Author: Family Friendly Daddy Blog

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, Storytelling

It’s Like Talking To An Actual Human Being…

November 7, 2013 at 10:49 pm , by 

2 years, 11 months.

Dear Jack,

Tonight was the first time I’ve ever talked to you over the phone.

Mommy picked you up from school instead of me today, so I called you both to check in.

When Mommy handed the phone to you in the back seat, I had an actual conversation with you:

“Hey Jack, what are you and Mommy doing right now?” I asked.

“We’re at Whole Foods. I’m gonna eat pizza for dinner,” you replied.

Prompted by Mommy, you ended the call by telling me that you missed me and loved me. I can tell your words were sincere, though.

I mean this in the best way possible, but that was pretty weird for me. I was actually carrying on a legitimate conversation with you… like I would an actual human being!

Without your visual right there in front of me, I was forced to absorb only the sound of your voice.

I mean, I’m used to talking to you during the whole ride to school and back every day, but it’s a whole other thing without any prompts or crutches.

Wow. You and I can actually talk… over the phone.

I heard your voice. I’ve never paid attention to your voice before. Normally, I’m so focused on the circumstances surrounding the conversation that I hear the words you say, but not your actual voice.

Even though it may seem like I’m making a bigger deal of this than I need to, this for me is a bookmark as your Daddy.

Just days away away from your 3rd birthday now, this is a significant moment as I recognize you as a boy; as a fellow human being. Not a baby.

I can talk to you. And not about just superficial stuff like the “monster trucks” (Toyota Tundras) you see as we’re driving down the highway.

But instead, you can tell me what’s going on in your life… over the phone.

Cool, man.

 

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, Storytelling

That Pinterest-Trendy Picture Of Your Kid… What’s It Called?

November 5, 2013 at 11:00 pm , by 

2 years, 11 months.

Dear Jack,

This week on Facebook I was introduced to a cool type of picture that parents can create of their kids.

I don’t know that it’s called, though.

So until I do, I’ll just call it a “collage profile.”

Featured here is the picture that introduced me to it. Granted, this is a professional picture, by my friend Joe Hendricks, who took Mommy and Daddy’s wedding pictures as well as our pregnancy pictures.

To me, this is the perfect example of how it should be done. A+!

The concept is simple: a picture of a kid, superimposed with various, random texts showing their name, age, and interests.

What a cool idea! I have no idea who thought of it first but I hear that it’s trending on Pinterest.

Just for the fun of it, I threw one together for you. Eleven days away from your 3rd birthday, I now have a better visual of the stuff you’re into during this exact stage of your life.

A few months from now, I assume some of these listed interested will be replaced with others.

But as for right now, I can preserve this sort of visual bookmark on your life.

While I’m sure this kind of picture can be created on several different websites out there, the one I used is Picfont, where I do all the captions for your pictures. I like it because it’s free and doesn’t require a login and password.

So whatever this trendy kind of picture is called, it’s something I should probably do every so often.

The fact that you currently like the color pink… I have a feeling that’s going to change in the next couple of years and then we’ll really have something to laugh about.

Well, assuming you’re reading this years from now… Yes, son… you used to love the color pink.

But mainly as it relates to monster trucks!

 

Love,

Daddy

 

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, Storytelling

Do You Want To Go See The Lego Movie With Me, Son?

November 4, 2013 at 9:11 pm , by 

1 Comment Posted on marriage, parenting

Seth Adam Smith Says Marriage Isn’t For You

November 3, 2013 at 11:34 pm , by 

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, Storytelling

Why I Just Googled, “What Does ‘Soaked Up’ Mean?”

November 3, 2013 at 9:20 pm , by 

2 years, 11 months.

Dear Jack,

Yes, I know what “soaked up” means; it means that something has either physically absorbed a substance or that a person has absorbed new information.

But after the way you used the phrase today, I just wanted to make sure there’s not some underground slang used nearly 3 year-olds that I didn’t know about.

Turns out, there’s not. Google had nothing new to teach me, on this one.

This morning while we were at church, a friend Mommy and I both knowwalked up to us and with a whispered, dead pan performance, and jokingly explained to you that your parents shouldn’t need a nametag to identify their own son.

(Our church’s daycare requires computer-printed nametags for safety reasons.)

You didn’t say a word to him. You just stared at him with a somewhat serious face during his joke.

As soon as we got back to the car, you asked Mommy and me, “Why was that man soaked up?”

For the entire car ride home, we were inquisitive as to what you meant by him being “soaked up.”

“Did you think he was wet, somehow?” Mommy asked you.

“No! He wasn’t wet… he was soaked up,” you explained.

There was nothing about his appearance that should have seemed any bit out of the ordinary. So maybe “soaked up” had something to do with the way he was talking to you?

For the rest of the afternoon, I tried to use context clues to figure out the meaning of this mysterious phrase. But I was unsuccessful in getting you to say it a second time. And when I said “soaked up,” you just adamantly insisted that I was wrong to say it.

I suppose this is one of those mysteries I will take to my grave.

Like, why does the witch in the Wizard of Oz melt away simply by getting water poured on her? Why was it not problematic for there to be so few female Smurfs compared to males?

Most importantly, what does “soaked up” mean when referred to another human being, if it has nothing to do with them being wet in any way.

Only you hold the answer, Son.

The interesting thing is that simply by writing this letter to you today, I’ve helped make “soaked up” more identifiable in a non-traditional sense. In other words, I’m enabling your strange vocabulary.

 

Love,

Daddy