parenting

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Dear Jack: You Apparently Now Have the Official Junior High Haircut…

12 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack,

This Saturday, we are going to do something we haven’t done since your sister was nearly a baby: We are going to get family photos made, by someone other than me, my tripod, and the self-timer on my camera.

Therefore, to prepare, I took you to Great Clips to get a fresh haircut, which you desperately needed. This time around, you mentioned to the lady cutting your hair that you wanted it a bit different compared to normal.

I didn’t follow what you were describing… something about a “flip”.

Another dad who was waiting for his son’s haircut happened to overhear the conversation and chimed in: “Just go to any junior high school around here. You’ll see it. I call it ‘the flippy-do’…”

You were very pleased with the results. Over the past week, I have silently observed how Mommy has been teaching you to use a curling iron, so that your bangs flip up the right way.

I think your new hairstyle only confirms the fact that you look like the boy version of the Chelsea doll.

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly: Our Favorite Book to Read Together Has Always Been…

6 years, 9 months.

Dear Holly,

I was so surprised to look back this week and realize:

Somehow, I’ve never mentioned that your entire life, there has been a very special book we have always had a special bond reading together.

It is the reason that every night after I put you to bed, I always walk backwards out of your room, and put my finger over my lips… and then you do it back to me.

That’s because we are imitating the gorilla in the book Good Night, Gorilla.

Only recently did I actually realize how few words the book actually contains. Yet still, we have both always been captivated by the progression of the story, based mainly on just the pictures.

Over the years, we have noticed little Easter Eggs; like how multiple people start showing up in the windows of the neighbors’ houses, how the mouse carries the banana with him throughout the story, and how the balloon is in nearly every page, even if you can barely see it as a speck in the sky.

Good Night, Gorilla was written in 1994; so I was 13 when it came out. In other words, I didn’t grow up with it as a kids’ book.

But I am happy that you and I can share it together!

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly: Your Fan Club at the Fund Run

6 years, 9 months.

Dear Holly,

It just so happened that your school had a Fund Run to help finance buying a new playground last Friday, right as Aunt Jenny and Uncle Tom got into town from Florida.

I was able to sneak out to see you during my lunch break, along with Mommy and Aunt Jenny. We were there for the whole thing.

For an entire hour, we watched you run, walk, crawl, hop, and whatever other silly ways the announcer told you all to do with each new lap.

I was so happy to see how proud you were that we showed up to support you!

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: Go-Kart Racing Never Gets Old!

12 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack,

During your Spring Break, Uncle Tom and Aunt Jenny came to visit us from Florida. Despite the week before being nice and sunny out, it turned out to be one of the ugliest weeks of weather during their time here.

Fortunately, Mommy found a place to race go-karts about 30 minutes away from where we live. We never knew it was there this entire time.

All six of us got to race at the same time- and there happened to be no one else there besides us at the time!

It was such a close race, too. Such a constant back and forth between you, me, and Uncle Tom, but you ended up winning, just in time!

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: Despite All Your Rage, You Are Still Just a Boy in a Cage…

12 years, 3 months.

Dear Jack,

Sunday afternoon, it was beautiful outside. Everyone from our neighborhood was hanging out in the cul-de-sac.

As Mommy and I were catching up with the neighbors across the street from us, who we have barely seen since winter started, a lady walking her dog casually came up and joined the conversation.

Pretty quickly, she asked us, “What’s up with those boys in the cage that I just walked by? Why are they in there?”

I immediately responded, with not an ounce of shame, “Yeah, that’s our son there in the cage. My understanding is that one of the neighbors around here was getting rid of their old dog crate, so they had it sitting out by the front of the street. So now, our son and one of his friends are playing in it.”

She felt a little awkward by my response, but decided to stick around for the fellowship. A few minutes later, she looked back at the cage situation, and announced, “Oh! Now there is a little girl in a pink Jeep who is running into the cage with the boys in it…”

I cut her off by saying, “Yeah, that’s our little girl. Looks like she is seeking revenge on her older brother, and he is taunting her to do it.”

Your sister also was throwing a tennis ball at the cage as hard as she could too.

It was like watching a kitten taunt two bulldogs chained to a tree.

 

Love,

Daddy