Author: Family Friendly Daddy Blog

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, Spirituality

I’m Not Sure St. Peter’s Pickup Truck Was In The Bible…

October 14, 2013 at 7:58 pm , by 

2 years, 10 months.

Dear Jack,

This evening while Mommy was buying groceries, you and I played with the Dollar General version of Play-Doh, called Craft Dough.

With your 5 pack of Craft Dough came a very rare color… black.

You decided to make a camper for your Dodge Ram pickup truck, so you began stuffing the bed with black dough.

In the process, you picked up your St. Peter action figure and his boat, and stuck them in the back of the truck, then stood Jesus on top of a couple containers of Craft Dough nearby.

You ended up nixing the whole camper idea altogether and I got to hear the dialogue of the new plot line:

“Jesus, I gotta drive my truck and take my boat. Do you want to go?” Peter asked.

“No, I’ll just stay here today,” Jesus replied, in your falsetto voice.

I immediately began imagining a new kids’ show which featured favorite Bible characters in a modern day setting.

Yeah, that wouldn’t go over well at all…

But just the thought of Jesus and Peter as buddies who drive pickup trucks and take the boat for a spin out on the lake, instead of the familiar “walk on the water” story everyone knows, it’s pretty much hilarious to me!

In the process of trying to find Biblical action figures last Christmas, which you asked for by the way, I noticed there weren’t a lot of toy companies that made them.

Not only is there probably not an abundance of toy companies who are willing to make religious action figures, but there’s also the fact that those toys may very well end up in random activities which are more likely to show up in the lyrics of a Country song than they are in a sermon.

To be honest, I’m suprised it’s actually taken you this long to crack me up with your inevitable and accidentally humorous (and somehow seemingly inappropriate?) use of Jesus and St. Peter action figures during playtime.

What would Jesus do? I’m not sure sometimes…

 

Love,

Daddy

 

1 Comment Posted on car reviews, parenting, People, reviews

We’re Ready For A Family Road Trip…Minivan Style!

October 11, 2013 at 10:14 pm , by 

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, Storytelling

No Time For Fun At Our House! Only Learning…

October 10, 2013 at 6:13 am , by 

2 years, 10 months.

Dear Jack,

You have once again cracked me up with this week’s bulletin board material at school. Evidently, at our house, we’re all about learning, all the time. Yes, that’s us, the super studious household…

When asked by your teacher about our house, this was your response:

“My house is gray. I do flashcards. My room is brown.”

Flashcards?

It’s true that flashcards have regularly been a part of the bedtime routine for you; I just didn’t realize that you valued them so much, that they would be the first activity you would mention regarding household activities.

I mean, that’s totally cool. I’m just surprised, but in a good way.

Naturally, I would have assumed you would have mentioned playing with your cars or watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with Mommy and me.

But I will gladly accept learning as your answer!

Oh, and then, there’s “the house that Jack built…”.

While your friends were having fun building construction paper replicas of their homes, a couple of your teachers giggled at how serious you were aboutperfectly (!) building yours.

I did notice that yours seemed a little too perfect when compared to your friends’ houses; like an adult did your work for you.

So I picture all your friends smiling and having fun as they worked on this craft; meanwhile you took it as seriously as MacGyver trying to defuse a bomb in a warehouse.

The reason this is so interesting to me is because I don’t see all sides of you. The versions of you that I am most exposed to are the ones where you are responding to your parents.

What I don’t see is how you act in a classroom environment with teachers and friends. That’s indeed a different version of you.

I’m used to the playful version who loves to play and wrestle with me. I have to be reminded that you do indeed enjoy learning, as well.

Interesting.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

Leave a comment Posted on Health, parenting, vegan

Non-Petroleum Candies Melt In Your Bed, Not In Your Hand

October 8, 2013 at 11:01 pm , by 

2 years, 10 months.

Dear Jack,

I imagine it’s pretty typical for parents to reward/bribe their child with M&M’s during the process of potty training.

However, we’ve watched a few too many documentaries on Netflix to let you eat candy that contains petroleum-based dyes, like M&M’s do.

Instead, we found that Kroger now has their own brand of healthier (and less chemical friendly) alternatives to classic favorites.

I don’t you want to end up like I did as a kid, suffering from anxiety problemsand digestion issues due to food dyes that aren’t actually food.

After all, no one willingly chooses to eat petroleum… yet the FDA approves it as a food additive.

Just like with the beaver [body parts] in vanilla and strawberry flavorings…

But Kroger’s brand, called Simple Truth, makes what they call “Candy Coated Milk Chocolate Drops.”

Basically, they’re M&M’s without petroleum and tar ingredients. Instead, they’re colored with vegetable juice.

So, the deal is, Mommy lets you have two of them every time you go potty… on the potty.

Saturday night, you convinced her to let you sleep with the bag, which only contained about 5 remaining candies.

Mommy trusted you not to eat the candy, but to simply hold the bag all night, like you do your monster trucks and trains.

And you did.

You woke up in a haze Sunday morning, as Mommy and I walked into your room after hearing you mutter something about cats.

There you were, wrapped up tightly in your blanket, with your arms tucked down inside.

As we unwrapped you like a stuffed burrito, we discovered the bag of chocolate candy, still clenched tightly in your grip.

Well, you didn’t eat them, just as Mommy trusted you wouldn’t.

But as you look at the comparative picture above, you can see that your candies melted to mush in the night.

Good thing we had another bag ready for you in the pantry.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, Storytelling

I Thought We Were At The Playground To Actually Play…

October 7, 2013 at 11:21 pm , by 

Dear Jack,

Saturday morning after we watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for the 23rd time, I’ll mention more about that later, Mommy and I decided it was time for you, I mean, our family, to burn off some extra energy at Granny White Park- or as you call it, “The Dinosaur Park.”

(It has like three different plastic dinosaurs you can climb on.)

I thought we were going to the playground to actually play, but once we got there, all your jittery energy strangely transformed you into a sluggish state of wonder.

You decided you wanted to “people watch” instead.

And I have to admit- there was a lot to see. Nearby, there was a birthday party going on in which all the little boys were dressed up in superhero costumes.

“Daddy, there’s two Spidermans?” you asked.

You didn’t want to go down the slide, or crawl through the tunnel, or even try out the cool pirate ship teeter-totter.

However, you were willing to let Mommy and me push you on the swing, which is the most passive activity to do at the park; other than sitting on the plastic dinosaurs and watching the other kids have fun.

Seriously, you looked so sad.

I get it that you may have just been a little bit intimidated by all the other kids you didn’t know.

Or maybe that, like me sometimes, you just felt like being philosophical and introspective.

But after about 12 minutes of you being the swing, I myself was getting antsy.

So with the superheros now playing behind you where you couldn’t see them anymore, I suggested we move around a bit- in the form of a family walk.

Didn’t work.

After about five steps, you said it:

“Mommy! Hold me!”

You clearly weren’t too tired to walk. The whole point in us being there was for you to burn off all the extra energy you had back at the house.

So I grabbed you and ran far into the vacant soccer field, therefore forcing you to have to run; either because I was chasing you or you were chasing me.

It worked.

For about a minute.

Then you made your way to Mommy again and it was back to sitting in the swing. And sitting on the dinosaurs.

Oh well, I tried.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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