May 16, 2012 at 7:56 pm , by Nick Shell
A year and a half.
Jack loves to find a reason to tell someone (or something) goodbye. He gets the concept of saying “bye-bye” to other people when he is leaving the room.
But what he doesn’t understand is that it only applies to humans.
When walking down in the sidewalk in our neighborhood and we pass a neighbor walking their dog… you guessed it. Once the dog passes us, not the person walking the dog, Jack tells the dog “bye-bye.”
As Jack is in his rear-facing car seat on the drive home from day care and the car behind us turns the other way at a 4-way stop… “bye-bye.”
At the end of bath time each night, even the water going down the drain is worthy of a sweet farewell.
Of course, today marks a milestone for Jack anyway because he is now a year and a half old. However, it’s also special because he spoke his first sentence:
“Bye-bye Dada.”
As Jill was carrying him upstairs for bedtime, he turned back to me and said it very clearly.
I’ve never heard him combine two words in a legitimate manner until now.
To hear him say his first sentence actually was a bigger deal for me than when he said his first word; which coincidentally was “Dada.”
But the sentence “Bye-bye Dada” was more special. He looked me right in the eyes. It was so deliberate.
Those two words conveyed not just a simple message to me, but instead, “I know who you are. I know you take care of me. I love you.”
Or maybe I’m just reading into it.
Each time one of them reached “the mountaintop,” they would throw their hands up in the air as if to say “Whew! I’m exhausted!”
I don’t feel threatened by how the government defines marriage because I firmly believe in the importance of separating church and state. Do certain conservative believers in the Christian god have exclusiveness over the right to marriage, as recognized by the American government? If so, then it’s time to start converting any non-Christian couples before they wed. There is marriage as recognized by the nation I am a citizen of; then there is marriage as recognized by the particular religious faith I belong to. Two separate things… and the first one is not something I’m too concerned with. Though it makes me feel good that my wife took my last name. It’s actually pretty funny to me when the same people who complain about the Ten Commandments not being displayed in government buildings can not even name all ten of the commandments. And I always think it’s ridiculous when I hear that “they took prayer out of schools.” No. No they didn’t. 
(I’m assuming “they” is referring to Communists and this is the year 1985?) As the dad of a toddler and the husband of a Christian woman, I pray while holding them both each morning before we go our separate ways for the day. When my son Jack goes to his daycare, I don’t expect them to have prayer for him there. If I want to teach my son to pray or to learn the Ten Commandments, then it’s my responsibility as his dad to teach him in my home. I laughed pretty hard recently when I heard a guy complaining about the Presidential support of “legalizing gay marriage,” saying that it threatens the sanctity of marriage and the future of America. The most obvious reason his viewpoint was invalid is because he unashamedly admits to watching pornography regularly and says there’s nothing wrong with flirting with other women in bars because at the end of the night he’s not going home with them, he’s going home to his wife. Here’s what I know: I’m protecting the sanctity of my marriage by loving my wife the best way I know how. That includes not coveting other women, keeping strong and open communication with my wife, spending quality time with her, and being the best dad I can be to our son. Oh, and prayer, too. But not the kind endorsed by the government… because, you know, the government took away prayer from us. Here’s the video I stole from a friend on Facebook that inspired this article. Now handing the mic to Julie Borowski: 
