to boys’ clothing, is the fact that wild, vicious animals are strangely friendly and helpful. Smiling crocodiles. Laughing gorillas. Silly snakes. Chipper tigers.
In real life, there’s no way I would let Jack near any of those animals unless it’s at the zoo. (Nor would I want anywhere near those animals unless I was at the zoo). Crocodiles, gorillas, snakes, and tigers all represent wild and dangerous elements of life. But to a baby boy, these creatures resemble how he himself is adventurous and “in to everything”. Of course, in a world where the baby boy is loved by all and has no concept of enemies, these dangerous beings become neutered, tamed, and enchanted to the point that they all want to be his friend.
The irony- as his parents, my wife and I will be Jack’s supreme protectors and guardians. We will become the smiling crocodiles, the laughing gorillas, the silly snakes, and the chipper tigers: the paradoxical mix of strength and safety with love and happiness. Even more ironic- Baby Jack won’t understand all this stuff about friendly yet wild animals and how his parents represent them to him. All these “cute outfits” are for the adults to enjoy. But we like to pretend Jack is aware of the fact that his shirt has a picture of a goofy blue beast on it with the caption reading “Mommy’s Little Monster”. My, what imaginations we adults have!
All pictures with the “JHP” logo were taken by Joe Hendricks Photography:
Blog- www.photojoeblog.com
Website- www.joehendricks.com
Categories: People, Storytelling, The Dadabase | Tags: alligators, baby, baby blog, baby clothes, beasts, blog, blogging, blogs, clothing, crocodiles, dad, dad from day one, lions, parenting, parents, pregnancy, Target, Where the Wild Things, Writing, zoo
