Nostalgia

Leave a comment Posted on Nostalgia, parenting, Storytelling

The Top 10 Most Popular Dadabase Articles of 2011

January 4, 2012 at 6:22 am , by 

13 months.

As a “daddy blogger” who sketches out writing topics on a nearly hourly basis, I am constantly trying to predict which topics are not only interesting enough to me, but also the ones that will resonate with the people I don’t even know.

Since my daddy blog, dad from day one, was picked up by Parents.com in May 2011 and rebooted as The Dadabase, I have been keeping a close eye on which posts became the most popular.

Ultimately, I am always “taking requests” based on what topics people tend to enjoy reading about.

Specifically, I know now that any time I mention a TV show title or the word “vegetarian” or I do some kind of countdown or list, more people are likely to read. But what else attracts readers here? Let’s find out right now, together.

#1 The Half Abortion: Only Keeping One Twin– No matter how passionate your stance on abortion, there’s definitely something unnerving about finding out you are a twin, but that your sibling was selectively aborted while you were chosen to survive.

#2 The Three Types of 30 Year Old Parents– Thirty is the new 23. I admit in this one that while I got to see more of the world in my 20′s, I am a less mature first time dad at age 30.

#3 Positively Communicating to My Seven Month Old Son– I realized my ability to truly polarize an audience when I suggested it’s uncool to jokingly offer to give your kids away to strangers. There is a 100% chance you’ll either totally love or hate this one- no in between.

#4 Gradually, Not Instantly, Falling in Love with My Son– And I believed I was weird to think this way. I love it when random strangers help make me think I’m actually normal.

#5 5 Reasons This Dad Despises MTV’s 16 and Pregnant– I could have easily given more reasons, but I try to keep my articles in the neighborhood of only 400 words. Hmm… maybe I should do a sequel?

#6 The Positive Re-branding of Fatherhood– Sure, the sitcoms of the Nineties will always hold a special place in my heart; especially thanks to their enchanting theme songs. However, there was a major downside to them- the way most of them portrayed fathers.

#7 6 Things This Dad Got Wrong During Pregnancy– Despite the fact that’s it’s sort of my job to act like I know what I’m talking about as a writer, I’m often wrong. In fact, here’s looking back at 6 particular times I missed it.

#8 7 Things This Dad Stopped Caring About– I guess sometimes in life, lowered standards are excused; especially in the name of parenthood.

#9 How Not to Be “That Mom” or “That Dad”– In order to make sure you don’t become a stereotype, you have to be able to recognize one. Takes not being one to know one, right?

#10 Little Boys Live in Their Own Little World– To be perfectly honest, I’m not exactly sure why this one made it to the Top 10; unless it’s because people get to see me back in 1991, wearing neon green suspenders? Probably not.

Tune in a year from now when I review the Top 10 of 2012. No, wait- actually, come back before that, like tomorrow.

Leave a comment Posted on Nostalgia, parenting

My Son and I Are Like E.T. and Elliott

January 2, 2012 at 8:19 pm , by 

13 months.

I don’t think it’s just in my head. My son Jack and I really are on the same wavelength.
If I’m not relaxed, neither is he. If I’m too hot or too cold, so is he. We have always enjoyed the same types of music and the same kinds of food. We are amused by the same random things in life.

Today both he and I, but not my wife, fought off a “24 hour stomach bug.” We both started out the day by vomiting, then felt kind of funky for most of the day, but by evening, were pretty much back at 100%.

Our father-son connection actually reminds me most of E.T. and Elliot’s relationship. In case I needed to point it out, Jack is E.T. and I’m Elliott. (This June will mark the 30th anniversary of the classic movie, E.T.)

While I’m the human, Jack is the waddling alien who mimics my everyday behaviors. Recently during playtime with him I was pretending to fall asleep on his blanket on the floor. I acted like I was snoring, making the classic cartoon sound as it is universally recognized: “Hah, shuuu… hah, shuuu…”.

Tonight he was showing off all his cool tricks for my parents who were briefly in town from Alabama. Sure enough, he dragged his blanket into the middle of the living room floor, laid down on top of it, and made his impression of the sound: “Eh, sssssshhh… eh, sssssshhh…”.

Jack wants to be human. It’s largely up to me to show him how. So much for him actually learning to be normal!

Leave a comment Posted on Nostalgia, parenting

3 Songs About Insanity This Dad Can Relate To

December 27, 2011 at 8:28 pm , by 

13 months.

There are countless songs which lightly use the word “crazy” as an exaggeration of how a person feels. But there are remarkably less songs out there where the singer is actually insane or headed in that direction. Today, I want to celebrate three of those songs.

Why? Because now that I’m 13 months into raising a kid, I’m finding more and more that I’m less and less of who I used to be. I’m becoming this much more mature and serious guy who has flashbacks of myself back when I was a “normal guy,” before I became a dad.

All this continual changing in my life, along with the constant need for on-the-spot decision-making has led me to become an arguably less likeable guy, in some ways. Maybe I’m not as fun as I used to be- I don’t know.

I’ve been forced to morph into this person who knows that at any minute his son’s daycare could call, saying his son has a fever. That means, I have to miss work (a commission-based sales job) to pick him up though he’s not even sick; he sometimes just gets a fever as he’s teething.

Yeah, that sort of makes me a little bit of a zombie; constantly on but never really able to focus on real life. Then again, having to miss work because your son has a fever is more “real life” than working a necessary job.

It’s such a trying balance in life. Seriously, I used to be normal. I used to not have to worry about stuff. But this is parenthood and this is my version of normal now.

Here are three songs that I can relate to, now more than ever:

1. “Unwell” by Matchbox Twenty. I have to keep reminding myself that I’m not actually crazy; this song helps.

“It makes me think there must be something wrong
With me
Out of all the hours thinking
Somehow
I’ve lost my mind
I’m not crazy, I’m just a little unwell
I know, right now you can’t tell”

2. “Who Can It Be Now?” by Men At Work. Here’s another denial at my lack of sanity; or at least my perception of it.

“I’ll be trapped, and here I’ll have to stay.
I’ve done no harm, I keep to myself;
There’s nothing wrong with my state of mental health.
I like it here with my childhood friend;
Here they come, those feelings again!”

3. “I’m Shakin’” by Rooney. For the fact that this song asks the question, “What is normal?” makes me feel good. After all, asking that exact question happens a lot in parenting.

“I’ve forgotten what it feels like to feel normal
To be normal
I’ve forgotten what food tastes like
What is normal?”

 

 

 

Leave a comment Posted on Nostalgia, parenting

4 Current Quirks of My 13 Month-Old Son

13 months.

It’s interesting how a human being who can not yet speak a complete phrase can have a personality. My son Jack demonstrates his to me everyday. I’m so used to being around him, that it can be difficult sometimes to even pinpoint what exactly makes him so darn funny, in my eyes.

1. He has the hairstyle of a German beat poet from the 1950′s. I’m not sure if that even makes sense, but I think it has something to do with a rerun of Happy Days I saw in high school. After blowing $12 on a hair cut for him a few months ago, my wife and I recently attempted to touch it up ourselves. The result: a boy who, if he could speak intelligible phrases, would definitely speak with a thick German accent and wear a black turtleneck. Or if nothing else, his hairstyle reminds me of classic Paul Simon, as part of the Jewish folk duo, Simon and Garfunkel.

2. He gets delirious right before bed time. It’s a perfect mix of unbridled excitement and insanity. Jack gets this really crazed look in his eyes that almost freaks me out. There was this one time recently when I was lying down watching him play with his wooden toy hammer, and all of the sudden he appeared over me, raising the weapon above his head, as if to say, “Hello Father, I will murder you now!”

3. He feels the need to instantly and furiously destroy any food he has finished eating.  Instead of just pushing away his Cheerios, he waves his arms across the surface of his high chair table, sending bits of cereal flying into the air. His philosophy is evidently, “Utterly annihilate all leftover morsels!” A bit unnecessary if you ask me.

4. He loves to “do Home Alone.”  Any time Jack sees someone place their hands on the sides of their face, he recognizes it as “Home Alone,” and does the action himself. Sometimes he even says “ehhh” as to portray Macaulay Culkin, though Jack has no idea why he’s supposed to “do Home Alone.” In his mind, he assumes that’s just what normal people do everyday.

I admit, I don’t know what “normal” 13 month-old toddlers are like. Jack is the only kid I’ve got. But I’m curious to know if anyone else’s toddler does anything like these 4 quirky actions I’ve mentioned today. So yeah, tell me what makes your kid weird, in a good way.

Add a Comment

2 Comments Posted on Nostalgia, parenting, Storytelling

My Son the Beach Bum… Not Really!

December 11, 2011 at 6:59 am , by 

One year.

Last week our son Jack got to experience the beautiful state of Florida for the first time. Thanks to Chevy inviting us to test drive a Volt from Fort Myers to Key West, we stayed our first night at the Hilton in Naples.

The next morning, Jack decided he wanted us all to go watch the sun rise together, because he woke us up with just enough time to take him out to the beach right behind the hotel.

I’m not sure that I have ever watched the sun rise on the beach, but as the dad and husband, I figured it was my duty to make sure my son and wife saw this legendary event. If nothing else, it was pretty Clark Griswald of me.

We had the whole beach to ourselves. Since Jack always loves his bath time every night, we assumed he would love the beach.

Nope.

He didn’t like the sand between his toes. He didn’t like the ocean waves rushing towards him. He is no beach bum; that’s for sure.

Jack preferred to ride on my shoulders the whole time, admiring the ocean from a distance.

He liked when the three of us started walking along the beach, encountering plenty of mysterious crustaceans. We saved the lives of several shelled creatures that had been washed up on shore during the night. Before tossing each one back into the ocean, I would let Jack visually inspect it for approval.

We even found a live sea crab outside of his shell, looking for a new home. Hopefully, I was doing him a favor when I scooped him up and threw him back in the water. I was attempting to save him from being eating by one of the many birds flying above.

As for the most unique seashells that had already been evacuated, they are now serving as decoration at our house back in Nashville. (Because of our last name, it only makes sense we should incorporate shells into the theme of one of our rooms.)

In the meantime, my wife Jill saw dolphins occasionally popping up in the distance (though it may have been the same one?) and would point them out to me just in time to catch a glimpse.

I especially enjoyed finding a live starfish. It made me think of that classic (if not cliche) story about the boy who walked along the beach throwing all the starfish back into the sea. He is approached and questioned by an old man who warns him he will never be able to save all the stranded starfish in time, wanting to know why he should even bother. Then as the boy throws another starfish into the water, he replies, “It mattered to that one.”

Turning the starfish over, I showed Jack and Jill its thousands of tiny moving feet, proving it was indeed still alive. I then explained to them (as if a one year-old had a clue what I was saying…) that a starfish’s stomach leaves its body to digest its food externally.

We had gone out to the beach to see the sunrise and to let our son fall in love with the ocean. Instead, Jack was terrified of the sand and water. At least he got a free lesson in marine biology, thanks to his old man.

To see more pictures from our trip, and a video clip of Jack’s first time experiencing of sand and ocean waves, indulge yourself in The Dadabase Facebook page.