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Dear Holly: You’re Zero Percent Tomboy, Despite Having a Brother Who Could Easily Turn You into One

1 year, 4 months.

Dear Holly,

As I took some pictures of you and your brother before church on Sunday, I couldn’t help but notice the obvious visible contrast as the two of you stood next to one another:

You are all girl and your brother is all boy. I have one of each.

And I didn’t have to teach either of you to be that way, either.

Over the past couple of months, you have demonstrated how you always just instantly know what to do when Mommy presents you with a new pair of shoes or a new shoes.

You instinctively know how to walk across the room with a pretty smile on your face, assuming that the whole world is watching you.

Meanwhile, your brother is typically up to something to counteract your graceful moves; whether it’s trying to slap your leg with a sticky stretchy hand he got from the treasure box at school, or simply serving as an off-beat commentator in the beauty pageant you’re pretending to be in, as he speaks in an exaggerated Southern accent:

“Ah, how sweet! Look at little precious baby girl! I think she just pooped in her pants… isn’t that so precious?! She’s a little tin man. She’s just made out of metal. So precious!”

Sure, you may develop a natural interest in Pokemon cards, as your brother has already told me he’ll give you some of his cards once you get a little older.

And sure, you’re used to him wrestling with you and playing a little too rough with you, on a daily basis.

Yet still, you are one girly girl. You just have no chance of ever being a tomboy.

I’m sure it doesn’t help, the way I treat you…

The way you just cling onto me as I carry you around the house, constantly confirming what a sweet little girl you are.

Yeah, I guess you just don’t stand a chance at being anything other than a Daddy’s Girl.

At least, that’s what I hope!

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: Your 1st Soccer Game as a 1st Grader

6 years, 9 months.

Dear Jack,

Now that the summer has come to an end, so have violin lessons. And you decided you wanted to go straight into playing soccer now that the school year has begun.  It helps that you and your best friend Duncan, from your Kindergarten class last year, were able to get on the same soccer team.

So this past Saturday, our family drove out to the YMCA field in Spring Hill and watched you place your first game. It was amazing to see the difference, compared to when you played soccer 2 years ago in Pre-K.

You actually chase and kick the ball now! Wow!

And not just you, but all the other kids actually play the game too. Two years ago, it wasn’t this way at all. Back then, it was just a bunch of almost 5 year-olds standing on the field, looking at the feet in the grass.

But now, there’s actually something for your parents to watch you and your teammates do!

You actually gave Mommy and me a reason to keep yelling, “Go Jack! Kick it!” I felt like a legitimate soccer dad.

This was your sister Holly’s first time getting to see a soccer game. Since her skin is so fair, and since there was no shade, Mommy had me stand up and block the sun, casting a shadow on Holly as she watched the game from Mommy’s chair.

I definitely saw a little bit of irony in that; as if I were a big guy, which I am not. Oh well, the plan worked anyway. By the end of the game, your sister wasn’t quite as pink she would have been otherwise.

We enjoyed watching you play your first soccer game as a 1st grader.

Plus, I love the fact you’re getting to not only burn off all that energy you have on Saturday mornings, but also you’re getting to use your brain.

The game is pretty simple, though; for a bunch of 1st graders. Really, the main thing is just knowing which way to kick the ball. That’s all you really have to worry about right now.

Love,

Daddy

 

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We are Taking a Luxurious 2017 Toyota Sienna “Swagger Wagon” for Our Family’s Fall Road Trip to Boone, North Carolina

Ah, the life of a daddy blogger… to have a brand new decked-out vehicle delivered to me whenever our family goes on a road trip. It’s pretty awesome, actually. I love getting to share the stories that present themselves, as my wife and I (ambitiously) travel across the South with a now 1st grader and a 16 month-old.

This makes the first year our family will not be travelling to California. Instead, 2017 is a year of smaller road trips for us.

Back in May, we traveled to Destin, Florida in the 2017 Toyota Prius.

Then in July, we took a fun little trip to Louisville, Kentucky (and saw dinosaurs) in the 2017 Toyota 4Runner.

Our next upcoming event will be our fall road trip to Boone, North Carolina. We will be sharing a cabin with two of my wife’s siblings and their families. It’s going to be a long drive there and back, but we’ve got the right vehicle for it.

The 2017 Toyota Sienna “Swagger Wagon” that was delivered to me feels like a luxurious spacecraft. Our whole family is psyched!

My wife is excited because of how spacious the cabin is and how the captain’s chairs, in the 2nd row where she’ll be sitting next to our young daughter, are full recliners.

Our son is thrilled because he will be able to watch DVDs during the trip, as he loves taking up the 3rd row for himself.

I’m confident our little girl is going to love the Sienna on account of being able to be so close and accessible to her Mommy sitting next to her.

And as for me?

I like knowing that as the captain of our voyage, as I listen to Jimmy Buffet’s Radio Margaritaville on Channel 24 on SiriusXM up in the front row, my family is going to be comfortable and entertained in the middle and back rows.

Could a 36 year-old husband and father be more excited about taking his family on a 6 hour road trip to a cabin in North Carolina, in a 2017 Toyota Sienna “Swagger Wagon”?

I submit that he can not.

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Playground Safety Checklist (By Guest Blogger, Ken Allen)

Most parents will tell you that raising kids is very different today than it was when they were growing up. In many ways, that’s true. Consider how kids spend their free time:

Children today have so much of their time outside of school occupied by structured activities that parents need a separate datebook just to keep up with their kids’ daily schedules.

Even though a lot of aspects about raising kids have changed, a lot of parts are just as parents remember them. One of those aspects is the importance of the playground. Even with competition from video games and streaming video, the playground remains one place kids are sure to congregate.

That’s a good thing, too, because playgrounds offer children the opportunity to get some much-needed exercise as well as kick-start other areas of their intellectual and social development.

Although playgrounds remain as popular with kids today as they did in generations past, playgrounds themselves have changed somewhat over the years, particularly when it comes to safety. Whereas playgrounds of the past featured concrete or asphalt underneath many of them, today’s versions are far more likely to feature soft wood chips or recycled rubber to cushion falls. Metal slides have given way to plastic ones that don’t heat up to dangerous levels under the sun. Swing sets often include special swings that will safely hold toddlers without allowing them to slip off the seat. However, just because playgrounds have become safer over the years doesn’t mean parents don’t have to worry about playground safety at all.

Teaching kids how to use playgrounds safely and inspecting equipment to look for potential hazards are responsibilities parents should take seriously, even as playgrounds become safer, in general. In doing so, parents can help ensure that their kids gain the full benefit of everything playgrounds offer them. Consult the following checklist the next time you take your kids to the playground, and you can make sure they’ll have a fun day with their friends, just the way you did when you were a kid.

“Playground Safety Checklist courtesy of Merrillville Personal Injury Lawyer Keneth J. Allen Law Group”

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Dear Jack: You Lost Your 2nd Tooth by Eating a Croissant?!

6 years, 9 months.

Dear Jack,

Saturday morning your breakfast mostly consisted of your favorite croissants from Kroger. I was on the carpet, playing with Holly, when you proclaimed from the kitchen table, “Hey, I think this croissant is going to make me lose my tooth.”

Obviously, I immediately thought that was a strange statement. However, I did recall brushing your teeth earlier that week and you pointing out that your other bottom middle tooth was getting pretty loose.

To my surprise, when I walked over to the kitchen table and took a close look at your tooth, it was undeniable. I explained to Mommy, “Yeah, actually… it’s sticking out like a drawbridge.”

From there, I was assigned to helping you try to pull the tooth. Mommy wet a paper towel for me and I brought it over to you. “Don’t pull it too hard, Daddy…” you warned.

I assured you all I would do was just barely tug at it.

And that’s all I did. I pulled no harder I would pull a Kleenex from the box.

But the tooth immediately popped out with just that easy, tame, and thoughtless little tug.

“What?! It’s already out!” I yelled over to Mommy, who was holding your sister at the kitchen counter.

So that’s how it happened. I can truly say that was the easiest tooth that I have ever seen pulled.

A croissant! Not an apple. Not anything crunchy.

But instead, one of the softest textured foods a person can eat; maybe only second to cotton candy.

That tooth must have been really loose before you ever ate that croissant… obviously. But still, there wasn’t an ongoing conversation about your tooth being loose, like there was for your first tooth you lost back in April.

Still such a strange surprise.

Oh well, at least you also made a quick 3 bucks off the deal too.

Love,

Daddy