Nostalgia

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2 Going On 72… To Infinity And Beyond!

March 17, 2013 at 10:47 pm , by 

2 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack,

Since I took you to Shipwrecked, your favorite indoor playhouse in the Nashville area, for the past two weeks you kept asking me, “I go back to Shipwrecked? I drive Buzz?”

So yes, you finally got your wish yesterday. You got to drive Buzz.And boy did you enjoy it… I think…

Last time, I explained how you drove the Lightning McQueen car like a crotchety old man. Driving Buzz was the same way for you.

Clearly you were just there for business, not pleasure.

Your objective was to drive the Buzz Lightyear car from one side of the indoor playground to other, without any other kids trying to take it away from you.

Based on the look on your face in the picture above, I’d say you did a pretty good job of scaring them off. I’m sure you made it clear you weren’t there to make friends… but just to drive Buzz.

Fortunately, after you accomplished your mission, you starting interacting with the other kids there. You abandoned Buzz for the ball pit, the train table, the book nook, and the building blocks.

You didn’t even mind that other kids drove Buzz during the rest of our 2 and a half hour session.

I guess we could say you are learning to share, despite being an only child right now.

Well, this is a start, at least.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

 

 

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Top 10 Beatles’ Songs For My 2 Year-Old’s Playlist

March 14, 2013 at 11:08 pm , by 

2 years, 3 months.

Dear Jack,

Because I’m usually the one to put you to bed at night, as well as for your daytime naps on the weekends, I become responsible for knowing the lyrics to lullabies.

Unfortunately, I don’t know any.

So you’re pretty much stuck with hearing me sing parts of the very few songs I actually know the words to…

“Jingle Bells,” “Away In A Manger,” “How Bad Can I Be? (from The Lorax soundtrack),” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Then, out of desperation for new songs last week, I started singing “Let It Be” by The Beatles. After all, it’s pretty easy to remember the words when most of them are “let it be, let it be…”.

You now ask me to sing it to you every night. So I had an idea… why don’t I let you hear The Beatles’ version of it?

On the way to daycare Monday, I played “Let It Be” for you over the stereo speakers thanks to my old-school iPod with an extremely cracked screen.

Your response: “That’s a man?”

I then explained to you that yes, Paul McCartney is a man.

From there, I introduced you to “Yellow Submarine,” “Octopus’s Garden,” “Come Together,” Here Comes The Sun,” “All You Need Is Love,” “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” “I Am The Walrus,” “With A Little Help From My Friends,” and “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.” Then I made you a playlist of those 10 songs called “Beatles For Jack.”

By Thursday, you told me that The Beatles are your favorite band and that your favorite song is “Yellow Submarine.”

It turns out, The Beatles made some pretty good songs for a 2 year-old. The songs that ended up on your playlist are filled with bizarre nouns that you recognize like “walrus,” “egg man”, “octopus,” and “submarine.”

Plus, several of those songs include random sound effects, like the interlude in “Yellow Submarine” or the chorus/title of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.”

Speaking of, you love it in “Come Together” when John Lennon says “shoot me” throughout the song. You think he’s just saying “shoop,” or making some weird animal sound, so I’ll just let you believe that until you’re a teenager who appreciates irony.

You have a dad who is obsessed with good music. I have over 800 albums on my iPad, but The Beatles are definitely my favorite band ever.

I think it’s so cool that you like them too. When you get a little older, I’ll tell you all about the “Paul is Dead” theory, based on their album covers like Abbey Road.

This makes me happy. I just didn’t realize we would get to start bonding so early over good music. I thought you’d be at least able to ride a bike first. I’m starting you young, kid.

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dad Hacks Donkey Kong For Daughter To Play As A Girl

March 12, 2013 at 8:53 pm , by 

2 years, 3 months.

Dear Jack,

The parenting story that has gone viral today is that a dad named Mike Mika hacked the classic Donkey Kongvideo game so his daughter could play as Pauline, the girl who Mario tries to save. So instead of Mario saving Pauline from Donkey Kong, she saves Mario.

Mike’s daughter had been enjoying playing as the Princess in Super Mario Bros. 2, which happens to be my favorite video game of all time, and she was disappointed to learn she couldn’t be the princess in Donkey Kong as well. So her dad took care of it.

I like what Mike says in his article on Wired.com:

“Having kids is incredible. And having a daughter is something special. I get the opportunity to see the world through her eyes. And if this experience has taught me anything, it’s that the world could be just a bit more accommodating. And that if something as innocuous as having Mario be saved by Pauline brings out the crazy, maybe we aren’t as mature in our view of gender roles as we should be.

I didn’t set out to push a feminist agenda, or try to make a statement. I just wanted to keep that little grin lit up on my daughter’s face every time we sit down to play games together.”

Sure, a good number of video games throughout history have featured a male hero who saves a female; that concept caters to a male audience who is wired to solve problems and earn the love and respect of a beautiful female, not to socialize and network with friends like Farmville on Facebook.

The earliest example of an action-based video game where the lead character is a female hero is Metroid; though you wouldn’t  know the character is a female until you beat the game.

That’s one of the many reasons I always loved Super Mario Bros. 2; because it was fun (and weird) to play as a female in an action game. I wasn’t ashamed to play as a character who wore a pink dress. I just wanted to win!

In fact, Super Mario Bros. 2 is still often referred to by those who didn’t own the game growing up like I did as “isn’t that the one where you can play as the Princess?”.

Today, Mike Mika has earned cool points with parents across America for thinking of such a clever idea to help his daughter feel special and loved.

I bet she feels like a princess.

 

Love,

Daddy

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The Generic Muppet Baby Version Of Yourself

February 20, 2013 at 11:32 pm , by 

2 years, 3 months.

Dear Jack,

As I look at this recent picture of you at The Good Cup coffee shop, I see a boy who is serious about his life ambitions.

If nothing else, I see a boy who is trying not to act too happy for the fact his parents are actually letting him consume a whole cup of whipped cream while they enjoy their coffee.

You look like a human being. I know that should technically be an understatement, but hopefully it makes slightly more sense when I show you older pictures of yourself.

The best way I can describe it is that you used to be the generic Muppet Baby version of your current self.

Your personality, your will, and your appearance were all much more basic back then.

And by back then, I’m especially referring to you before you were a year old. For example, I found this picture of our family from July 2011, at Little River Falls in Alabama.

Son, I’ve always adored you. I’ve always seen you as the most beautiful boy in the world.

However, when I see this picture, I think of the episode of The Family Guy where Peter Griffin carelessly uses his final wish from a genie to avoid being punched in the face:

“I wish I had no bones!”

At the time, you seemed as animated and detailed as you are now: You weren’t, though.

Maybe that’s something I’ve officially learned here recently; that in present tense, whatever age you happen to be, I will think you more progressed than you are.

In other words, a year from now when you’re 3 years old, I will look back at the picture of you above, at the coffee shop, and think, “What a Muppet Baby you were!”

Sure, alive is alive. But you come to life even more each day. You become more human.

It’s almost even freaky now that you and I have mostly legitimate conversations every day. You definitelyknow your first and last name now. You’re becoming a human citizen.

You really do have life ambitions. You shared one of them with me today:

“I drive an orange Jeep. I go to the parking lot. I wear my seat belt. I eat my crackers.”

As hilarious as it is for me to picture the 2 year-old version of you safely driving an orange Jeep to a parking lot to eat crackers, years from now that could be a reality.

I have to remember though, you’re technically the Muppet Baby version of your 16 year-old self.

 

Love,

Daddy

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May You Live In Interesting Times

February 19, 2013 at 10:55 pm , by 

2 years, 3 months.

Dear Jack,

My biggest fear in life is not of public speaking or of heights; it’s that I’ll have to be bored for more than 30 minutes. Yes, that’s a giveaway sign that I’m part of Generation Y.

However, as long as I have you around, I don’t think that being bored will be a problem.

The clock does not generally seem to slow down when I am with you. You keep life interesting in your silly, weird, and challenging ways.

This morning I spent ten minutes wrestling you as you resisted me getting you dressed. I was actually sweating a little bit by the time we finally headed out the door. Seriously, you put up quite a fight.

While I generally don’t look forward to having to pin you down to get you dressed, it’s little things like that that keep life interesting.

I mean, the normal way to leave for work in the morning wouldn’t include such a physical and psychological challenge. But with you, it just might.

On the lighter side, your ideas of fun and passing time are much more different than mine.

For example, every night after your bath, you like to run into your closet and find a new treasure to carry to bed. Last night, it was a cow print cloth diaper.

This is especially funny to me because you never really wore your cloth diapers in the first place. But because you find entertainment in discovering random items stored in your closet, you selected the cow print cloth diaper.

I could tell you were slightly disappointed that your choice wasn’t as exciting as the one from the night before, which was one of your baby monitor speakers.

Even still, you committed to it. You did your best to convince yourself that you actually wanted to sleep with a cow print cloth diaper.

My life is not boring, thanks to you. Needless to say, I live in interesting times.

 

Love,

Daddy